Last night, I had Devin to stand by the door to his bedroom so I could measure his growth as we do periodically. In the words of Jennifer Lopez...."Wowa". He has grown 5.5" inches in the past 2 years. I have drawn arrows in the photo below to help clarify the picture.

 and here is a close up.

He is now officially taller than I am.

Today, I took mom to her check up appointment at Tennessee Heart. Good news...they feel that her heart is doing well; however they think she may have acid reflux or GERD causing occasional pain and tightness in her chest, so they would like for her to have her esophagus looked at.

Happy 15th Devin

Just in time for Devin's 15th birthday weekend, the cloudy sky faded, the sun shone and air was warm (about 63 degrees).  Aaaaahhhhhhh Spring. It's so close that I can taste it.  Oh wait....That's not Spring...I think that's garlic that I am still tasting from Olive Garden last night LOL. 
Twenty of us met up at 6pm for dinner, so many that we had to sit at two different tables. At least they were side by side. I could tell that Devin was a bit excited to have us all together for his birthday dinner. His friend Braden joined us too.
I was the unprepared mom yesterday. I went to Wal-Mart to get the PS3 Call of Duty Black Ops game for Devin's birthday gift and they were sold out. Luckily I got the last one at Game Crazy.  When we arrived at Olive Garden, I realized that I didn't have a camera with me (CRAP). I did have my FLIP out in the car, so I brought it inside only to find that my batteries were dead (CRAP again).  I tried to take a picture of Devin and his cake with my mobile phone, but the battery icon was blinking because it was about to die. It didn't have enough battery juice to turn on the camera function (CRAP, CRAP, CRAP).
So, this is it. The only photo I have to document Devin's 15th birthday party. It was taken by Gary's phone and then forwarded to me.

This morning, Brookelynn and I got up and took Cletus to the park for a 2 mile walk. It felt soooo good outside. Stroker washed and waxed the trailer while we were gone. Devin and Braden spent most of last night and today glued to PS3

Looking Back

Tonight at dinner, I began a story with "let me tell you what I was doing on this day 25 years ago". I  immediately got smirky looks from Devin, Brookelynn and Stroker followed by Stroker's comment "yeah right...like you remember what you did on this day 25 years ago". 
I assured him that after I told my story, he would remember this day too (and he did).  I would say almost anyone our age remembers what they were doing when the space shuttle "Challenger" lifted off the launch pad and exploded 72 seconds later. It seemed like the entire world was watching. It was supposed to make history as the first teacher ever to go into Space; however history took a twist and seven lives were lost as their families, friends and the nation watched.
I don't remember why I didn't go to school that day, but I remember being at Wal-Mart (of all places) with my mom and I told her that I was going to the electronic department to watch the shuttle lift off on all of the TV's. Other shoppers happened to stop and watch the lift off too. I would say you could hear the GASP across the nation as the shuttle disintegrated. 
I was 9 years old at the time, yet I remember it as though it was yesterday.

In other news...I went by this afternoon to pick up Devin's birthday cake, it turned out looking really cool. Devin keeps opening the box to take another look.

Winter Ramblings

The temperature made it to the 40's for just a couple of days, then we woke up this morning to snow again. The kids have just one more snow day to miss before they have to start making them up. Tomorrow, school is supposed to be running two hours late, but we will see how that plays out since the temperature is only going to be in the 20's tonight. It seems that this cold and dreary winter weather might just be our new climate here in Tennessee.  
We have had more snow these last two winters than we have had in the past decade. This Christmas was our first "white Christmas" in seventeen years.  It has brought activity at the Hayes house to a screeching halt. We have watched more TV this month than we have in last decade. I cant wait till the mercury rises and coats are tucked away in the closet for a long summer nap.
Today, I managed to accomplish one thing. I called Olive Garden to let them know that we have a party of fifteen to twenty people showing up to eat Saturday night at 6pm.  I also wanted to ensure that it is ok for me to drop Devin's birthday cake off earlier that day.

 Tonight, we watched another episode of American Idol. 

Jennifer Lopez has really moved up on my "people I like" list since she has become an American Idol judge. She just seems so genuine and fun.

Be sure to watch

Thursday night, because it is the Nashville auditions.

Who knows what kind of entertainment we are in for.

Unpredictable Weekend

We just got back home from dinner at Logan's Roadhouse with Keith, Heather, Aysiah & Sarah. Logan's is our favorite restaurant these days.

