Candy, football, and SUGARLAND!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANDY!!! In honor of the 27th birthday of a special friend of mine, I've made a list of only a few of the reasons why I love her so:
1. She understands my love of George Strait (I know you're all envious of the above picture).
2.She has a really cute baby.
3. She loves Target as much as I do.
4. She can’t make fun of my OCD tendencies, as hers are quite possibly worse. :)
5.She lets me invite myself to her house for days at a time.
6. She shares my love of mexican food.
7. She’s a member of the George Strait fan club (see #1), so we get really good seats when we go to his concerts.
8.She loves MSU and despises Ole Miss almost as much as I do.
9. She’s that friend that’ll be brutally honest with me.
Here’s an example of a typical conversation:
Me (really thinking that I’m wearing a fabulous outfit): "Candy, does this look ok?"
CHR: "I mean, the skirt’s cute and the shoes are cute, but are you sure you should wear them together? Oh, and the earrings are a little too big too."
Note: sometimes I take her advice while there are also times when I just ignore her. We understand each other that way.
10. I spent more time with her than anybody else in college and never got tired of her
11. She understands what "teacher tired" means.

12. She and her fabulous husband Chad have allowed me to tag along with them for years now.

Oh, how this list could go on and on... :)
Be sure to click on Candy's blog and wish her a happy birthday!
HAVE A GREAT BIRTHDAY FRIEND!!! I MISS YOU!

-Weekend sports news: MSU unfortunately pulled out an L yesterday. We didn’t play as well as we could, and in all honesty, I think we COULD have beat SC if we had been. We weren’t expected to win, so it wasn’t a complete embarrassment (at least we’ve won more than one game!). Also, Ole Miss lost again, so that put a smile on my face and made our loss seem a little more bearable. Oh, and did anybody watch the Auburn/Florida game? I’m definitely not a fan of either team, but last night I became quite the Auburn fan! They did pull through and beat the 4th ranked Gators, and since WE beat Auburn a few weeks ago, I think that makes US look even better. Go Tigers (did I really just say that?)!
-Other news: If you are a frequent blog reader of mine, you might remember me posting about Max thinking my cell phone was a toy. Since then, it’s been in pretty bad shape, I’ve continued using that cell phone because it still worked and I wasn’t thrilled about the thought of spending money to get a new phone. WELL, I’m now left without a choice in the matter. Somehow this morning, Max got my phone off of the coffee table and decided to have a yummy snack. I caught him before he was able to completely destroy it, but it is still the saddest looking thing I’ve ever seen. It miraculously still works fine, but I refuse to walk around with a phone that looks like this. The antenna won’t even go down (I know, I know, it’s time to invest with a phone that doesn’t have an antenna! That WILL be a requirement of my next phone!). Looks like I’ll be hitting up Cellular South immediately after work tomorrow. Thanks Max.

-And last, but definitely not least: I’M GOING TO SEE SUGARLAND!!! You may recall that I have a girl crush on Jennifer Nettles and now I get to see her in person! James surprised me with tickets (well, when I say that he "surprised" me with them, I actually mean that he told me a couple of weeks ago that it was going to be a surprise but he couldn’t keep a secret..haha. So, I guess it’s technically a "surprise that I already knew about."). He got our tickets yesterday, so it’s official now. We’re heading to the coast on November 11! Thanks JR! I CAN’T WAIT!

P.S. I’m obsessed with this weather. I want to stay outside all day. Get ready for October, Claire, HERE IT COMES!!

Have a great week! Until next time...

proud bulldog

I finally caved and got Max an "I Eat Rebels"t-shirt. His cousin Olive has one just like it, and ever since he saw hers, he's been begging me for one too. He thinks he looks fierce and intimidating when he wears it.

He probably could have used a medium rather than a small, but he really likes to wear tight shirts so he can show off his muscles (plus, his mommy likes his shirts kinda small so he won't pee-pee on them when he goes outside :) ).

Isn't he cute?

He's ready for the game tomorrow and even MORE ready for the rebels to come to Starkville for the Egg Bowl in November!

showing my support!

If you live in the Starkville area, please vote YES on Oct. 9 for the Bond Issue! It is very important that this passes, so that the students here will have the best learning opportunity possible. Click here to read more about it.

Oh, and look at the brochure below...who is that hot teacher on the bottom in the middle? :) Oh wait...that's me...haha.

