Life with my sister

10 years ago tonight I looked into Randall's blue eyes for the first time at the back door of my cousin Hollye's home in Memphis. A blind date set up by Julie and my mother-in-love (click here for Julie's refelction on the arrangement). For that date I am forever grateful. I did not want to go, thought my sister had lost her mind and was crushing on another boy. Boy, boy, boy...did I ever change my course when I looked into those blue eyes standing at Hollye's backdoor! (The night of our engagement) Well I lost my heart on the day we met But I gained a lot that I don't regret (one of our favorite engagement photos) Then I hung around til you said 'I do' Knew I wouldn't have nothin if I didn't have youWell, it changed my thinking when you changed your name Neither one of us will ever be the same And I swear I'm never gonna be untrue Cuz I wouldn't have nothing if I didn't have you (5 year anniversary in Cancun) If I didn't have you I...

We spent our third Christmas at home this year. As I have posted before, we decided we would always try to have Henry in his home for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. I was always at home growing up and Randall wasn't. He said it was not enjoyable and wanted to ensure that Henry have the experience I had and the one he always wanted. I think Randall loves it more than anyone. He is finally getting to have the Christmases he always wanted. It makes my heart happy. We do love the calmness of it and the fun of getting to make our own traditions. One of those traditions is having my mother-in-love in my kitchen with me on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Randall's parents come to stay with us on Christmas Eve and wake up with us on Christmas Morning. I love having Molly help me prepare our dishes and she always praises what I serve. I love some praise and some help in the kitchen...who doesn't?! I am working on finding the recipes we like a lot and want to serve each year. ...

Santa came and came big. Before he came we had to soak up the real meaning of Christmas. We went to church on Christmas Eve and Nana and Papa came in time to go with us. We got to sing and light glow sticks...Henry loved it! He got to go in the service with us and he did great. Christmas at our new church was such a treat this year. I reflected on things I had never really thought of. I love taking away new little nuggets of truth. I always enjoy a Christmas Eve service. It puts the rest of the night and the next day into perspective. Keeping with our Christmas tradition, we wore matching pajamas for the third year in a row. We wore Sesame Street themed pajamas this year. It was fun times. We love doing Christmas at home now that we have Henry. It is so peaceful and fun. We stayed in our pajamas all of Christmas Day. Nothing like a day in the pajamas. Those are rare for us these days. It was bliss. Christmas with a 2 year old is fun and exhausting. Capturing him on camera is difficul...

Christmas with Mama and Julie is always a huge highlight at Christmas. We do it a little early now that we have Henry and choose to be home on Christmas. Mama and Julie's family still do their exchange to each other on Christmas Day, but the ones to us and from us are ripped opened and enjoyed while we are in town. As you can see in the background of this photo...Randall is almost elbow deep in his Jelly Belly's. He was making all sorts of "recipes" with them and refused to share the good ones with us. My pretty girl with her new red sweater dress. She loved it and wore it to church on Christmas Day with her knee boots. Mama said that Anna is me made over but looks just like her mother. Nothing brings me more pleasure than to know my sister is raising me! Hee Hee . She is a leader and not a follower. She is a wealth of knowledge and shares every bit of it with you! She also has great common sense and sense of style for a 7 year old. She is a lot like me and that is n...

We all headed "home" for Christmas last week. Riding the train at the park during Christmas is always a fun family outing for us. This year we were so glad it was not as cold as it has been in years past. It was cold enough for it to be festive and that was great. We really are a handsome group. Mama always loves having all of us together at Christmas. Henry loves a choo choo. He had been looking forward to the train all week. He was so excited! Riding the train with family and friends makes Christmas in the Fort so much fun. Anna rode with me. I am so blessed to have a beautiful niece who loves me like crazy. Henry soaked up all the lights with his Daddy. He smiled the whole way around the park. Going "home" for Christmas is extra special because of the times spent with my best friend and her family. She has the cutest boys...even Sam looks pretty swank with his Christmas beard. (My man grew a Christmas beard also...not sure what all that is about) We were so glad ...

Christmas means getting in the truck and traveling to see family who live afar. Sharing the season with them is what makes this special season so special. Here is a snapshot of what our travels looked like Christmas weekend. Mama's couch is always a soft place with her girls and their babies on top of it. She loves having us all there with her. It is one of my favorite times. We have been blessed to do it a few times this year. Having the kids all together at Mama's makes memories that will last them a lifetime. Julie's kids are at the age where each time together is marked in their memory bank. I cherish these sweet times so much. I love any excuse to spend time with my sister. Being at Mama's makes that time extra special. We love to laugh at the same things and we have the same outlook on life for the most part. I love sharing history with her. We know each other better than anyone. Doing life with her is the best. We sometimes look nothing alike but I think in this ...

I posted this photo on purpose...Daddy is no longer a Rebel fan since they gave Houston the boot. He doesn't read this much anymore so he won't know unless someone tells him...don't tell him! This photo was taken at my house in Mississippi. Sweet and skinny times :) (Abby) Today is our heavenly father's birthday and we celebrate big..real big! It is also our earthly father's birthday. Our grandmother had a baby on Christmas. I can't imagine how incredible and inconvenient that must have been for her. Our Daddy shares a birthday with Jesus and Barbara Mandrel (Yes, we are reminded of this every year...all our lives we have heard this). We always have a little pity for him because everyone sort of forgets about him to praise Jesus. He loves Jesus also, so he looks past it. Bless him. He usually gets robbed in the presents department too. It is always easy to wrap one gift in blue paper and call it a birthday gift (not that we have ever done that....j...

Just because.....

This Christmas cutie has lots of fun teachers and friends that needed some Christmas goodies from our kitchen. So, Mama got to work and we made some fun things to take to church and school. We made these for his friends at church and his former teachers at daycare. You take a Nutter Butter and dip it in chocolate bark and sit it on wax paper with a Popsicle stick on the back. Place mini chocolate chips for the eyes and a red hot for the nose. Break a round pretzel in half for the antlers. I put them in small clear bags and closed them with ribbon. They were so cute and so much fun! We made smores kits for his friends at school and to add to our neighbors goodie tins. The card attached said, "Have SMORE fun this Christmas! Love, Henry". We put a snowman Peep in the clear bag with 2 graham cracker squares and a small Hershey bar. I tied them off with ribbon and attached the little card by punching a hole in it and running it through the ribbon. Henry will miss his party at ...

Julie sent photos from the Beavers Academy Christmas party and like a good sister and aunt I have to post them for all to see. The children in her school are 4 of my most favorite children in the whole wide world. Watching how they do school is always so much fun. Their school administrator, teacher and nurse rocks! Beavers Academy had a school Christmas party. Isn't the student body adorable?! The handsome teenage student had just gotten in from duck hunting. The look alike students had been playing in the ditch and the prissy student was still lounging in her pajamas. I love the students at Beavers Academy, don't you?! Their party spread looked so yummy. They went to a lot of effort with the cheeseball and celery boats, etc. The student body at BA has a great home ec teacher, that is fo'sho ! The Skittles on the Christmas plate is my favorite dish of all. The little grin on that face in the background is the best part of this picture though. I heart that face! The pa...