2009: Year in Review

I know I totally skipped Christmas...not on purpose-the camera/computer issue is a camera issue. And since the camera is just a year old and thankfully WB purchased the extended warranty (despite me telling him not to, as I recall) we had to send it back. For 4-6 weeks. With my lens. I felt very nauseated as we were leaving Wolf Camera. I almost cried. I hope it comes back in one piece. And is mine. And is fixed.
This 4-6 week time period also includes Buddy's 2nd birthday. I will be borrowing a camera for that!
I will also not mention Buddy's birthday again because it makes me want to curl up in a ball in the corner.
Because curling up in a ball in the corner will make him not get any older.
Right.

Since I am already a mess and in the mood for sobbing, I have decided to post a year in review.  Oh my word at the changes in a year. Almost hard to believe.

1. I began the year by getting out of the baby making business and getting into another sort of production business. I can't believe it's been almost year of SisterBug! It has been a blast! Can't wait for what 2010 holds!

2. Sister was finally potty trained! I give this Event of The Year award!

3. How in the world could we forget Buddy and his Big Honkin' Ear!! Still makes me belly laugh! Bless his heart!

4. WB and I went on our first ever trip-ALONE! And I also locked Buddy in the car in the middle of the hot summer and the fire department came with their sirens on and I was wearing my bathing suit cover-up. But, you can skip over that part.  

5. Buddy finally started walking! This is considered his Event Of The Year because I was so tired of carrying this sweet baby in the HOT summer. It only took 17 months. As I look back, I see now that it was a glimpse of the stubborness we are experiencing. I guess he tried to tell us.

6. Sister started school! And thankfully she cannot wait to go back after Christmas break! Oh, how I love preschool too! I think my favorite part is the scholastic book papers. I use to get so excited about those when I was in school. Oh, and the crafts! I am not a jealous person, but I am so jealous about the crafts she gets to do! To be 3 again!

7. Here's a recap of that Crazy Story that happened to me once. I promise it's true.

8. We turned into cowboys!

9.  And, lastly, we saw Santa-but didn't dare look at him! And Sister sang. On stage. In front of lots of people!

Just look at how they have changed!

Jan 09    

                                                                      Dec 09

So, it's been a year for the baby books. As I am on the verge of having a Toddler and a Preschooler, it makes me a little sad to see where we've been, but so excited to see where we will go. Except of course I will be potty training again this year.  I think I just ruined my moment.

Happy New Year!

Thanks for sticking with me this year! Your comments are a blessing to me and I love reading about your lives as well!

May 2010 be more than you could ever dream! (even if it includes a little PT)

Love, Queen Bee

Not on speaking terms

UPDATE: I obviously figured this out...now the camera/computer ordeal!  Under Basic, Select "Updated Editor" next to "Select post Editor", I was still on "old" which is a good way to describe me I guess. Oh my word at the endless posibilities! WAHOO!!


So, evidently my camera and computer are mad at each other. Or they are both ganging up on me. Either way, I have been frustrated these last few days because they are not speaking to one another, therefore I cannot load pictures. At the busiest time of year no less. Technology is grand.

We have had a few events and done some sleeping late and hanging out in our pjs too.
Our elf made his debut, but Sister isn't really impressed by him. She changed his name to "L" from "Red" and keeps saying "Momma, why do you move the elf?" She has never seen me do it. I keep telling her the story-I don't think she is buying it. So he has sat in the same spot for about a week and no one seems to notice.

I am officially turning my embroidery machine off for a week-while I posted that I was closed, I was still working, just trying to get my backlog completed. And then, because you are my friends (and we got WB's ambulance bill-merry christmas), I took some more. And just about 5 minutes ago, I finished my last order. Whew!

I have a huge list of projects to try and giveaways for y'all. So, I will be working on them and trying to figure out this crazy computer issue. Who would want to enter a giveaway if they have no idea what they would win? Oh wait, that might be fun.

Hopefully I will be able to upload picture from Christmas. Y'all will LOVE Sister's new Papaw Boots. She wore them to church Sunday with her Christmas dress. It was FAB!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

P.S. Would you like to give me a present? Please tell me how you make your font bigger in a post and change the color of the lettering! Some of you do it all of the time and I just don't see that option! It would be a better present than the serger that I asked for-and even the socks too!