Anyway, I had to voice my opinion in hopes of maybe encouraging just one person in the area to go out and vote YES on Oct. 9! :)

Have a fantastic Friday and a wonderful weekend!!!! GO DAWGS!!!

randomness on a Wednesday...

Does anybody else feel like today should be AT LEAST Thursday? I've been a little 'under the weather' this week, so I guess it's made the week seem longer. Everytime the weather goes back and forth from hot to cold to rainy to warm, etc. etc., I get like this--sore throat, drainage. You know how it goes. No worries, though, as I am feeling much better today. Thanks for any concerns. :)

A few items that need some attention today:
*I play Bunko one Thursday a month with some teacher friends of mine. This is very fun for me. It's a great way to hang out with some teachers SOCIALLY instead of being at school and talking about school things. PROBLEM: There's a particular reason why I must be in front of my television every Thursday at 8:00 (and don't say "that's what TIVO is for!"...you're forgetting that I'm just a po' teacher! MAYBE ONE DAY!). Two words: THE OFFICE. The season premiere is tomorrow night and I'm PUMPED about it. But if we play Bunko from 6 until at least 8, there's no way I can make it in time. SOLUTION: I emailed all of my Bunko friends and asked if we could bump up our starting time by half an hour. My proposition: we play from 5:30-7:30 rather than 6-8. I'm a genius. Even though some my friends accused me of being bossy :), they all agreed that it would be better for them too. Problem solved. Done and done. Speaking of season premieres, Desperate Housewives premieres Sunday night. I'm attempting NOT to watch it this season. In the past it's been one of my 3 shows, but by the end of last season, as intriguing as it was, it had almost become too much to handle. The question is: am I doing the right thing by NOT watching it or will I regret it? What do you think?
Sidenote: JR doesn't think The Office is funny AT ALL. Any suggestions on how to help such a lost soul? I feel sorry for him really. :)

*PROBLEM: Several students in my class like to tattle. I can't stand tattle-telling. It had gotten so bad that some of my students would actually come up to me and say things like "Miss T., yesterday she touched my arm while we were walking to get in line." I mean, come on. Seriously? SOLUTION: A tattle tell journal! Yep...I now have a tattle tell journal which stays open on the counter all day/everyday. Now, whenever one of those angels comes to me with "that" look, I point to the journal. I told them that when they write in it,they must write neatly and in complete sentences. Do you think they actually want to take the time to WRITE when they don't have to? Nope. The journal has remained empty all day and the tattling has decreased. I'm anxious to see if this will stop such nonsense.

*Last but not least, I'm meeting Katey and Camp for TCBY this afternoon. It's been too long since I saw those 2 and I'm pumped about it. :) As soon as we teach Camp how to take pictures, I'll finally be able to post one of me and Katey together!

Just when I thought he couldn't get any cuter...

The other day, Rob bought Henry an MSU teddy bear. Henry's reaction to the bear was PRICELESS...so adorable. He looked at the bear, squinted his eyes (he got that from his Aunt Laura :) ), laughed, and squeezed it. He did this over and over. The first few times he did it were the best because it was so unexpected. I wasn't able to capture his initial reaction on video, but I did manage to get some of it. It's so cute. I think Henry has a new best friend!

Precious.

Henry and his teddy bear... from Laura Tomlinson on Vimeo.

weekend recap and LOTS of pictures of my nephew (whether you care to see them or not!!) :)

I'm not going to be doing much typing tonight, as I am tired from a long (but FANTASTIC) weekend. I will, however, include a lot of pictures from the weekend since uploading pictures to a blog post requires very little thinking. :)

Heather and Trey came into town Friday night and we had a fun cookout dinner with the fam. Anytime Tommy T. is on the grill and Melita is in the kitchen (preparing not 1, not 2, not even 3, but 4 different desserts), you can guarantee that good food will be had by all. After dinner, JR and I hit up University Drive for Bulldog Bash. It was fun, but considering the fact that we are old and both are really tired on Friday nights, we didn't last too long.

Saturday, Kris, Rob, and Henry joined the fun. After watching Ole Miss lose on TV again, We all went to the game to watch MSU win again. GO DAWGS!

Here are some fun pictures from the game...

Here's my angel just being cute. He's almost 10 months old!

