Not Me Monday

Well, I have decided I need to get on board with Not Me Monday!

1. I did not undecorate my 9 foot Christmas tree on Sunday and shove it out the back door...again.
2. I certainly did not eat 1/2 of a 1lb chocolate bar over the weekend.
3. I did not forget to send ponytail holders with Sofia to TX.
4. I did not drive to my office twice this weekend just so I could use hi-speed internet. I mean come on, someone would have to be pretty addicted to email and blogging to need to do that.
5. I absolutely did not force the new doggy to spend some time in the backyard in the cold to go potty because I was too caught up in a Lifetime movie to take him for a walk.
6. I surely did not spend 1 hour picking adhesive polka dots off of Sofia's wall yesterday.

That's it for me. I am so glad I did not do any of those things, whew!

This is just a test..post from email

I am just checking to see if I learned this technique properly from Jen!

Woo Hoo, it worked!

Now you see it....now you don't

So I finally have pictures of my Christmas tree (you know the one that kept falling over and I had to have my father-in-law stand it up for me after I shoved it out the back door). So this year I have had about 8 ornaments broken because of this tree--when I first put it up it was leaning so that caused breakage and since then, the branches are just weak so things keep falling off. So this morning I was just done. I saw when I came downstairs today, that another ornament was lying shattered on the floor. That was it! I proceeded to undecorate the tree and drag it back outside to the patio--where it will stay until the day I can put in the trash for the recycle truck. I packed up most of my ornaments that were on the tree and added some to the garland over my dining room table. Santa will just have to use Sofia's small tree upstairs this year. So note to self...NEVER get the crazy idea that a real tree will be fun!!!!! After this experience, I am not even going to feel sorry for all those left over trees on the Christmas Tree lots after Christmas--serves em right for having such weak branches!!!

Winter Concert

Tonight Sofia had her Winter Concert (not to be confused with Christmas of course!!) at school and they sang / recited 4 songs / poems. It was really cute and she had a great time. It was also nice that her Grandparents from TX were able to see her. This is her 4 / 5 year old preschool class.

Ugh, my internet is so slow! It took forever to get these pics uploaded and I am not sure if it will upload the video or not!

Wordless Wednesday...late

Sad but true

Despite all of our efforts, it looks like Lipstick Jungle is in fact coming to and end. Read more here.

Hi my name is Nugget

and I want to come live with Whitney and Sofia!

Well, hello Nugget. You are so handsome and well-trained and house-broken, fluffy and just darn cute! Oh and you are Mr. Fancy pants with your registration papers and your personal dog trainer for 6 weeks. I am impressed!

Nugget, did you know when I move I can have a dog? What's that? You knew that? Well, ok then, I guess you can come live with me!

Random Saturday Thoughts

Sofia and Caroline on the beach. Sofia loves to be with Caroline. While we were on vacation with the Jenkins family, Caroline allowed Sofia to play with / sleep with one of her stuffed animals, a penguin. Every night, the penguin was who Sofia picked to snuggle with--not the 2 nighttime requirements (Squishy Bear and Chocolate Bear) we had brought with us. Needless to say, she still asks about the Penguin. In this pic, we had been taking portraits of the Jenkins on the Beach and I knew I wanted to capture a special picture of Sofia with Caroline. This picture is now in Sofia's room on her photo board.

So, the Christmas tree is up and decorated (I'll post pics tomorrow) and I decided I either have too many ornaments or I am going to have to start having 2 trees each year--well 3 if you count Sofia's. Today I made yummy chicken pot pie (inspired by Elizabeth). Mine was almost as good as the one she made while I was visiting. So on one of my random outings I found myself a tan bathrobe that is long and really soft chenille. I am planning to live in it this winter. I am wearing it as I type this. It is so soft, Sofia says she wants one to sleep in too!

My Chirstmas cards are done and I gotta say, I took the easy way out this year--Walgreens photo cards. I created them on Friday afternoon and an hour later and $16 and I had them! I have been working on addressin them this afternoon, trying to get a head start. Thank you Elizabeth for taking some of the pics I used. This will be first for me--a Christmas card with my picture in it as well as Sofia's. I wish I had not gained back some of the weight I had worked so hard to lose over the past year, but oh well, time to get rededicated to working out!


Just wanted to share a few more photos of Sofia from our trip.

Posing for the camera in Demoplis, Al.

Festive Flashback Friday

Sofia, November 2004, 1 year old

I saw this on Laura's Blog and thought I would play along as well!

