HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Happy New Year everyone!!! I know I'm early...it's just 10:40 p.m., but I won't be up at midnight. I'm actually already in my p.j.'s and ready for bed. We had a couple from our Sunday school class over for burgers and the LSU game. Of course, LSU won...but did you notice how I didn't text any of you Arkansas fans when we won??????? I just had to throw that in there :-) I guarantee you would have been texting me if we had lost. Enough about that. About our new addition, Tiger, well...he's not going to be in the house much longer. So far, (since I've been off work) I've been here to let him outside to "potty" throughout the day. I had to go to Little Rock, Arkadelphia, and back home today...I left here at 6:20 this morning and didn't get back until around 3:00. Oh my goodness, he had pee'd and pooped all in his little gated section of the laundry room. David left a puppy pad out for him to use. Need I even say what he did with that??? It took me 30 minutes to clean up the remnants from just the puppy pad, much less the pee and poop. I know it's not his fault...what puppy can "hold it" for that long? He just sped up the process of us getting his pen built, that's all! I better go...it's past my bedtime. I hope you all have a Happy New Year...not sure what my resolution will be. Maybe to start back exercising??? We'll see.

Marley and Me

Well, David and I decided to take the girls to see a movie tonight. They've been wanting to see Marley and Me ever since they saw the previews and even more so now that Santa brought them a puppy for Christmas. I had even asked a couple of people who had already seen the movie if it was ok for kids to see. They said sure...just have some tissue handy. I thought...oh, I'll just tear up...I won't need any tissue. WRONG! CAUTION!!!! Do not take your kids to see this movie...it has an extremely sad ending. I was crying so hard I had tears literally running down my neck. Lauren was sitting next to me and kept looking at me...then she started crying. Next thing I know, Morgan is balling. David had to console Lauren and I kept thinking...Lord, please let this movie be over soon. I honestly don't think there was a dry eye in the theater. On the way out, people kept saying "is she gonna be ok?" Actually, what they should have been saying was, "are they gonna be ok?" David couldn't help but laugh a little because he was walking 3 crying females out of the movies. When we got home, the girls went straight to our new puppy and Lauren kept saying, "I want to keep him Daddy...I don't want to sell him...I don't want Santa to come back and get him". Needless to say, it took a while to get them both calmed down. I just hope they don't have bad dreams tonight. Goodnight!

AAAHHHHHH!!!

Finally...my house is clean (with the exception of the girls' end of the house). I have dusted, cleaned bathrooms, cleared all the junk off of my bar, etc... David vacuumed for me...it just makes me feel so much better when my house is clean. For those of you that know me well know that I like things to be neat, clean, and organized. Well, I'm not quite as organized as some...I won't name any names (Shannon Henderson, Elizabeth Nowlen, and my mother). But I do like for things to look good and smell good. I've got candles burning in every room. I even have two or three different fragrances burning in the same area of the house! Who cares...it smells good! OK...I haven't cleaned the girls' end of the house because I've spent the last two hours cleaning out and going through toys. I have 3 garbage bags full of stuff to take to The Other Way and I'm still not finished. I thought I would finish tonight...and I still might...but I had to take a break. It's amazing that as I'm going through their toys, I know exactly what goes with what. I was finding things and telling Morgan, "Hey, these go with your Barbie house or here's the purse that goes with that Barbie." I know you're wondering how the heck I can keep up with that...I don't know...I guess it's just the kid in me. I'm just glad David is here while I'm doing this so he can see just how much stuff I have bagged up. I've cleaned out their rooms before, but he never thinks I get rid of much. Well, I'm here to tell ya...my hallway is lined up with bags. I better get off here and get back to work. The girls are probably in there now destroying what I've already picked up.

Christmas dresses from Nana

Every year, my mom makes the girls' Christmas dresses. She's done this since Morgan was a baby. I have every dress that she's ever made them. I usually pass clothes down to Kristi for her daughter Lainey, but I keep the dresses that my mom made. Lauren just had to hold her new LSU tiger that we bought her. She named it "Tiger Millie". I know you're wondering where she got Millie from. Well, remember her "Uncle" Mel's dogs, Jersey and Millie. That's where.

"Supper with Santa"

Morgan and Lauren in front of the Christmas tree at the country club. I bought these shirts for them at Giggles and Grins. Lauren's is solid sequins on the front. Oh, and those aren't her antlers. She swipped them from a table as soon as we got there.

Morgan and Lauren with their friend, Amelia Ward. They met Amelia at the pool this summer and Lauren just loves her. They're the same age. Hopefully they'll be in the same class next year when they start kindergarten.