Have a great Monday!

GO DAWGS!!!

My cousin Cary, his wife April, and their 2 sons Braden and Cooper came by my parents' house today before heading to Davis-Wade Stadium to cheer my bulldogs to yet ANOTHER victory (3 in a row! This is big time!). This adorable picture is of their 2 sons and little Henry. I have lots of fun pictures from today to share but I'm feeling a little tired tonight, so they'll just have to wait until tomorrow! I HAD to share this one tonight though. I think it's precious. Those are 3 good looking-future bulldogs!

L-R: Braden, Henry, Cooper

what a GREAT idea!

Last weekend I finally cleaned out my closets. It's something I've been saying I was going to do for a while, but I always found something else that I would RATHER be doing. :) (Imagine that).

I'm one that enjoys cleaning and organizing anything (a little OCD perhaps??), so it's a great feeling to now have a really organized closet that's free of clothes that I would just look at everyday knowing that I would never wear them again. Of course now I have somewhat of a bare closet...I guess that means that I better plan a good shopping trip soon!

What did I do with these clothes once I got them out of my closet? Glad you asked. :)

I took them to "Mint", a new consignment boutique in town owned by Emily Stringer. MSKS blogged about it recently and I had heard other people talking about it, so I definitely needed to check it out. I took my load of clothes yesterday and did a little shopping there too. There's a little of everything in this cute store-clothes of all kinds, jewelry, shoes, purses, etc.

I am looking forward to this because: a. if she's able to sell my old clothes for me, I'll make a small percentage of the money while helping out her business a little too! b. I was able to get rid of the clothes that somebody else will hopefully want. c. This town needed a consignment boutique like this one--cute stuff at a really inexpensive price. I'll definitely be stopping by often.

I walked out of there yesterday with a great purse that looks unused and I got for SUCH a good price. As Heather would say, "I will look totally unstoppable" when I use it. :)

Anyway, you should definitely check this out the next time you're in town. And if you've got clothes that you're wanting to get rid of, take them to Emily!

kids' views on 'LOVE'...

Of course, being a teacher, I often come home with stories from my day or just funny things that kids say. I keep telling myself that I should be writing all of this down so that I can publish a book about my experiences. Kids are hilarious.

I saw this today and had to share. A group of professionals posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, "What does love mean?" The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love." Rebecca- age 8

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." Billy - age 4

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other." Karl - age 5

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs." Chrissy - age 6

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired." Terri - age 4

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK." Danny - age 7

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss" Emily - age 8

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate," Nikka - age 6 (we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday." Noelle - age 7

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well." Tommy - age 6

"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore." Cindy - age 8

"My mommy loves me more than anybody You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night." Clare - age 6

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken." Elaine-age 5

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford." Chris - age 7

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."Mary Ann- age 4

"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones." Lauren - age 4

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image) Karen - age 7

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross." Mark - age 6

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget." Jessica - age 8

And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry"

disturbing and incredibly sad

Did anybody see this? I wasn't actually watching the award show, but I've seen the replay on the news a lot since. This woman needs help.

a sweet baby, a talented friend, ANOTHER VICTORY, and alligator calling(???)...

I got to see Sarah Beth Thursday! I had been dying to see this little angel face all week, so I was thrilled to get to see her. I was heading over there, with camera IN HAND (of course), and wouldn't you know my CAMERA BATTERY WAS DEAD! Good move Laura...seriously. I HAD to take pics of her while I was there so I could post them, so I got Em to snap some with her camera. Thanks for finding time in between feedings to email them to me Emily! :) SB was a week old Thursday and I she only weighed about 6.7 lbs...probably the smallest baby I've ever held and SO adorable. I walked into their den with SB in my arms. Jack (who can put a smile on your face ANYTIME of the day) was lounging on the couch, probably enjoying a little down town during SB's nap.

I say: "Wow, Jack, Sarah Beth looks JUST like you!"

Jack's immediate response: "Yes, I know. She really hit the 'Jackpot'!"

Thanks for throwing in a little humor Jack.

Anyway, it was great to see them. I'm looking forward to heading over there again soon. I love babies. Oh, one more thing....Mere, SB wanted me to tell you that she loves you and can't wait to meet you. I'm under the impression that you're her favorite aunt already, but don't tell.

Isn't she tiny? I wanted to take her with me.


