Thanksgiving with "The Greats"

This year we got to spend Thanksgiving back home in Alabama! I havent' seen my family in a few months, so I was very excited to get to spend this holiday with them. We did something a little different this year... instead of the big turkey dinner, we had a yummy, yummy brunch! We had breakfast casseroles, fruit, sausage, home-made biscuits, and (my favorite) tomato gravy. Have any of you had tomato gravy? I think it's a very southern thing, because I've come across a lot of people who have never had it. But, it's the one dish I ask my mom to make for me every time I come home. I love it!

It was so great to see my mom and dad, my sisters Julie and Veronica, and their families. We got to meet my great-niece Brooklee for the first time. She is such a precious, happy little girl! And I can't believe how big Sage is! He was a ton of fun and really kept us all on our toes. Jake and Tucker and Rivers are all getting so grown up. I cannot believe that this is Rivers' senior year in high school!

It's such a blessing to have a family who truly loves each other. I know that we all want only what is best for each of us and we will all do anything for one another. My sisters married great Godly men who really influenced me and encouraged me as to what type of man I wanted as my husband. I am so proud of every niece and nephew that I have. They are all such good, loving, and respectful kids. I am so thankful for my family and that we got the chance to spend this holiday with them!

Brooklee is such a happy baby. And look how gorgeous my Rivie is!!

Silly Sage!

I love these pictures of my daddy and the babies. They loved his beard!

karaoke maching + family gathering = fun!

Learning how to make gravy.....

I wish I had gotten a picture of the food, but my hands were full with babies. I didn't want to ever put them down! I wish that we could have had EVERY body there ( all 29 of us!!) but, we couldn't pull that off. Maybe next year?!

Between The Hedges

Let's just put it out there that I am a huge Auburn football fan. I know exactly when I became an Auburn Tiger and I know that I will never be anything BUT an Auburn Tiger! I was very surprized to find out that God intended me to marry a silly Georgia fan, but hey, that's what happened! Luckily for us, we both share the same views when it comes to the University of Alabama!

Greg and I first talked about heading to Athens for the UGA/Auburn game at the end of last season. We hemmed and hawed and went back and forth about it for a whole year! We had finally agreed to not spend the money and just stay here and watch it with friends when KC (Greg's cousin) told us that his friend was not going to the game and had tickets...and would we like them? Um.... YEAH!! When I picked up the envelope on Friday, I found three tickets instead of two. We knew right away that we wanted to take Greg's dad, Boochie to the game with us. Boochie has lived in Georgia all of his life and has always been a Bulldog. But, he's never been to a UGA football game! To add to it, one of UGA's break-out players this year, Washawn Ealy, played at Emanuel County Institute, Mr. Boochie's old high school. Boochie is a big supporter of ECI and got to watch Washawn play all through high school.. he was so excited to go see him play at the college level. He even wore his ECI sweat shirt and hat to show some Ealy support! We had a great time, just the three of us. The seats were fantastic, the people were nice, and the game was good, although my Tigers let the game slip away from us. Next year, it will be different!! I can't wait to take these guys to Jordan Hare!

Our colors sure clash!

TADA!

My friend Katie posted on this earlier tonight, but I wanted to post too just for people who may read my blog that might not read hers... this is a story that I want to pass on!

In July, I posted here about a friend who had just lost her beautiful grandaughter,
"O". I didn't want to post names until I got permission from my friend and her family.

Well, now I can tell you about Diane - Diane works at the center where I used to work in Pensacola. Diane is a great person... she is a person of encouragement and joy and will do ANYTHING to help others. She LOVES her family and when I think of her and her daughter Alexis, I see a picture in my head of the two of them throwing their heads back and laughing.. I always picture them laughing! In August, 2008 Diane's grandaughter Olivia was born. I got the pleasure of meeting this sweet, beautiful little girl before we moved here. Even at just a few months old, you could tell that Olivia was going to be absolutely gorgeous! I was so shocked when another friend from work called me this past July to tell me about Olivia. It was so hard for me to even look at her pictures.. to just imagine what that family must be going through. But, while talking to Diane with some emails... I am amazed at how she and Alexis and the rest of Olivia's family are so strong and so empassioned to do something for others. That's why I wanted to post about their new site TADA! You can go here to read more about Olivia's story and to see what Diane and Alexis have been up to... and let me tell you, if you have a baby girl or know a baby girl, you need to go and see what they are making. ADORABLE!!! Please, go and check out their site and pass on the information to others.