This weekend has had a couple of unusual events take place. One being that a message popped up from Picasa Web albums that I had used all my free photo space and I now have to pay annual fees to upload and store more blog photos. CRAP! ..I guess I will pay it though. After all, my blog address is

"pictures worth 1000". I can't have an address like that and not post pictures.

The second unusual event was about Devin. For those of you that know Devin, you know how big of a TTU fan he is. He did some web research a couple of weeks ago and found different video highlights of a particular TTU football player and compiled a video to post on his youtube account. You can view the video HERE. Devin has 13 channel subscribers, 66 youtube friends and over 4300 channel views on you tube. I have 2 channel subscribers, 2 youtube friends and 175 channel views. Oh and did I mention that I have had my youtube account more than twice as long as Devin. He has a talent for creating interesting journalism. Something that I obviously am lacking ;0)

Anyway, (quick recap) Devin created the video of the Tech football player and posted it on his youtube account a couple of weeks ago. Guess what!?  Devin received a message yesterday from the player asking Devin to please contact him either by phone or email because he would like for Devin to make his scout video to give recruiters. Of course, Stroker and I immediately started looking at the BIG picture, I imagined Devin creating this one video, then another, then others... eventually becoming a career journalist/videographer.

I also thought Devin would jump all over the opportunity. Unfortunatley, being the "work at your own pace" kinda guy that Devin is, he has not responded to the guy yet. I have been hearing a cracking sound all day today. I think it's the sound of my career vision for Devin starting to shatter :(

Brookelynn's Weekend

Brookelynn left out yesterday around lunch to go celebrate her friend Kelsey's birthday. The went to Olive Garden for lunch then to get manicures and pedicures, then to Kelsey's house to have some birthday cake. By the end of the day, the girls were calling us to see if Brookelynn could spend the night at Kelsey's.  
Brookelynn is such a loafer.  Devin likes to stay more close to home.
I went to pick Brooke up this morning at 10am because I was missing her. I told her that her Aunt Darlene had brought over baby clothes for her baby doll from Stacia and that coaxed her to finally come home. She was sooo excited to get all the clothes (Thank you Stacia). She laid them all out on her bed, showed them to her baby doll and tried to pack them all in her diaper bag but there were just too many.

Earlier today I ordered Devin's birthday cake for next weekend. It is going to look like the TTU football field. The lady that does my cakes has always met my expectations. You can view her work HERE.

sNOw Again...Uuuugggghhhh

Yes, I have become a slacker at this blogging business so far in 2011. Although we have been couped up in the house a bit more due to weather, shortened daylight hours and the lack of an agenda, I still have trouble finding the time to sit down and journal our happenings. This week, Brookelynn has been wearing her new clothes that we found at Gymboree last weekend. The first outfit she chose was this one that has "Daddy's Girl" stitched across the front.

  She said that one little boy in class made a comment, but she didn't care what he thinks. I love the way Brookelynn has a strong mind of her own and does not feel intimidated by anyone.

Cletus also has a new look. He visited the groomer to get rid of a lot of his shag.

On Wednesday, the kids brought their report cards home from school and Brookelynn wanted to go to Dairy Queen so she could get her free meal for having all A's. Since the rest of us didn't earn a free meal at DQ, we opted for McDonald's. We returned home by 7pm, so we sat back and watched the season premier of "American Idol". I like the new judging panel this year. I especially like JLo for some reason. She seems to be a genuinely kind hearted person.

Thursday evening the snow flakes started falling again. Eventually there were enough to call off school today. This is snow day number eleven. Only two more snow days left to use.

Sunday Night Sleepover

I honestly cant remember all of the "happenings" that have been going on since Tuesday.
One evening, we ventured out to the park again to  feed the ducks.
Yesterday, we went shopping at Lebanon and Mt. Juliet. I found some great deals at Gymboree.
Last night, Brooke went for a sleepover at her friend Treasure's house.
Last night, we joined Bucket, Jennifer and Libby for dinner at Zaxby's.
Tonight, Treasure is sleeping over at our house.

Devin is still glued to the PS3 .

Stoker has been glued to Brooke's laptop researching Michigan's new coach.



Rain-Sleet-Snow

Rain, sleet and snow the past two days, yet I still refuse to confine myself to the kitchen.

Although the snow and sleet have halted a lot of travel for most people, we still load up and head out for dinner. Yesterday, we went to Cheddar's, which had all of 18-20 people in the entire restaurant.  Periodically, we would catch ourselves laughing and talking loud as if the restaurant was full of noisy people.

