Kick off to Christmas

This is supposed to be the post where I show you the photo's taken at the Christmas parade, but the parade was postponed till next week. The weather turned sour today with high winds and rain.

The reason that I haven't posted for the last couple of days is because Brookelynn has had me putting up the Christmas tree and other festive decorations all weekend. I even made a wreath for the front porch this year. I'm kinda proud of it too. Nothing too complex, but I like it.

Different Strokes for Different Folks

• There's the type of people who start Christmas shopping right after Thanksgiving dinner...and they shop all night.
• There's the type of people who get up early the morning after Thanksgiving and shop all day.
• Then, there's us...Wanna know how we spend the day after Thanksgiving?



Food, Friends, & Family

We ate a midday Thanksgiving meal with my family.

We had dinner with Stroker's family and friends.  

Click here to view the Hayes Family Thanksgiving video on You Tube.



Preparing for Thanksgiving

Last night, I was sooo tired that I dreaded the thought of all the cooking that I had to do today. I went to bed at 6pm just to get rested up. Brookelynn and I got up around 8 am this morning and started the day with grocery shopping (right after a quick stop by Sonic...my morning drink stop). 
We knocked out the grocery list in no time, so we went to Belk, Kohls, & JC Penney to shop a little for ourselves. We bought  a bit much considering that Christmas is just 4 weeks away.

Once we returned home, we made mashed potato's, corn, squash casserole, stuffing (or dressing...whichever you prefer to call it), a cheese danish, macaroni and cheese. I think that is about it for our part of the dinner. I am looking forward to lots of good food tomorrow. My favorite dish for Thanksgiving is sweet potato's and macaroni and cheese (together). That may sound gross, but it is sooo good. My least favorite dish at Thanksgiving.....

Just be Thankful

Stroker cooked burgers and hot dogs on the grill today since we had such a warm sunny day.

This weather is a bit confusing to me. 

 Brookelynn has worn me and Stroker out with continuous Uno for the last 2 days.

 I finally got those stinkin' corn hole boards painted.

I got in a rush to get it done and just slopped the paint on there, but it looks OK from a distance.
I am just thankful that they are done.

I also started my holiday baking tonight.  I snipped open a pack of Nestle Toll House, placed them on a cookie sheet and popped them in the oven.  Brookelynn baked a couple in her "Easy Bake" too.

Brookelynn's class had an assignment today to make a list of what they are thankful for...

The third one up from the bottom made me and Stroker chuckle a little. We asked Brooke what made her want to add that to her "Thankful List" and she said that she doesn't like when kids have to go to their moms for a while, then to their dad's for a while.  She said that a lot of her friends have to do that, but she's glad that we all have Thanksgiving together.

With that said, Stroker and I had to agree...We are glad that we are not divorced too.



Parties and Presents!

This was a party filled weekend.  Saturday morning we met up with Mildred and Paradise for breakfast at IHOP. Afterwords, we went home, got some birthday gifts wrapped and then we were off to celebrate number 3 with Jett.

He got lots of presents

 We all ate cake

and jumped around

        and slid down the slides

                and giggled and squealed 

Jett blew out three candles

 He opened all his gifts and thanked everybody

                He took time to read his cards (with his mommy's help)

                and then opened the rest of his gifts.

He had a good day!

After Jett's party, we loaded up and took Brookelynn to her second party of the day at her friend Treasure's house.  It was a slumber party birthday. They ate pizza and cake then went to the skating rink. They finished off the night by staying up till 1am.

Devin had made plans to spend the night at his friend Braiden's house. They were up late with some other neighborhood boys running around with air soft guns battling each other around the neighborhood.

Stroker and I were up late too. Since we didn't have any kids for the night, we went on a date to Outback for dinner, then watched "Grown Ups". It was after midnight before we got to bed. That is late for us.

This morning we got up and went around town rounding up the kids.  Neither of them were ready to come home.  We had several chores to finish up around the house today. We managed to complete about half the items on our "To Do" List. One of those things was to finish my Christmas shopping and I Did It!

Hopefully I will finish everything else up this week.



3rd Grade Olympics

Whew...it was a long day. The 3rd Grade Olympics went on almost  the whole school day. Brookelynn had a great time, and so did the other 3rd graders in the county.

Dinner at Home

Last night, we met up with Keith, Heather and the rest of their bunch at El Tapatio.  Dinner got a little interesting when Sara did her sign language for a refill.  Tonight, was dinner at home and a small funeral service for "Sparkle", the latest of Brookelynn's fish to die.  I probably shouldn't mention that he died on Sunday.

I still plan to get that bathroom closet painted, but not tomorrow because it's 3RD GRADE OLYMPICS at TTU. I will be there cheering Brookelynn on.

Random Ramblings

The rain and low temperature the last couple of days have give me the sneezes. Today was a very blustery day too!

With the sun going down early, it feels like bedtime by 6pm.

I still haven't gotten the bathroom closet painted.

Tomorrow is the "Thanksgiving Cafe" at Brookelynn's school, so I plan to eat lunch with her.

Tomorrow is also the "Chic-fil-a Receipt Day" for any of you who are interested, the details are below.