Last night I had a date with Nana to see "Noises Off" at the Starkville Community Theater. My dear friend Mandy was one of the actors in the show and she was A*M*A*Z*I*N*G. She directs plays a lot and I had seen a few of the shows that she had directed, but this was the first time I've ever seen her act. I was HIGHLY impressed. I'm usually not much into theater, but this show was hilarious, and I would watch it again in a heartbeat! It was a great night spent with my sweet grandmother! :)


Ummmm....GO DAWGS!!!! That's all I have to say about that. Well, no, nevermind...I want to talk about it some more.
We beat Auburn (AT Auburn, which almost makes it better if you ask me). It's probably unhealthy that I allow MSU sports to determine my mood sometimes, but it's true. The combination of an MSU victory and the perfect weather we had today put me in the best mood. I sure am proud to be a bulldog!
Oh, and by the way, did anybody catch the Ole Miss game? You did? Oh...they lost? Sad. So that means MSU won AGAIN and Ole Miss lost AGAIN??!! That's too bad. :)

I leave you with one more highlight of my day. JR and I decided to take advantage of the cool weather and head on out to the Refuge for a picnic. Gotta love the Refuge at sunset...

Anyway, on our way out, he drove very slowly close to the water, in hopes of spotting an alligator. Lucky for him, there were about 3 fairly close to the bank. Now, you're probably wondering why in the world he sits there and looks for alligators and why he gets so excited when he sees one. Well my friends, JR knows how to make an "alligator call." That's right...an alligator call. He opens his mouth and out comes the most awkward sound you'll ever hear. The first time I heard this (it must have been after I'd only known him for a week or so!), I thought I was going to lose it. It was hilarious and a little scary at the same time! :) If you've never heard it before, you should either: a). google it, in hopes of maybe getting lucky enough to find a video of someone "alligator calling" or b). drive to Glen Allen, MS and find a good 'ol country boy to show you how to do it. I'm willing to bet that he'll be happy to do some calling for you. Here's a pic of JR intensely calling for the alligators (look closely enough and you'll see the little heads poking out of the water...it kinda freaks me out a little). Maybe next time I'll capture it on video and post it. :)

Sometimes it's the little things in life isn't it?

tag...YOU'RE IT!

Thanks for tagging me Heather and Trace! (I love doing fun stuff like this). Both of them made a list of 10 things that make them happy. Then they "tagged" 5 other people to do the same. Sooooo....here are 10 things that make ME happy. I, like Heather, have way more than 10 things that I could write, but I'll try to narrow it down. :)

1. My faith. My relationship with God is top priority and having good time with Him makes me happy! :)

2. The fam. Awesome parents...fabulous sisters...2 pretty cool brothers-in law :) ...an adorable nephew...wonderful grandmothers...fantastic aunts, uncles and cousins. Wow, God sure did bless me with a great one!

3. Friends. Don't want to make anyone jealous or anything, but I DO have the greatest friends. I keep in touch with several childhood friends and some of my best friends are even girls that I've only known for a short period of time. There have been times in my life when I truly did not know what I'd do without them. You know the kind of girlfriends that you can call ANYTIME about ANYTHING? I have those kinds of friends.

4. Having a special someone. It's nice to have somebody make you feel good about yourself....someone you enjoy spending time with... It's the little things in life that mean the most and it's nice when somebody recognizes that.

5. Max. I love my dog. He gets so excited to see me everyday and I love to see how happy is gets each night when he gets to snuggle next to me in bed. :) There have been certain times lately when he's driven me CRAZY, but I still love him. I've said this before, but I'll say it again...getting a dog is the best thing I've ever done for myself. I highly recommend it.

6. Mexican food. Going to tipico with friends is one of my most favorite things to do. Does that mean my life is boring? Nope...I'm just easily entertained (and it's cheap!). Gotta love chips and salsa!

7. Jogging. It's a stress relief for me. I'm a fairly slow-paced runner but it's great exercise and even if I'm not in the mood to run one day, I feel so much better when I do.

8. Sleeping. It's way underrated and I've realized that in my "older" years. I sometimes want to go up to the kindergarteners here at school and cry with jealousy when they have nap time. Oh, what I would do do have a designated "nap time" at school...they don't get it.

