A time for Reflection ( & catch up!)

Wow.. has it been a perfectly relaxing last week around our house and relaxing i have, not doing much of anything ( of course the cooking, cleaning and laundry NEVER stops!) So, as the muffin takes her nap, mini me is off playing with her friends and her words as she was leaving was : "mom, dad, you guys can do what mom's and dad's do while i'm gone." uhhhhhhhhhhhh... and what's that ? .. " You know, watch movies together, and stuff." PHEW- didn't know where she was goin with THAT one!

Before Christmas, we took a little drive to SC and went to see some family friends i've known literally since i was born! We love going to their church in Anderson, SC called Newspring. Check it out on : http://www.newspring.cc/ Perry Noble is their pastor- i cant say enough about this man.. FABULOUS church service, i kid you not-

We also took my friend and her kids with us and were able to just kick back and have a fun filled day-

Note the sweet moment between Muffin and mini me playing the piano-

17 boxes of rice chex...

*3 large containers of Peanut Butter

*7 large bags of Powdered sugar

*2 Containers of Vanilla Extract

*7 bags of chocolate chips

* 3 Large boxes of Butter

Equals a whole lotta 'Muddy Buddies', or 'Puppy Chow' as some call it!!

I threw out the idea of making this for my hubby's team, but didnt know he'd ASK them if they wanted me to make them treats.. you see, i'd rather do something on my own ambition than HAVE to do it. Hubby has 100 people that work for him and so i thought i would do something nice for them for Christmas. Little did i know what a huge project i had cut out for myself.. the kitchen, kitchen table and everything in between was a disaster.. it looked like all we ate was rice chex !! i've never gotten so many looks walking thru a wal*mart with a cart full of friggin cereal and everything else! It took me hours, and then the next day i actually tied a candy cane on each bag as well, but in the end, it was worth all of the pain in the butt that it was. Everyone loved it, exept for one lady that told the Hubby :"oh, i dont like stuff like that" - WOMAN! Keep your mouth SHUT next time, be graceful, say thank you and for goodness sakes, bless someone else with it.. She needs some etiquette lessons for sure! I made over 80 bags and actually ended up with 7 boxes of cereal, lots of butter, one and a half things of peanut butter and more left over, so will be making MORE for mini me's classmates, and some neighbors.. i'm sure THEY will appreciate it more than the ol' grump at Hubby's work-

A Party To Bless others...

Last Friday, Mini me went to a birthday party- i was so touched by this party unlike any other i've been to or heard of. Her invites were cans of food with a label around them, saying Happy Birthday, Natalie. Where the nutrition facts were, it had the place, time, etc. On the other side, it said In lieu of gifts, she will be taking canned food donations for a ministry here in GA- and her goal was to raise her weight in lbs. HELLO! what a better way to teach your children that it is better to give than receive, and at such a young, tender age?! I was so touched. Natalie's mom frequents the Chik-fil-a around here and they saw one of her invitations in her purse- she told them about the party and they suprised the girls and showed up!!! A group of them, one in the cow costume, and they too brought canned food. What an inspiration this party was!!
For games, they played a few but she also had them do a craft. They made cards for the people that would RECEIVE the food!
Take this party idea and run with it- i hope it touches you as it touched me!!

Other than Herself..

Christmas * Time is here-

.. Perfect time for a parade.. They literally shut down our entire two main roads for 3 hours so uh... we missed church.. (shh.. dont tell anyone- ya cause EVERYONE did notice) It was beautiful but the air was pretty cool and there was a breeze so muffin was layered and we found a hat from mini me's collection since i'm mother of the year, and STILL havent bought muffin a hat-

My FAVORITE part of the 4th of July parade was sitting with my dad and we would DIE laughing at the car club that would go by- hydrolics.. the cars would be bouncing, glitter on the cars, mexican flag fringe.. the WHOLE shabang! Well.. THIS year, i got the Redneck car club experience. I laughed pretty hard at this one too.. Cars wrapped in friggin wrapping paper.. and these cars were, well.. um... looked nicer WRAPPED then unwrapped, i'm sure. If you're going to wrap your car, at least make it pretty !! CHECK out the ORANGE Splaturn (Saturn) with the christmas tree on TOP of it.. i would not ride in that if ANYONE paid me... "you know you're a redneck when......" SO, .. here are the pics for your laughing enjoyment straight from the dirty south !!

Angelic Muffin ( that stupid paci has GOT to go. i'm SICK of it! She's being weined off of it, i promise!)

Cheer has come and gone..