Parties, Parades and Showers

As another weekend comes to a close, I sit here and try to think back on the events that took place. 
This weekend our  family was divided most of the time. The guys hung out and did guy stuff, while us girls did our thing.

Friday night Brookelynn and I attended a Jewel Kade party that my sister hosted. The guys stayed home and watched football.  After the jewelry party, Brookelynn asked me if she could spend the night with Darlene, so I had to come home by myself.

Saturday morning was the TTU Homecoming parade. My sister brought Brookelynn back and brought Jett to watch the parade. He seems to enjoy the floats, but doesn't care too much for the loud marching bands. 

 Here comes one of those noisy marching bands.

The theme this year was "Tech Toons"

The candy started landing at Jett's feet and he was ready to tear into it.

 Some of those crazy TTU students running around like maniac's LOL.

 Mario

 Luigi

This is the second year that Jett watched the tech parade with us. You can view last years parade by clicking here.

Devin, being TTU's "number 1 fan"  had to attend the homecoming game, so he and Stroker went to the stadium.

After the parade, Brooke and I  had a couple errands to run, a quick stop by the party store, loaded up the car and then it was off to Tiffany and Kendal's baby shower. Of course I was running a little late to help get things set up, that seems to be my calling card these days. Once we got the cake unloaded, the "Braxton James" banner on the wall, the rest of the table cloths on the tables and the balloons blown up and scattered around, we were good to go.

Lots of great gifts and baby necessities landed in Kendal and Tiffany's lap yesterday.

Today had only one item on the agenda...Paint the bathroom closet.

Guess what didn't get finished.?!

Instead, Brookelynn and I went for brunch at O'Charley's (while the guys watched the Titan's game) then we went on a local shopping spree. She got new boots, new shoes and a new outfit. We bought smelly stuff for the house at Bath and Body works and was too tired to make the trip to Wal-Mart.  We later caught our second wind and made the Wal-Mart trip to buy a few snack items for the week, then finished off this weekend with dinner at El Tapatio with Stroker and Devin..

Five for Friday!

1. Going to a Jewel Kade party in Sparta tonight.
2. Got the first coat of paint on Stroker's corn hole boards.
3. Had lunch at Cracker Barrel with Daddy and Phyllis.
4. Got the house straightened up (a little).

5. Got my colonoscopy over with.

Feeling a little Poopie

Spent the morning consuming plenty of liquids, then spent the entire evening in the powder room preparing for tomorrow.

I have been told many times in my life that I am "full of it", and this evening proves it to be true (but not anymore).

I know, I know...TMI



Party - Party - Party

Been working on a banner for the baby shower that I am helping host this Saturday, and I just finished the invitations to Jett's 3rd birthday party next Saturday. It's just one party after another these days.

I smuged out some of the info. for this web preview, because you can never be too careful these days.

I have been meaning to paint the bathroom closet for 2 weeks, but no luck getting around to it. Since Brookelynn got her new bingo game, we have played a few times...Hey, there's an idea for family date night.  I am looking forward to family date night in the near future (I hope).

We went to El Tapatio for dinner tonight (just the four of us). Our "go out to eat partners" were "under the weather" and didn't get to join us this time.

Brookelynn and I wrapped the Christmas gifts last night that I bought on Sunday.

Well, I guess that is all of my random thoughts tonight. 

Our Day Off

It felt great to get an extra hour sleep this morning. We spent the entire day doing whatever we wanted. Brookelynn and I looked at a few open houses and picked up a few more Christmas gifts. Stroker and Devin hung out around the house.

Brookelynn spent time going through all her new toys and baby doll clothes. She hung out on the couch watching her new "Camp Rock the Final Jam" movie and giving her baby doll a bottle.

Hooty Hooo!

It takes a lot of planning and preparation for 2 and a half hours of party fun.

Since the cold weather set in for the weekend, we had to relocate the party indoors at the last minute. To ensure that everyone got the message, we made a sign for our front porch.

I wanted to make a birthday banner, but wanted something  a little more personal than just the usual "Happy birthday", so this is what I came up with...Brookelynn's past celebrations.

 Here is an up close of the photos...she has grown sooo much.

I made chili (and people actually liked it {grin}).

I made sweet tea to put in the drink server.

I also had chicken strips for the kiddos.

And of course cake, cupcakes and ice cream.

(A birthday party isn't a party without cake and ice cream)

 This photo is brought to you by the number "9"

 There was a table full of awesome gifts.

 We played a game to see who could be the first to sink their teeth into an apple with their hands behind their back.

This game lasted a little longer than I  thought it would. Turns out, it's a pretty hard challenge.

We played "Pin the Beak on the Owl"

 The bounce house stayed full.

  Brookelynn loved ALL of her gifts.

 She has been wanting to learn how to crochet

 Cash is always a good gift in Brookelynn's opinion.

By the end of the party, Jett was hot and tired. I found him taking a break and cooling off at the ice cooler.

He is such a "hoot" to have around.  Always making us smile.

That's it, in a nutshell, for the 9th birthday celebration. Now we are tired and Brookelynn's room is running over with new stuff. Luckily we get to turn the clocks back an hour tonight to help us get some rest. .