9. Rain. Let me clarify this one. I don't love rain ALL of the time (you know, like if I'm all dressed up and have to get outside in it, driving in it, etc...). BUT, I do love a good thunderstorm when I'm at home, sleeping, and have NOTHING to do. LOVE it.

10. George Strait. Heather, I mentioned that our lists were very similar, however, I don't remember this being a commonality between the 2. :) I have seen him in concert 5 times and get excited each time. I love hearing him on the radio and seeing him on TV. He's talented AND good looking....what more could you want? Right Candy?

YOUR TURN!!! :)

TAG...Claire, Candy, Meredith, Mary Straton, and Katey...YOU'RE IT!

3 very "blogworthy" events...

I know, I know...this is like my 12th blog post of the weekend but it's been one of those fantastic, lay around/catch up on sleep weekends, so I've had a lot of free time for blogging. :) As much as I love being busy and traveling a lot of weekends, it's nice to sometimes stay in town and do absolutely nothing.

Now, down to business...

There are 3 very important topics which need serious attention today:

1. GO DAWGS! My bulldogs defeated Tulane 38-17 last night in New Orleans. Gotta love a good victory! Oh yeah, and Ole Miss lost last night, so that makes my weekend even BETTER...those dang rebels.

2. CONGRATS TO JACK AND EMILY REDWOOD!! Little Sarah Beth arrived last Thursday. Emily is a dear friend of mine who also just happens to be my Mere's little sister. They live here, so I'm planning on visiting sweet SB this week! (I was actually going to wait until AFTER I saw her to post about this, but I decided it was time for her to make an appearance on my blog!). I just love this picture (stolen from Em's blog) of SB looking up at her mommy. So precious. Can't wait to see her!!!

3. Last, but DEFINITELY not least, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JENNY! My sweet friend Jenny turns 27 today! Jenny and I have known each other since 1999, when we both pledged the same sorority at MSU. We were instant friends and we've done a pretty good job of staying in touch with each other since we graduated in 2003. She's the queen-of-all-bloggers :) (don't we ALL strive to be just like her???), and I just love keeping up with her precious little family through her blog. Jenny is the kind of person that you fall in love with instantly. She's a loyal friend, a true example of a woman of Christ, and BY FAR one of the most organized people I've ever known!

Unfortunately, it's been way too long since I've seen her, so I have no recent pics of us to post, but here's one from her wedding day 4 years ago!

Have a great birthday Jenny! Love you!

I don't even really know what this means...

My blog is worth $17,500.74.
How much is your blog worth?

"The Professor and Sarah Mae" have entered the blogging world!

They're here! :) My friends, Matthew and Sarah Alford have entered the exciting world of blogging! They moved to Hammond, LA about a month ago, and I'm pumped about being able to keep up better with them now.

Glad you're here, kids! Max and I miss you!

so so blessed...

"My Cup Overflows with Blessings...." Psalm 23:5

I've been reading Psalm a good bit lately and I actually just came across this verse the other day. I then stumbled across a link from Jenny's blog, where a friend of hers actually created a list of ways that she's been blessed. What a great idea!

I've thought about this a lot lately, especially after reading the verse AND then seeing it in a blog post.

So, it's only appropriate that I share a few ways that God has blessed my life. Maybe this will inspire you to do the same! Here is only a small handful of my blessings:

1. God's unfailing love, first and foremost.

2. My parents. I realize now that growing up in a loving, Christian home is unfortunately rare these days. My parents have always been my biggest fans and I'm very proud of them.

3. My sisters. I talk to them daily and can't imagine it any other way. We're extremely close. (What? You've never read Heather's blog? Oh you must...).

4. Friends. Sometimes I wonder what I've done to deserve so many best friends. I'm also thankful for my new friends! ;)

5. My nephew, Henry. My life completely changed Dec. 1, 2006, when he entered this world!

6. My job.

7. The close relationship I have with my grandmothers and the incredible relationship I had with my Dada, who passed away last year. What a role model he is to many.

8. Max. He loves me everyday, no matter what! Getting him was the best thing I've ever done for myself.

9. Good health.

10. A house in which to live.

I limited my list to 10, but it really could go on and on. I want to encourage YOU to sit back and think about how YOUR life has been blessed.

Amazing isn't it?

