Two for Tuesday

1 .  Brookelynn is in Christmas shopping mode. She and I went out shopping for a while last night. She wants to spend "her" money to buy us gifts...how precious.

2 .  Tonight is date night for me and Stroker (and two other couples) at Cracker Barrel. It's not often that we partake in adult only outings. We have both been looking forward to this one.

Rainy November Days

Rainy, Dreary days are good for two things...

1. Laying around on the couch...Brookelynn wouldn't get up, so Stroker laid in her lap.

2 . Getting those things done that have been on your "To Do" list for a while. I made a movie of Brookelynn's birthday photo's and posted them online. You can view it by clicking HERE

Black Friday

We spent the day today, dragging out Christmas decorations and we even got some of them displayed. The rest is scattered precariously throughout the house.  The Christmas tree is up and decorated at least.
When the mail ran today, I received a couple of envelopes with the following enclosed:

Remember when I posted about my debit card number being stolen in October?  Looks like some of the money orders that were purchased managed to find there way to me.  $3,820.00 worth of them anyway. I still can't fathom when and where someone got hold of the number.

I wonder if my debit card number was stolen in Destin Fl. when we went on vacation? We did use it A LOT while we were there and we paid for the condo with it too. 

Note to self:  Future vacations will be credit card and cash only.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

Stroker received one of his Christmas gifts today. We ordered "Big 10 Network" so he spent the day glued to the couch.

We came down with a case of cabin fever around 6pm and took a trip to the movies to see "The Muppets".

It wasn't awesome, I must admit...but it did spark up some nostalgia from my childhood years.

Thanksgiving 2011

During the Thanksgiving holiday, I feel that it's important to take time to reflect on the things that we are truly thankful for. It's so easy to get caught up in the baking, planning and preparation of the holiday that we easily miss the significance. We take a lot of things for granted every day, such as our home, transportation, mom, dad and siblings. I thank the Lord everyday for Stroker, Devin and Brookelynn; they were truly hand picked for me by Him. I am also very thankful that our family became actively involved in church this year. Those on and off visits to church in past years were just not sufficient. I am especially thankful that my children accepted Him into their hearts this past July.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. (3 John 1:4)
This year God gave us all a reminder that he is in control and that we should acknowledge Him for who He is.
Tuesday night, just after 11pm, we received a disturbing call that Briana had been in an accident. She flipped her Ford Escape several times, took out several fence posts and landed across the street. Amazingly, she walked away with treatable injuries. The greatest blessing is that she walked away.

We thank you Lord for Your mercy and grace.

We spent the day traveling to Sparta and Algood to feast with family and friends. It is blessing to have a place to go and spend the holiday with loved ones; it is a greater blessing to have more than one place to go to celebrate the holiday. For that, I am thankful.

What It Is All About

Countdown to Thanksgiving

Did I mention that I got Braxton's birthday invitations done? Feeling a little productive I must admit.

Dinner came early today. By 4:30 we were at Logan's Roadhouse.
Brookelynn and I accomplished a bit of Christmas shopping today. We even got everything that we bought wrapped this evening. We also stopped by Blockbuster Video and rented "Planes, Trains, & Automobiles". My most favorite Thanksgiving movie ever. So what if it's from 1987, it is very funny and the story of the movie is awesome. I laugh throughout the entire thing and then finish it off with tears (EVERY time I watch).
One thing that I don't have accomplished is my grocery shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. Brookelynn and I have plans to get up early tomorrow morning and go.
Oh...I forgot to mention pomegranate. I have been curious about this fruit for a while, so I finally bought one. Brookelynn and I took a YouTube tutorial on how to eat it and we both gave it a try. I think it is great.

No Shave November

Before I post the weekend happenings of the Hayes House, I want to go ahead and show you the latest image of Stroker. He says that this is "No Shave November".  And he is even contemplating about carrying this look into "Don't Shave December". He claims that he is going for the Rick Ross look, but we will see how that goes.