This was Mini me's first year of cheer.. not knowing about any sports programs around here, i decided going thru the "Y" would be safe.. phhhhh... i dont know who or what was headin up that joint but it was disorganized to the hilt!
The didnt get a cheer coach until the week before the first cheer practice, then due to the lateness of that, they werent able to cheer at the first game, missed practices, a botched calendar.. you name it.. but, live and learn!( and lesson learned.. there will be no more Y )p.s.. notice the pom * poms are friggin red and white?! WAY to match em, morons.. just one more tally against 'em-
Last Saturday was her last game- every week at practice lil muffin would actually do the cheers with everyone, it was a friggin kick in the pants.She just loves her sissy so much, its special! Due to it being the last game, the coaches ( by the way.. i loved those girls) decided to do some stunts.. Mini me loved it, and of course muffin followed suit. See the pics below- secretly, i'm happy she's done. i really miss ballet, i just feel like that's what makes her tick. But, whatever she wants to be in next is up to her.. i wont be a crazy mom that lives thru my kid and makes her do something cause i want her to do it.

Santa Is coming to town!~

So Maybe i should decorate for him?! ok.. i started EARLY! I mean we're talkin BEFORE Thanksgiving.. Because i'm a nut and i am obsessed with Christmas- it makes me happy.. and i'm an adult so i can do WHATEVER i want and no one can tell me no - ha!

Watch out - this is a SUPER long post due to so many pictures, but i've had many requests, so i'm fulfilling them .. Colors in my casa for Christmas are Red, LIME green and
Hot pink, of course.. my husband just loves my bold splashes of color ( i'm saying that oh so sarcastically!)
Please note.. Any WHITE ugly walls in the background, or WHITE cupboards are not of my doing.. i dont agree with it on anything- although it shows dirt, so i may clean them, its friggin ugly and seems to be every place in GA!!! this is an apt.. so .. my house will not consist of any white, so have no fear.

See this lil tree pillow.. had UGLY burgundy pom- poms off.. cut them off and hot glued these on it.. now its ME!

Martini glasses with my fake diamonds in them.. see below where you can get some

Above the WHITE cupboards in the kitchen-
Okay - had to show these ornaments up close. Found these on Date night when we were Christmas shopping. AT WAL*MART! They remind me of Oragami sort of.. its like many pieces all latched together. Its hard plastic, with a shine underneath.. super pretty.. only 2 bucks a pop! hello, i'll take 5- ( they had a pretty blue too)

In the girls bathroom.. didnt realize i'd put in a PERFECT sign for them until after

it was in there.. Dont pout, or you're Elf will report- ha ha

The tree this year- i decided against buying a tree not knowing how big our living room will be in our new house, so used this one.. i love it.. again, another Corky's Daughter Find( along with the pout sign) i wondered how much a live tree would be.. i saw a 5 footer for 55 dollas!

Love this lil Santa.. wanna guess where? Uh huh, corky's-

Uh.. i MISS that place, BAD!, and the BIG green balls in the background,

Corky's- i broke one this year.. DANGIT!

My Fake presents.. such a cute prop- courtesy of Burlington Coat Factory like

YEARS ago.. it was one of their decorations, and a friend went there day after Christmas and got them for 3 bucks total!! did you know you can buy store decor?! Oh yes.. you can.. Bath and Body too!!

These are all on a silver Charger plate that's raised with rod iron on main dinner table-

remember i have a toddler so have to be careful what i keep out.. i got these green ornaments years ago from Big Lots!! they are plastic and so cute!

Had to use all ornaments.. so used Red wrapping paper and stuck it in a frame..

Noel , green ball ornament, and tree stuffer in red with white swirls, and stand with glass.. CORKYS!!- maybe she'll send me some with all this free advertisement- kidding

See that glass jar with the little boxes in it- first off, i'm absolutely crazy in love with glass jars.. Mini me's teacher made each child an advent calendar with die cuts and put a piece of candy in each box, numbered them and then put a piece of paper like a fortune from a fortune cookie- i LOVE these and will bring them out each year.. reminds me of vintage christmas. So happy Mini me has THE perfect teacher this year!

Fun Silver Serving platter with everything i had green and red, unfortunately i have to keep it high to due Muffin, so it sits on the fridge.. i used fake diamonds for ice cubes.- if you want to know where i got the diamonds.. actually at my husband's company party- they were going to THROW them away.. i use them ALL the time.. i have seen them at Kohls and at Wal*mart in the martha Stewart wedding section.

A wreath i had my eye on years i mean years ago before they were everywhere.. waited until after Christmas and got it half off- not my color green, so spruced it up with some lime green feathers from the craft section at Wal*mart, and put a NOEL (Corky's Daughter) tree decor behind it.. voila ;)

Hope you weren't too overwhelmed with all the pictures.. if you have any questions about anything.. feel free to ask.. a shout out to Marie at Corky's.. i MISS YOU TONS!, and this time of year really makes me miss you.. maybe a website should be in the works for your store? i'm serious!

More fun blogs to come.. i'm STILL behind- cheerleading ones to come, including muffin doing stunts!!