It seemed weird to be there in such emptiness.

Tonight we braved the sleet and ice to go to Logan's Roadhouse. As we were turning at the traffic light, we seen this.

Stroker and some other guy went over to help the lady and eventually the police showed up just shortly after another van came over the hill and slid into the car. Stroker and the other guy calmly backed up and got out of the way when they seen the van skidding toward them.  They stood back and just watched the show.

The entire time I was thinking "Where's my stinkin' FLIP camera when I need it".

In happier news, Michigan has a new football coach. Now Stroker will finally be able to sleep at night.

meet Coach Hoke

"Frosty" flakes

I forgot to blog about the other day when the kids and I went to feed the ducks. It has been cold outside and the ducks were starving. When we stepped out of the car, every duck on the lake flocked to us. Brookelynn was a bit nervous because she thought they were trying to attack her. I explained that hardly anyone comes to feed the ducks on the cold and dreary winter days; everybody wants to stop by and feed them when its warm and sunny. Eventually, Brookelynn became comfortable with the ducks and relaxed.

Today, Mother Nature threw another three inches of snow at us.  At least it was the good snowman making kind. Brookelynn and Stroker got "Frosty" together and prepared him for his birthday party, complete with his birthday hat. After all, today is his birthday you know.

It appears that the temperature is going to be freezing (or below) all week, so it doesn't look like we will be saying goodbye to Frosty anytime soon.

They also made a couple of snow angels before deciding to come in and warm up.

IBDW

It's International Blog Delurking Week! (well, for one more day). 

 What does that mean?

It means that if you lurk here then you need to come out, come out, wherever you are!

Drop a comment and tell me who  you are or how long you've been reading or who/what led you here or leave me a link to your blog, or just say hi!

Don't be scared. Don't be shy.

You can always leave comments on any of my posts just by simply clicking the "comments" link at the end of each post.

Friday Flashback

Not much has been happening here at the Hayes House the last couple of days...and it has been awesome!

With the weather cold and dreary, we have spent the evenings indoors, piled up on the couch with a snuggly blanket.

Today I want to say...

Happy Birthday Maleigha

This photo was taken in 1988. I wonder if Maleigha can still pose like this?

Welcome 201 1

Today is the 3rd day of January and I have not posted to my blog yet...till now. Not that I have time tonight, but I feel that if I don't, I will forget the events of the last three days (as if they changed the world LOL).

New Years Eve was monumental this year (Erin, you should have been there). We usually go to Bucket and Jennifer's and we usually toast champagne at midnight, and there are usually a couple of people having a drink before midnight.  This year, there were only a handful of us that were not under the influence . Some people say that it is not much fun to be the sober one in a crowd of intoxicated individuals, but I would have to disagree. There are perks to being sober... the entertainment was hilarious, there was no hangover and you wake up remembering everything that happened and laugh all over again.  The night started off with some Michael Jackson dance games on the Wii. By the end of night, the guys could not even find a clear spot in front of the TV to play the Wii bowling championship; however, Devin managed to take home that trophy.

I forgot to take my camera that night (dang it), but I did have the ol' trusty FLIP in my purse. You can view my documentary here, but be warned...it's about eight minutes long. Here are just a couple of snapshots I have acquired.

Keith, Matt, Christopher, Stroker, Keisha and Bucket (front)

Bucket and Matt

We didn't get home till after 1 a.m. We left everyone else partying. We slept in a bit the next day. Not much was accomplished. It was cold and rainy because some storms had set in after we got home the night before. We spent the biggest part of the day like this.

HGTV is our channel from Thanksgiving till Easter.

Saturday night, we also got to babysit Jett and Dash for a couple of hours while Stacia and Delano celebrated their anniversary with some kid free alone time. Dash fell asleep for about a half hour, but Jett kept the conversation going the whole time he visited.  He also liked my Taco Soup that I made (yep, I cooked soup) . He did tell me that it needed more meat and beans...LOL, but then he found more hiding under his chips.

He cracks me up ;)

Sunday, we all felt a little like this.

 and did a lot more of this.

till Sunday night, then we met up with Keith, Heather, & Aysiah at El Tapatio.

Oh yeah, Devin has been practicing his Cuponk skills too.  He gets kinda frustated at times, but he keeps throwing the ball. Here is a quick preview. (The sound might overlap my music player unless you pause it.)