As for the rest of the Hayes house, cold and congestion sat in on Devin last Thursday and carried throughout till Saturday. Just in time for him to go watch TTU win the big OVC game. He was ecstatic. He and Gary went to the football game and then ended the night with the TTU basketball game (which didn't have such an awesome ending).
Brookelynn spent the entire day Saturday asking "is it time to go to Treasure's yet?". Finally, at 5:30, she got to go. They went to the movies to see "Puss In Boots" and had a sleepover. It was one of those sleepovers where nobody sleeps...not till 3am a least.
Stroker and I had Saturday night and the house all to ourselves.  So, how did we spend such an anomalous
evening you ask?  Microwave dinner and in bed by 10pm of course. Stoker stayed up a little later trimming up his new beard.  That's the kind of romance you can expect after 13 years in a relationship and almost nine years of marriage. Don't let that last statement mislead you,...I love every second of it.
Sunday morning I got up with a horrible headache (must of been from our wild and crazy Saturday night without the kidsLOL). I got up at 6am just to take Tylenol and lay back down. The aching finally eased up about an hour later. I started my Sunday by preparing a squash casserole for the feast of Thanksgiving at church. Stroker went to pick Brookelynn up at Treasure's house so she could attend church. We had a great turn out today for "Show Up Sunday". Some of our family members took us up on our invitation, others just stayed home as usual. After church, we went with my sister and brother-in-law to Cheddars for lunch.
By 2pm, we were at Jett's Angry Bird Birthday party. He celebrated 4 today.

He sure loves those angry birds.

We left Jett's party at 3:30 to take Brookelynn to Treasure's house because her party started at 4pm, but on the way, Brookelynn told us that she just wasn't feeling well enough to go to the party. We ended up just dropping the gift off.

We ended the evening with the feast of Thanksgiving and it was great. WE have so much to be Thankful for.

Wordless Wednesday

I Am Thankful

In recognition of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, here are some things that I have been thankful for this week.

Well, if Erin isn't going to mention her winning experience on her blog, I am going to mention it on mine.  This past weekend she won  a give away on Jenn Cooper's blog that I had hoped to win. I usually don't bother entering blog drawings, but found this little owl collection cute. I didn't really expect to win, but I am sure thankful that one of us won.

I took a knitting tutorial today on scarfs. These scarfs are too gorgeous to pass up, and the only way you can get one is to knit it yourself. Although I have screwed something up with my last few loops, I am certain that I WILL finish this scarf and I will be so thankful when I do.  It might be July before I get it completely done, so if you see me on Independence Day with a scarf around my neck, just compliment it and do not ask any questions.

I also attended PEP Talks again today. That group seems to grow every week. I look forward to these meetings each Tuesday and I am thankful that they are offered. Today we talked about the importance of Affirmation. I made a list of sixteen things that I love about Devin. I think I will give it to him on his 16th birthday
.
I am also thankful for all my blog readers...those who "follow" my blog, those who "bookmark" and check in on the Hayes Hayes Happenings regularly, those who search for my blog...and even those who won't admit that they check in on the Hayes House Happenings blog because they don't want me to know how much they really care.
I am thankful for all of you.

Tomorrow I am looking forward to lunch with Brookelynn. It is the annual Thanksgiving Cafe at her school. Lots of parents will show up to enjoy the first round of turkey, dressing and all the fixings this holiday season. I am thankful that I have the opportunity to join her at school for all of her events and celebrations.

Thursday, I will be in Murfreesboro all day and Friday we plan to visit mom and take dinner to her house.
I will deal with Saturday and Sunday when it gets here. It's going to be another go, go, go weekend.
I am thankful that we are blessed with somewhere to go and something to do all of the time. There are many lonely people in the world that have nothing to look forward to.