Henry...aka model

Heather ordered Henry the CUTEST romper from Baby Face Design. The very talented Renee Guest made it and decided to let little Henry be one of her "blog models." Doesn't he look like a professional?! :) Kristen was very happy with the romper and Henry loves wearing it.

If you've got little ones to buy for, you must check out her blog...she has SUCH cute stuff!

Is anybody else glad that it's FRIDAY????

I'm posting this even though you're going to make fun of me...

Am I creative? NO. Artistic? Absolutely not. I'm unfortunately not artistically gifted like my sis. BUT, my friend, Heather and I decided that it was time that the teachers at our school had "fun" T-shirts to wear with our jeans on Fridays. So what did we do? We designed one, not knowing if anybody would really want to buy it or not. She came up with the saying on the shirt and she found some clip-art to use, so basically all that was left for me to do was the writing. That's all I can take credit for here.

Anyway, we chose 3 colors for the shirts and allowed the teachers to choose which one(s) they wanted. The options were pink (seen below), turquoise blue, and pistachio (also seen below even though in the picture, it looks more white than green. It really is a pretty color!). We ended up selling nearly 150 shirts and we got them today. I'm actually looking forward to wearing one of mine on Friday. I'm just wondering though...does this make me the "cool, fun" teacher that I desire to be or a really dorky teacher that I refuse to become? I'm not so sure.

Still, I think they're cute and I'm proud of our final product. :)

(the front of the shirt)

(the back of the shirt--again, this is a light green even though it looks like white!)

Shout out to my bro-in-law...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TREY!!!

You're the big 2-7 today! WOO HOO!!!! Max and I hate that we weren't there to celebrate the other day. We hope you have a fantastic day today and we think that you should force Heather to fry some squirrel for you tonight. :)

Thank you for taking care of my little sister. Not too many people could put up with her the way you do. You're a special, special man (kidding Heather!!!).

Anyway, happy birthday to you! You'll be thought about today!! See you soon!!!

DEAR UNCLE TREY, I MISS YOU. YOU ARE COOL. WILL YOU PLAY FETCH WITH ME SOON? I WANT TO BE LIKE YOU. BRING SOPHIE TO MY HOUSE AND WE CAN ALL SNUGGLE SOON. RUFF RUFF. LUV, YOUR NEPHEW MAX

So I went to the BEACH!

I spent Labor Day weekend in Ft. Walton Beach with James' family. Lucky for me, one of his sisters lives there! :) It was a perfect weekend. I took quite a few pictures, but unfortunately, my camera battery died towards the end of the trip (JR's response to this: "thank goodness"...I didn't really appreciate that). :)

Here are the highlights of the trip:

1. meeting the family! I met his parents, 2 sisters, and their husbands.

The girls

James' sisters, Laura and Mary Martha, and me.

The boys

Laura's husband Jeff, MM's husband Don, and James

2. playing American Idol on Playstation. (or maybe it was the wii...I don't know...it's all the same to me). Mary Martha was an expert at this game. I, however, was practically voted off by Simon and Randy. Bummer.Here we are looking like professional singers, right?

3. Fabulous Food. I gained approximately 8 pounds while I was there, but it was so worth it. Laura and Jeff are fantastic cooks and they treated us right! :) We also ate out at Anglers one night while we were there. I ate some of the best shrimp of my life.

Diet starts today.

4. Spending time at the beach! We didn't do much "laying out" at the beach, which is great in my book because that meant no bathing suit. Most of the time spent there was at night, which is my most favorite time to spend at the beach. We all went one night and MM's husband, Don, brought his guitar. So fun.

Jeff, Laura, James, and me at the beach one night.

5. Playing "Bolo" on the beach. Ever heard of it? Quite addictive I must say. We played boys vs. girls. No comment on the winner. :(

JR was so intense and slightly competitive at Bolo.

6. Playing Taboo with the family. Again, this was another highly competitive game which was also boys vs. girls. I'll be happy to discuss who won THAT game. :)

7. Much needed R & R. I was able to get A LOT of great sleep while I was there. It felt so good.

Needless to say, coming back yesterday and heading back to work today was not fun for me. One more day would have been so nice. However, it was great to be back to see my little Max, who stayed with my parents for the weekend. It was the longest amount of time that I've left him. He sure was glad to see his mommy! :)

Here are some more pictures taken from the weekend.

I hope you had a great Labor Day. At least it's a 4 day week right?