Be sure to go to Katie's page to check out these oh so precious pics of baby AC modeling some of the cute things that you can find:

BOO!!!...Did I Scare Ya?

I know, I know it's a week late, but I really wanted to post some pics from Halloween!

Gregory and I were really excited to finally have a place to put a jack-o-lantern. I came home from town one evening to find this spooky guy lit up on the front steps. I think Gregory did a great job! I was a little disapointed that I didn't get to help with it, but then I remembered that carving a jack-o-lantern involves using sharp tools....and well, yall know me. Probably better that I stay away from all that!


Last Halloween, Gregory and I had only been Augusta for three days (hmm...seems I missed out on a blog post there... 1 year in GA!!!). Like last Halloween, we spent it with Greg's cousins and some others. We really had a great time! This year, everyone dressed up and there were tons of yummies to eat (and drink, if you so chose!). I decided to go all out this year and.... BAKE. For all of those who know me, you all know that I like to cook and I like being crafty. I have long thought that I should try my hand at baking and cake decorating, because the two kind of go well together. Well, my friend Amber has often posted about these things called cake pops that she found on a blog by Bakerella. They looked cute and fun and I've tasted one that I found in a local restaurant for sale and I thought I would try my hand at making them. I tried them about a month ago at the Walk for Autism, but I decided to go out on a limb and make them gluten free. Yeah. Not a good choice. They were so sad and not even worth the pictures! Seems baking's not something that you can really sub out ingredients very much on. Well, that disatrous endeavor behind me, I had sworn them off for good! Or so I thought. I saw some oh so cute designs on Bakerella's site for Halloween, that I thought I just had to try them again. So here's what I came up with:

If you can't tell what they are supposed to be (don't worry, I'm not offended)...they are Frankensteins and Mrs. Frankensteins (see the hair?) They were pretty yummy and I was kind of proud of myself. Of course, they took like an entire week to complete, my kitchen was a disaster and me and my husband and my dogs gained ate waaaay to many waiting for the party time to actually roll around!

Speaking of the party, here are some pics:


Here's me with my "tricked out name tag"

Can anyone guess who Greg was?
See this if you don't!

"Look what I can do!..."

I even won an award!

We had a very fun night meeting new people, being with family and just being silly. Halloween is fast become one of my favorite events (it's not a Holiday to me) just because it allows people to forget about what's going on in the world around them and just be plain silly without anyone saying anything. I love to see people who are always so serious just cut lose and laugh at themselves and everything going on around them!

A Rainy Morning Funny...

This made me laugh this morning.
Thanks Scott and The Hudster!

You Can't Teach an Old(er.. 5 year old) Dog New Tricks...

Ok, so all my friends have been posting adorable videos of their kids (see Grady giggle here) and (see Anna Cross sing here)
(seriously, they are so freaking cute! Watch them both ) So, I thought that I would post vids of our equally adorable, albeit hairy children!



So, our new happy house has a doggie door. YAY!! Now, we don't even have to get up off the couch to let the kids out to play!!! Or, so we thought.



Ok, so for those of you who don't know, we've got two furry kids, Bobo and Bay. Bobo will be 13 in November and Bay will be 6 in April. Bobo is Greg's child and Bay is mine. I will tell you that Bay really doesn't get all the love that he deserves because he's a big and loud dog. People tend to be very afraid of him. He can be very scary, but when it comes down to it, he's the sweetest little thing. He really doesn't know how big he is and would love to curl up on my lap (sometimes I let him). He's a shedding machine and has made apartment living a nightmare, but he's so sweet and he LOVES his mama. Bobo is adorable and just watching him walk around makes me laugh. But, he's actually the more ornery one who often gets his way just because he's old. He's been with Greg for a very long time. I mean, I love him and everything, but someone forgot to teach him his manners! (I've told Greg that I will be the disciplinarian if we ever have kids because I can see how easily he gives in to Bobo just because he's so cute. Greg's such a softy) Anyway, I always bragged about how smart MY dog is because he will usually listen and follow directions. However, he is a bit of a scaredy cat and doesn't really like to try out new things......
On the other hand, Bobo, for as old and cranky as he is, picked right up on the new toy!

I tried everything to get Bay to go out the door... Well, at least he'd get the treat....