Empty Nest

Whew, finally a chance to sit down and relax. The last three days have been in fast forward.
Thursday, four of us ladies loaded up and headed to Christmas Village at the Nashville Fairgrounds. It was a great "girls only" adventure. It is very rare that I get out amongst a crowd that doesn't include my family of four. I cherish the time we spend together as a family and the memories we make, but shopping till I drop with a Tahoe full of women was a great way to reboot. It was 11pm when we arrived back in Cookeville Thursday night.
Friday morning was here before I had a chance to turn over in the bed. Devin was all packed up and ready for the youth retreat that he was heading out to after school. I got the kids delivered to school and started my day. Brookelynn asked if Treasure could spend the night, so we agreed. It was like having the house to ourselves Friday night. Devin was in Gatlinburg and Brooke and Treasure stayed in Brookelynn's room dragging out every new toy that Brooke received for her birthday.
Saturday morning we woke up early to the sound of Stroker's phone. Devin was texting to see what time TTU played ball today. I tried to sleep in a bit, but it was hopeless. Brookelynn and Treasure got up around 8:30 and played the day away. Treasure went home around 4:30 and we finished the day with dinner at El Tap.
I miss Devin. I will be glad when he gets home tomorrow.

Mid Week Review

We have spent the last few days resting up from all the Halloween and Birthday madness. Thanksgiving madness will be here before we know it. We have also spent this week cleaning up and packing away the party decorations. Brookelynn has spent the week scattering all of her new birthday gifts and new clothes around the house. She has changed her outfits at least twenty times in the past four days.
I still don't know why she felt the need to wear this for a half an hour tonight...

Devin is getting packed up for his weekend trip to Gatlinburg.

Tomorrow, I am off to Nashville to experience "Christmas Village" for the first time. I am kind of excited to go. This is supposed to be the number one Christmas craft fair around.

Enjoying the Journey

We spent the last couple of weeks preparing for today. Brookelynn and I made invitations a couple of weeks ago.  This weekend she told me that she wanted to make a banner for her party, so we did.  She also picked out all of her ice cream bar toppings and placed them in serving glasses.  She has been soooo excited this weekend.  I told her that getting ready for the party was half the fun and that she should take time to enjoy all the preparation too (and she did).  I explained that we shouldnt always look forward to what we are trying to achieve, but instead we should enjoy the journey of getting there.
We woke up to a blustery morning today. Decorations were blowing around and swaying with the wind as we sat decorations out. We got most everything set up before church and the winds died down quite a bit before the party. It turned out to be a beautiful day for an ice cream social. Brookelynn had lots of family and friends to come and celebrate her "double digits".
This year, she invited four classmates, and all four of them were able to attend. She had a great day! We had potato sack races, jumped in the bounce house, played bingo and made ice cream sundae's. 

Brookelynn's banner kept blowing around. I thought I had better get a picture while it was staying still.

John Casen had fun on the bounce house too.

TTU Homecoming Parade and Bee's B-Day

Today began early with Stroker taking Devin to the barber shop by 8am. Brookelynn and I hung out a few decorations for tomorrow's party since there was no chance of rain in the forecast. By 10:30, we were at Tech watching the homecoming parade.

Here are some of the floats.

 This was one of my favorites.

 This one was cute with the faded out Awesome Eagle. This costume IS ready for retirement.

 Of course, the traditional student mob came through. 

 Where's Waldo?

 After the tech parade, we stopped by to pick up Brookelynn's cake for her party tomorrow. We also stopped by the Sports House to find out what's up with the city league basketball team. Devin signed up a moth ago and we haven't heard anything. When we got back home around 1pm, Mildred stopped by to show us Bee's cake that she had picked up for his birthday. It was a cute fish, just not the age appropriate fish that we expected. Bee turned 57 today. We were kind of expecting a bass or something along that line. None-the-less, it was cute and it was a fish. Brookelynn noticed that they had written the name "Dee" instead of "Bee".  She has a good eye for attention to detail.

We spent the evening at Mildreds. We got home in time to bake a batch of cupcakes for Brookelynn's ice cream social. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.