Last week::SNOT much fun!

Oh, there was so much to do last week. And then, there was the cold weather snap-which turned in to a week's worth of runny/stuffy noses, whining, coughing, ear infections, whining, one trillion kleenexes, laryngitis for the 3rd time in 2 months, whining, 3 trip to the doctor in 5 days. You get the picture.

Sister kept saying-"Mommy, why do I have to blow my nose a hunderin' times?"
Buddy just looked really sad. And I had to whisper.
And then I found out that there must be a natural line down the middle of me-one side for Buddy and one side for Sissy. Because any time either of them crossed it, there was lots of yelling, and "no, mys" and "he's touching me."
Somehow during all of that fun, I didn't take one single picture.

Things we missed (which also means you missed because I would have blogged about them):
School. all. week. I don't even have to go into details here. Y'all know what that means for the last week of school before Christmas.
Baby Jesus party at school
Bible Study Ornament Swap and breakfast for ME to attend. Just me. No kids. Huge disappointment.
Our annual Cookie party-postponed to this week

Highlight of the week: I found my winter fat pants! And lived in them the whole week. I did wash them a few times. I did, really.

Last week is being dubbed the "Great Week Of Snot" and I hope it means I am done for the winter. Because I feel I might be running into overtime.
And the cashiers at Walmart already warned me about how much trouble you get into if you work overtime.
And, I quote "I ain't got no times to be in truble. Fo'real."

Look! There's sand everywhere!

We were surprised to wake up last Saturday to snow! Not because they didn't warn us or even say on the 10 o'clock news Friday night that it was snowing that very second in "town we live in." But, surprised because it never snows when they say it will and we already had our warm spot in the bed so we didn't care to check their accuracy.
But, Saturday morning, we were happy to see all of the white goodness on the ground. We got the kids up and skipped breakfast to bundle them up and head outside.
Sister kept looking out various windows in the house saying, "Hey! There's sand over here too!" "Hey! There's some on my trampolined!" "Hey! There's sand everywhere! It made a big mess!"
Once we got them all dressed, they took off and were all the way in the front yard before we could catch up!


Buddy wasn't sure about it at first because he doesn't like his hands getting dirty. But, once WB showed him that it could be made into a ball, he was sold! And then, he figured out he could eat it and it was even better!


Buddy says "Don't mind me, I'm just over here eatin' my breakfast, mowin' some sand."


Our snowman~


Pretty girl


This is what your face looks like when you eat snow (and a little grass) continually for about 30 minutes.

Let Christmas Begin!

We are so excited for Christmas this year! The kids are at a great age right now to be really into all of the hoopla that goes along with the holidays. It has been so fun so far!
So, of course we started off with Santa's Village! This was the first year that Sister LOVED it! She loved Santa, all of the "stuffed people," writing her letter, the "stanky" reindeer.
Buddy LOVED all the stuffed people, and especially the "Neees" (reindeer). Now Santa, notsomuch. He didn't cry, but WB put him in Santa's lap and he looked at Santa once. Then he looked the other direction and would not even look at Santa anymore. HILARIOUS! He would look out of the corner of his eye toward him, but not turn his head. He wouldn't even look at us!





Next up was Sister's school program. I was a little nervous about how she would do in front of a lot of people. But, to our surprise, she just waived to us and sang and did exactly what she was suppose to! WAHOO!! I think her teacher was a little nervous too because she showed me that she had T.O. in her pocket...just in case Sister needed him. Way to be prepared Mrs. L! Sister had no idea because later she told me "Mommy, I didn't even need T.O. at the program!" Baby steps, y'all.
Buddy LOVED the songs and clapped and waived at everybody. He was especially excited that his Papa was there! Can't you tell by this grin?




When we went back to pick Sissy up from school, I said "Sissy, I am so proud of you! You did so good today!" and she said "No. I got in time-out because I was banging on the window at the inside playground." And my bubble was burst.

So much for catching up!

I am about to do the rest of November in fast forward here...we have done so much in the past week that I didn't even remember most of it until I just loaded all 157 pictures! So, I am catching up just to be behind once again.
Which brings me to this statement...a statement you will think is so profound that it will cause you to declare me the SMARTEST GENIUS you know. Ready for it...