Tag Everyone!! You're it!!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate!!
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa wraps everythin--last year he did not wrap some large items and Sofia was very upset.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Pink on Sofia's tree and white everywhere else.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? nope
5. When do you put your decorations up? Usually the weekend after Thanksgiving.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?Ham
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child. The year is snowed a lot and my parent's had invited all of our family to our house and it was really cold and we had lot's of heaters going but it was still very cold and icey outside and some people could not back their cars out of our long driveway!
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? dib't remember.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? As a kid we did but with Sofia we have not. I like the pajama idea from Laura.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? All hand-blown glass ornaments on the main tree and then sofia's tree has her handmade items and ours together as well as lot's of pink girlie stuff.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it!
12. Can you ice skate? not well.
13, Do you remember your favorite gift? hmmm. Sofia, since she was born in late November and then as a child probably my cabbage patch doll.
14. What is the most important thing about the Holidays for you? trying to start some traditions for Sofia and seeing my parents, which is not often since I am in AZ.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Magic Cookie Bars
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? eating dinner at my parent's house and opening presents. It has been a long time since we did that.
17. What tops your tree? star or bow
18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? BOTH
19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Noel
20. Candy Canes! ok
21. What do you want for Christmas? money
22. Do you attend an annual Christmas party? just for work
23. Do you dress up on Christmas or wear PJ’s? not really
24. Do you own a Santa hat? no
25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with? Sofia now. I wish I was with my family in AL or friends in GA, this year will be hard because Sofia will be visiting TX and I will be by myself in AZ.

Universal Studios Islands of Adventure

On our trip to Orlando we went to Universal's Islands of Adventures and it was so much fun! Sofia really liked the Dr. Seuss area. She really likes the Cat in the Hat and we were having such a great time riding all the fun rides!

Has Orange and Blue turned Crimson and White?

So growing up I found myself to be an Auburn fan, well because my family was. Not the sort of die hard fans many are but just Auburn fans. So since I have moved from Arizona, I have always cheered for both teams when they are on tv since they are from my home state. However, since being gone, I have felt I should claim the Crimson Tide as my "team" since they are the State University. So since I knew I would be seeing friends and going to the game (well tailgating at least) I felt I needed to make a decision. So you know orange and blue really are not the prettiest of colors, so the Crimson Tide won! Well, ok maybe it is also the fact that they are having an AWESOME season. Yes, I am a fair weather fan. Gotta get on the bandwagon and all. Oh well! Sofia has excelled at the ROLL TIDE cheer and this weekend was a great 1st time fan experience. Great time with great friends and some great pics! So nothing else to say but ROLL TIDE!!! Oh and on a not so good note, clearly living in the desert I have forgotten how to walk in the rainy weather and slipped and fell twice on the campus and landed on my knee once and my knee hurts still and is a little bruised and swollen. I also stepped in a hole at one of the sorority houses. Other than that, a great experience.

me and sofia outside the stadium, she is chewing on her Roll Tide bracelet:

the band

Eliz and Joel

fia and her pom poms

fia outside of Eliz's mother's house

I love this picture of Sofia and the cheerleaders!

Big Al with E, Joel, Caroline and Reid

Me, Sofia and Big Al

The band on the Quad was awesome!

Game Day morning in Demopolis

More Beach Fun

Today was a great Thanksgiving! We all ate lunch at a local seafood joint across the street from the condo, Live Bait. They had all the traditional Thanksgiving fare. It was all really good. We then headed back to the beach to relax and enjoy the warm day. Today was by far the warmest day we have had here. We buried Sofia and Caroline in the sand, made castles and just realxed on the beach. Of course we did lots of walking and managed to find another sand dollar. Tonight we had a snack fest for dinner with shrimp cocktail, guacamole (made by me), beef steak tomatoes (Eliz made, yummy) and lots of other snacks. It was a perfect end to a great day with friends.

By the way, this condo is beautiful with 3 bedrooms and it is right on the beach. It is located in Phoenix V on Orange Beach. Let me know if you are ever looking for a great condo to rent for your next beach vacation!

I am sad to leave tomorrow:( Here are a few shots from the day!

Sunrise on Orange Beach

Sofia was so kind to take this pic of me!!

My little beach beauty
These birds are just nice to take pics of

It was so warm today, Sofia had all the beach toys out.

Just another hot day at the beach....

yeah right!!!!!

The Beach

The beach is cool but beautiful. We are having a great time. This is the first time in many years I have stayed in Orange Beach. The water is cold but clear and we have found several great seashells. We had a photo shoot tonight for Christmas cards so I hope we got a good one! Sofia has told me several times that she loves the beach so that makes me happy we came here for vacation. We will be here until Friday and then we will head up to Birmingham for the Iron Bowl!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from our Family to Yours!