Calling up Santa!!!! Each child had a set of keys (provided by their parents) to jingle and call up Santa. I never knew keys could make that much noise. They were having a blast.

Lauren does this every year. She cries on Santa's lap. I don't get it! She loves getting toys from him, but he scares the life out of her every year. You should have seen her when he walked into the room.

Patiently waiting to open their gifts that Santa brought. Well, Morgan is patiently waiting...Lauren is being silly. That's what she does best, but we sure do love her!

Lauren's happy now that Santa gave her a present!

MIS entertainment

Hey, they didn't tell me when I signed my contract at MIS that I would have to perform in front of the whole school!!! Just kidding. It's tradition at MIS for the teachers from each grade level to perform a skit, dance, etc... for the students the day we get out for the holidays. It was so much fun. We danced to "All I want for Christmas is you" by Mariah Carey. We only danced to the first 30-45 seconds of the song maybe. The kids loved it! I know I don't even have to tell you which one is me!

Christmas with family

Me and David at the Cassels' Family Christmas.

David's mom and dad at the Cassels' Family Christmas singing Christmas carols with the other grandparents.

Our future "plumber". I just had to put this on here. This was taken at Mom's. She has no idea I took this picture.

My big "bubbas". Hey look!!! Another LSU fan! Heath is on the left and Eddie is on the right...in case you don't know them. Do you notice something? My hair keeps getting longer, but I can't say the same for them. Just kidding! I know it's hereditary. Actually, Eddie shaves his so it won't be so obvious! :-)

David's new LSU golf bag. I had to hide it at the neighbor's house so he wouldn't find it. He was surprised, but at the same time thought I would get it. I noticed him admiring one while we were in Baton Rouge when we went to the first game of the season. I told him to go ahead and get it, but he said no. I said, "Ok then, that'll make a good Christmas present." I guess he remembered me saying that.

Finally...Christmas pictures!

The girls made sure to bake some cookies and put them under the tree for Santa...along with some milk too. They were so excited...we let them put out their reindeer food in the back yard that they made at the country club the night they saw Santa.

I decided to take a picture of what all Santa brought before the girls got their hands on everything. Actually, we had to wake them up. I figured they'd be up by 7:00, but David woke them up around 8 a.m. David's mom, his brother, and my parents all spent the night so they could be here when Santa came.

Santa had to move my snowmen out of his way when he came down the chimney. He even left the fireplace door cracked!!!

Forget the toys!!! Daddy heard a noise in the laundry room and guess what it was??? A PUPPY!!! Check out the looks on their faces. Well, Lauren doesn't exactly have a "look". She's ready to run for him.

The girls were so excited to get a new puppy from Santa. Look at Lauren's face!! Santa even put a bow around his neck...gee, I wonder what we'll call him. Does the name Tiger fit? Of course it does...he'll be a true LSU fan!

Here's Lauren trying to coax Tiger in his new dog house. David's parents bought this for the girls for their new puppy.

Tiger is thinking, "I'm not getting in that thing, Lauren."

Tiger is worn out from the excitement...well, mainly worn out from Lauren!!

Worn out!!

Ok...I know you're wondering why I haven't posted Christmas pics yet. Well, I am...I've just been extremely busy today. I promise I will post them in the next day or two. We did have a wonderful Christmas. We had Christmas with the Cassels' on Tuesday night at the church. I think it is so good that the whole family (all 15 grandchildren and 39 great grandchildren) still gets together for all of the major holidays. This year was so much fun...the grandsons sang, the granddaughters sang, then all of the grandparents sang Christmas carols. Of course, we always eat too. Afterwards, we went to David's parents' house to open gifts. We went to my mom's on Christmas eve day to eat and open gifts. Then we headed back to Arkansas for Santa to come. Santa was good to us this year. He brought the girls a boxer puppy...and boy is he a handful. It's like having another baby! They also got other toys, Ninendo DS, Nintendo DS games, etc... Their Uncle Mike and Melanie even bought them a Wii. David and Morgan have just about worn the Wii out today. Their Aunt Emile took them to the Build-A-Bear workshop in Monroe and they had so much fun. That was their gift from Uncle Heath and Aunt Emile. Uncle Eddie and Aunt Ruth got them lots of cute "girlie" stuff that they love to play with. I surprised David with an LSU golf bag and an LSU golf shirt. He got me an LSU Fossil watch and a North Face jacket. Now, I know you're wondering why I titled this post "worn out". I have been cleaning out closets today. You would not believe the clothes that I got out of both of the girls' closets that don't fit any more. I have to bag Lauren's up for Lainey and box Morgan's up for Lauren. I have clothes hangers, bags, and boxes everywhere. We got the tree down today, but all of my ornaments are on the coffee table waiting to be put away. Actually, David has to get the Christmas storage boxes down out of the attic for me to put all of the decorations away. I guess I'll close for now. We're supposed to go to a pet store tomorrow to get some "pet things". Hopefully I can find time to upload some pics on here tomorrow and post them. I still need to post pics of when the girls saw Santa. Bye for now!!!