THIS IS AN EXTREMELY BUSY TIME OF YEAR!!!

and there you have it. I saved all my smarts up for the end of the year so y'all didn't feel like I was flaunting my big ol brain right in your face. And it probably won't be used again til sometime next year. I'll warn you beforehand.

Back to November. Oh wait-
Have y'all been able to tell that my pictures are all really fuzzy? I think it's because I compress my pics before I load them. Do you do that? How do you load them? Do you use something like flickr or something? I need help in this area obviously. Comments please.
I am not compressing them this time. I hope it 's better.

Now, to November...
It was a very eventful month. After Auburn, we came back and I put up all of my Christmas stuff because I was hosting Bonco in November. I am not sure why I felt the urgency, but I was so glad after Thanksgiving when it was all done. I think I will put it up early again next year. We will just be holiday hypocrites-one holiday on the inside and another on the outside. Works for me!
I also held a party for a friend, helped host a Creative Escape at our church, had the kids' pictures made (THANKS for getting my freebie for me!), had bonco here, made stuff for Sister's Thanksgiving Party at school, and then there was Simply Gifted. All over a 2 week time period. I also had my second bout of laryngitis/allergy stuff and Buddy had an ear infection. All over the same 2 week time period. Yes. Crazy! And here are some pictures...

Sister's party at school
Someone really wants to be part of the group...

Simply Gifted went great!!
I made keyfobs, crayon rolls, bibs, burps, Christmas applique shirts, and also had bags, children's personalized umbrellas, notecards. It was a lot of work but a ton of fun! I would have loaded more pics, but it takes a long time when you don't compress them!
I usually set 2 goals for myself: one that is attainable and one that is a pretty high reach. It was wonderful that I met both goals! And I think the other girls did great as well. We will be doing it again in the Spring before Mother's Day, graduation, end of school, etc.
Thanks to all who came out to support me and to everyone who supported me this year! I will never ever forget it!
I am also closing SisterBug for the next couple of months! I am finishing the orders I have now and taking some time "off" to regroup and decide my direction for 2010. I have some new ideas that I am really excited about. I will let y'all know.

I must have been tired during Thanksgiving because I took about 8 total pictures. And with small children, you know the ratio of what you actually get out of 8 total pictures...



And then we fought over who would hold this baby. Sister won out a lot of the time, but I will say I was a close second. He is a sweet boy!
Through all of the craziness, it was a fun month. Glad it won't be 2 months in a row...oh wait, then there's December!

New post here...

I started this one a long time ago and it posted with the Nov 13th date and not today.
So, here it is today...

Didn't know this about blogger.

So much

Over the past few weeks WB has asked the same question of me so many times...

"WHY did you pack all of these events in 2 weeks? It's a little much isn't it?"

And I have given him MANY different answers...

-"Because it just happened that way!"
-"Because I think going on no sleep is fun!"
-"Because I am trying not to think about the anniversary of this" (which also explains my ability to break out in tears over nothing)
-"Because I love for you to ask me dumb questions!"
-Rolling of the eyes
-Blank stare

What have we been up to?
So Much!! Only 2 things have been documented-by other people of course. I will get to it all after this weekend.

Until then-
Go here to see a sneak peek of the kids' Christmas pictures. Please comment on their blog so I can get a FREE 8X10. Y'all know how much I LOVE free!

Go here to see how the Creative Escape went! So much fun!

And come to SIMPLY GIFTED to see me this weekend and get some awesome Christmas gifts!

Be back soon!

If Christmas Cards were a reality show...

**This is the first of a bunch of posts to get caught up from this month. I should totally be sewing, but I am choosing to get caught up a little before my mind erases all memory of November 2009. My AWESOME friends who have ordered Christmas shirts:please forgive. I will be working on them too. Really!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few weeks ago, we embarked on a journey South to my old stomping grounds, aka The Lovliest Village on the Plains. Our mission was 1)get a Christmas card picture for my parent's cards, 2)spend some time with my brother's family, and 3)meet my BF from college and her family.

We stopped in Prattville for a good old fashioned "I-haven't-seen-you-in-7-years-what-are-you-doing-now-here-are-my-kids-look-at-yours-OH-MY-WORD-do-you-remember-when?" with my best friend from college, Jamie and her family.
Yes, it was crazy that it had been 7 years, but that is life sometimes. Of course we were able to pick right back up where we left off-and why not, because there were so many times that you would have sworn we were THE SAME PERSON way back when. People thought we were sisters, although we never knew why.
We met at J&M II when we were both slaves to the "book rush" days. And, chances are, if you shopped at the J&M between 1997-2000, you probably purchased your overpriced books from me, and then brought them back to me for "buyback" and got mad when I didn't give you a lot for them. Viscious cycle.