Ahhh.... the tast of success.... well, almost. We finally got Bay to go all the way through the door, but he has not yet made the connection that he can go through anytime he needs to go potty, or wants to go play outside. He still goes to the front door and whines at us. We have to give him the "go outside" command (and usually accompany him to the door and give him a little push) for him to actually go out. Poor special, special puppy....

We've Moved..... Again!!

I swear, all I've done over the past five or so years is move! I feel like I've become a real pro! Well, we've done it again! Here's our new address....

1731 King Woods Drive

Augusta, GA 30904

When Greg and I decided to move to Augusta neither one of us knew anything about this place. Greg had been a few times to visit with his family, but never enough to really know his way around. He came up here with his dad before our big move to find us a place to stay and found us a cozy little one bedroom apartment. The apartment complex was nice and it was great that they were so pet friendly...but we had our share of problems while we were there. Not soon after we moved in, it really began raining in Augusta. We came home one evening and found ourselves sloshing through the living room! Rain had come in under the door and from the bottom of the wall!! The apartment people were quick to send out someone to remove the water, but not long after, it happened again! Finally they decided to fix a retaining wall.... but, we already had a sour taste in our mouth for our apartment. Then, we got water in through the roof, then a fire in our building had us without power for a few days, then our toilets backed up, then.... well, you can figure it out! Also, Greg and I were both so ready to move into something that felt more "grown up" and real. We had both been in beige apartments for so long!! We thought about trying to buy something, but with me just starting my own business, we wouldn't qualify for a loan.... and besides that, we just didn't feel financially ready to buy. Why buy something now that you have to settle for when you can save and wait until you are really financially prepared and able to get something that you really love and are more likely to stay in? So, we went -a -lookin' for us a house to rent!

It was like we couldn't find anything that would work out for us... no pets, too much, too scary, oops too late... finally on a last ditch effort, we found this adorable

(well, we think it's adorable even if you guys don't) little cottage on CraigsList!!

The lamp post out front is seriously one of our top 3 favorite things about this place!


Greg and I both love older homes with a lot of character. This place was perfect for us! We keep talking about what we would do with it if we owned it..... we tend to get a little ahead of ourselves!

Even though we are only renting, we really want to make this place feel like our home, especially since we plan to stay here for a while. Our first order of business was to clean out the front yard. Greg's family was again so, so helpful to us!! We could never have done it without his mom, dad, sister and brother-in-law, and nephews. Thanks! We had to cut the grass, trim the sidewalk, pull out tons and tons and tons of overgrowth around the house. But, we did a whole bunch in just a few hours! Moving on to the inside, this is what the living room looked like "before"

Again with the "I forgot"... This is the only "before" shot of the living that I got! But to give you some details, the walls are a sort of beige/peach/tan/pink/purple? color. The paint on the mantle is chipped and spray painted (poorly) on. There is paint splattered on the black part of the fireplace. And overall, the trim of everything just needs to be touched up.

And our living room "after":

Coming through the front door. I love. love. the arched entrance to the dining room there on the right.

Can you see it?

A close-up of the re-painted mantle. Greg did a really great job. The mantle is not completely decorated the way I envision it. The painting is something I did and is probably temporary. Looking at the pictures, I think it needs to be a tad bigger. But, it adds some color to the room.

The view from the dining room looking in to the living room....

The view from the hallway into the living room...love the french doors. Just wait to see where they lead to...
We still have a few finishing touches to do in here. We've got to go back and paint the white trim and touch up some paint, and of course I want to add a few (a lot?) more decorative touches. I have big plans for the "C" on the wall and the mantle, and there's that whole blank wall behind the couch.... but one step at a time, Christy (as per Gregory).

Now, here's my numero uno favorite part of the house...

Open those french doors to this:

Aaaah, what's that? Why that's a screened in front porch! I love. it. And thanks to my super sweet in-laws, we have a perfect little table and chairs set there. It's the perfect spot for coffee in the morning or a glass of wine or hot choclate in the evenings, or sweet tea in the afternoon. It's especially nice lately with this Georgia fall weather. Did I mention that I love it?

I think Bobo loves it too!

Ok, I need some opinions. I'm going to re-paint them and I'm trying to decide on a color. I would love to do something bright to really liven up the space. My top choices are torquoise (are you surprized at all by that?), green, yellow, or maybe orange. I plan on adding touches to of fabrics, flowers, whatever to really make it blend. Nothing to wild, just something very cheery. What do yall think?