P.S. Remember when I said that I was going to buy a tree before Christmas, but wasn't going to pay $298 for one (which is why we bought a real one)??? Well, my mom (bless her heart) went to Monroe today and bought a $300 tree for me, pre-lit, for $65!!!! What a deal!!! Of course, I'll pay her back, but THANKS MOM!!!

Christmas break is FINALLY here!!!!

At last, Christmas break is here! We dismissed from school yesterday at 2:00 p.m. It was a very busy day. It all started with a program for the students in the cafeteria from 8:30 until about 9:45. The teachers from each grade level had to perform a skit for the students. The fourth grade teachers (which is my group) danced to "All I want for Christmas is you" by Mariah Carey. It was fun and the kids loved it. If I can figure out how to put a video on here, I'll put it on here for you to see. After the program, we had parties from 10:00-11:00, a movie, lunch, more movie, then home. I still have some pics to share from the girls seeing Santa at the country club Thursday night. We had "Supper with Santa" and he brought them a toy. I'm at Mom's right now so I'll have to wait until I get back home to put the pictures on here. I just finished up my shopping today...thank goodness. David plans to take Morgan hunting while we're in Louisiana this time. He bought her a 22 at Simmon's. She's so excited. I'll let you know how that goes...I hope she likes it, but who knows. I mean, she'll be staying at the camp and the whole nine yards. It's supposed to be real cold...I told David to be sure and keep her warm. I'll post more when we get back to Arkansas. Hopefully I'll have lots of pics to share.

Gone but not forgotten

David's grandmother, Cleora Cassels, passed away last Tuesday night, December 9th. She was 97 years old. David was in Denver about to board his flight to Idaho when we received the phone call. He was not due back until late Friday night, but changed his flight plans and was home late Thursday night. We went to Louisiana on Friday for the funeral. Mamaw Cleora has 15 grandchildren (plus spouses) and 39 great grandchildren. The Cassels' family filled up half of the church. She will be greatly missed.

Christmas card preview!

As usual, I'm always late about getting pictures taken for our annual Christmas cards. I always say every year that I'm going to do them in November...WHATEVER! I just did these tonight right after bath and getting their hair washed. Notice their matching Christmas gowns. I bought them just for this picture. Now I'm trying to decide which pose to choose.



I can't decide if I want one of them looking at the camera and smiling...OR Morgan actually reading the book to Lauren. The only thing...Lauren looks a little scared in the ones where she's looking at the book. She's not as camera friendly as Morgan. Which one do you think?

Dancing with "Cinderella"

Ever wonder what the song, Cinderella, on my playlist is about?? Well here it is? Listen to the song and you'll understand. The girls were saying, "Daddy, dance with me...dance with me." I looked at him and said, "Dad, dance with Cinderella." They were having a ball!



I know you're probably wondering...what in the world does Lauren have on? Well, she decided she wanted to dance in her swimsuit. Why...I have no idea, but she looked cute!

Monticello Christmas parade

Monticello had it's annual Christmas parade on the square last night. This was one of the best floats by far!


Morgan is all bundled up here waiting for the parade to begin.


Here's Lu Lu all bundled up on the Pre-K float. I even sent a blanket to keep her extra warm. It was COLD!!! Doesn't she look sweet???

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

Well, we broke out the Christmas decorations yesterday and spent the whole day decorating. The girls were still in Louisiana Saturday so David and I went to Pine Bluff to buy a pre-lit, artificial tree. Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not paying $298 for a tree!!!! Soooo, we bought a real tree there at Lowe's AND a stand for $50. I plan to shop the day after Christmas to get the tree I want. Anyway, I wanted us to have a tree by the time the girls got home Saturday night so we could decorate it on Sunday. I let the girls (or should I say, Morgan...Lauren was too busy "playing" with the ornaments) put the ornaments on the tree. I left them where they put them because to me, that's more special. I had to go to Wal-Mart to get a few things and while I was there, I couldn't help myself...I had to get the little purple, pre-lit tree for the girls. AND they had Disney Princess ornaments and a Disney Princess miniature tree skirt. When I got home and showed it to them, they were beside themselves and so anxious to get it decorated. Here are a few snapshots of our decorations...and to me, pictures don't do justice to how the trees actually look in person. I love to sit in the living room with nothing but the tree lights on.