Anyway, it was so good to see James and Matt and their little one (and another one on the way). And, it's good to know that through all of the changes that take place to a woman through the "birthing" years, there are some things that never change-good friendships! Love you!!

After that dinner, we finally made it to my brother's house to embark on the annual weekend of "try really hard to get a picture of all of the kids looking at the camera for Memae and Papa's Christmas card." And this year, we decided to take it on-location to the beautiful campus of Auburn University!
Because that would make it easier.
Cousins -1 (We would not throw poor Zackie on the bed with these 4!)

Let me start out by saying-
We got some of the best pictures y'all! I mean-look at them...





This is the one I chose and my caption will read:
Hope your family is as happy as ours this holiday season!





Here is my brother's-with a very simple caption ~ JOY!

Just kidding-we did get a good group one, which I have cropped down to take out the fact that Sister had fallen right before we left and scraped up her knees, so they were red. Therefore she kept pulling her skirt up.







But, we still had a great time and WB asked if next time we go to Auburn, could we go other places besides Samford Hall and the sign. Because that is the only part he has ever seen. Oh.

Moving on-
Have I shown y'all this resemblance?
Brad Paisley
Bub

Simply Gifted to feature SisterBug!

I want to invite each of you to

SIMPLY GIFTED

a market featuring items from SisterBug, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Southern Living at Home, and other handmade gift items.

You can shop on
Saturday, November 21st
anytime from 10 am until 4 pm!


There will be something for everyone on your list, including yourself!
I am so excited to be included and would love for you to come out and support my friends (and me :))!

This is hosted by one of my friends in her home, so if you are interested in coming by, please EMAIL ME (sisterbug@bellsouth.net) and I will be glad to send you directions!

Mamas, don't let your babies...

...dress up to be cowboys! They will look way cuter than you imagined!!
We started Halloween week off at our church's Funfest. And WB was able to go with us! We were so excited when he told us that everything fell through with his jobs for the day and he could go! I said a little Thank You to the Lord because I knew it would be so much easier with 2 of us!



We had lots of fun and sister was so excited to get in the "jumpy tangs" this year.

I think her Halloween was made when she got to trick or treat at Mr. Don's van. He is by far her favorite person at church! She loves to see him and "needs to tell him a question" every Sunday when we see him. She also makes papers for him about 13 times a week and asks me to mail them to him so that he can put them on his 'frigerator. I have given him a few, but I don't think he wants the amount of mail he would get from us on a daily basis.
Here is the family. Mrs. Bell took this picture and she reads my blog. She doesn't comment though, but I have been told that she is here- Hi! Thanks for taking our picture. It's ok for you to comment. I would love to hear from you!

Up next was the Scarecrow party at preschool. The class was suppose to dress up, but Sister said "Mommy, I don't want to dress up. Will you just make me a shirt?" She is so my child. I am not a fan of dressing in costumes. I really would not mind totally skipping over halloween. She very rarely plays dress up around here. We are who we are, I guess is the best way to put it.

I was curious about how she would do with us there. But, she was fine and had fun. Here is my take on school parties "Pure organized chaos!" Just like birthday parties, except someone else is in charge.

Buddy made himself at home. I am sure I will not have any trouble dropping him off at school everyday. He loves people!

We rounded off the festivities with trick or treating. We missed our neighborhood party because Sister had a fever all day on Halloween. So, we decided to go on our own and not infect all of our friends. We just went to a few houses.


Buddy was not really excited about it at first. This is the only pic I got of him because he would yell until I put the camera down. He did not want his picture taken that is for sure! I thought he was getting sick too, but so far so good! He was very polite and said "Ta too" when people would give him candy and always said 'BYEEEE" when we left.
It was a fun week, but I must say-glad to be moving on the the turkeys and the bright lights and the smell of oranges & cinnamon & cloves simmering on my stove!
And we will be having some quality time with these folks-

And attempting to get a Christmas card picture that is better than this

and this

Pray for our patience!