Food, Football, Family and Friends

Wow, I can hardly keep my eyes open as I type. We had a busy "FUN" Thanksgiving holiday. Thursday morning we got up and headed to my Meme's for tons and tons of food, visiting with the family and of course I think football was on every TV in the house. My poor Meme wasn't feeling good at all that day. Let me remind you about my Meme. She's 87 and still doesn't take medication. Now my Papaw on the other hand pops about 20 pills a day. What I'm trying to tell you...my Meme is doing quiet while for herself! But the day before Thanksgiving she just wasn't thinking straight and was using a hand blender and some meat got stuck in the blades. Instead of TURNING the blender OFF first, she stuck her finger up in the blender to unclog the meat. And you can only imagine what happended when the meat become unclogged! Yup...My aunt said my Meme's finger looked like a curly fry. She had to get15 stiches. Poor thing. They gave her some pain killers but she became really sick off the meds. We all felt so sorry for her. And she hated that she felt bad especially since we were all at her house! We hung around all day and finally headed to The Barker house around 7.

Friday morning was spent putting Christmas decorations out!! I got everything out and put up except for the Christmas tree. I'm excited this year for Christmas because Taydem actually understands it all. She still doesn't like Santa but we are working on that. Danin and I went to the movies that afternoon and saw "Love and Other Drugs." Pretty good...especially since Jake Ggllenhaal is in it and is NAKED (well it shows his butt a few times, ha) !! He is soooo cute to me. That night Leven and I went to the boats with some "new" friends of ours, Cara and Aric. We had a ball. I actually won $130 playing BlackJack and of course we danced for a few hours. We got back to our house around 1 and started playing spades. We didn't finish until 5:30 AM!! I was worn out that next day. Thank goodness Taydem spent the night with my parents that night.

 Saturday we headed to my parents around 3 to catch the bus (my dad and uncle bought a motorhome). We were ALL going to the Tatum Eagle football playoff game. Yes, we still follow those Tatum Eagles! Once we got there, we feasted on BBQ, dips, and desserts until game time. The Eagles won 49-7 and are advancing to the next round.

Shutterfly 50 free cards

Ok ladies! It really works. I did what I was asked to do and I got my promo code this morning for the 50 free Christmas cards with Shutterfly!! I saved $111.00!! So if you have a blog page----TAKE ADVANTAGE NOW! I ended up buying a few extra cards just bc I got 50 for free! Wonderful deal!

Leven made his yearly visit to San Marcos for the state volleyball tournament last Thursday and Friday. He's been going every year since coaching volleyball and loves it. Hours after hours sitting in the gym watching game after game. He usually stops by the outlet mall there in San Marcos and buys a few things for us. This year Taydem racked up. I can't believe all the stuff he bought her! AND, a school here in Longview won state for 2A---White Oak!

Friday night and Saturday was spent at my parents house. Saturday night I dropped Taydem off at my cousin's house and the rest of the night was spent eating and watching the broad way musical- Oklahoma. Mom, Danin, Chrissy and I enjoyed spending time together without the kiddos and visiting with each other. I have always enjoyed musicals and I wish I could see them more often. Leven would NEVER watch a musical with me. He doesn't even like watching movies that are somewhat of a musical! My all time fav is The Wizard of Oz. Mom said I would sit and watch it over and over...along with Alice in Wonderland. I have a wonderful and talented friend who is a broad way lady! I am so interested in her life and love reading her blog. Check her out: http://www.amandalavergne.com/  We met at Sam Houston while working together at Texas Roadhouse! Instant connection and I miss her dearly. We didn't get to spend enough time together before leaving college.

My cousin Chelsea and her main squeeze Carl had their first baby a week ago--Carolina Grayce. I'm super excited for them and I know they are just smitten! I can't wait to see her. Congrats to you both!

Our Christmas CD that my church choir recorded is in! This is getting me closer and closer into Christmas mode. My sister has already put up here Christmas tree and decorations. I will do the same this weekend!

I miss teaching today. A whole week with no work bc of Thanksgiving break. Dang it!

50 Free Christmas Cards

I love Shutterfly.com! Last year I bought my Christmas cards from shutterfly and this year my cousin Peyton shared a link to receive 50 FREE cards if you have a blog page. I jumped right on this! Check it out: http://bit.ly/sfly2010 . For this years Christmas cards I found some pictures of all of us from my sister's wedding that I'm going to use. My company also creates our Christmas cards using Shutterfly. It's super easy and all you do is follow the steps. I create photo books like crazy. Usually after every vacation I create a photo book just because it's NICE! You don't have to worry about your pictures being smudged or bent! Every Christmas I compile ALL the pictures I have taken that year and create a book for my mom and dad. They love it! I also made one of our wedding.

Photo books: http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books

Christmas Cards: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

Calendars: http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars   

87

Today is my Meme's 87th birthday!! Wow...that's a really long time. My Papaw turned 88 a couple of weeks ago. These are my dad's parents and I grew up right down the road from them. My meme doesn't take ANY meds. Can you believe this?? 87 and going on strong!

  Happy Birthday Lady Elizabeth!

It's up to her

This season Leven had about 5-6 girls on his volleyball team that are also huge soccer players. They even play club soccer. He loves to pick on all of them and give them hell about playing soccer. He always tells them, "it's the most boring sport", "who wants to watch you run up and down a field", "kicking a ball is so stupid!" So.....to get back at him-one of his seniors bought him a couple of presents and have it to him at the Volleyball banquet Monday night. It was a little girls soccer ball and a pair of soccer shoes (black and pink)!! Adorable. I thought it was hilarious. All the soccer girls were lovin' it up! They were all teaching her how to kick the ball. And believe me she loves that ball. At first she called it a volleyball, ha! And she wears her shoes around the house (they are actually way to big for her right now, but one day she will get into them). He's going to really miss these seniors next year! They are the sweetest girls EVER! Here are a few pictures from the volleyball banquet:

Bootcamp and "Fresh Meat"

I started back with another long 6 weeks of bootcamp. After I get going and get ALL the sore out I actually enjoy it. Right now, as I'm typing, my arms are killing me! From July to November I got extremely out of shape.

So this morning (5:30 AM) I here, "Isn't that right Fresh Meat?" At first I thought, why is he saying that and WHO is he saying that too? Let me stop right there and let's back up....

When my youngest brother was in school he ended up with the nickname "Meat." And really it was only a short time in high school when he was even "chunky" I guess you can say. But the name stuck and that's what ALL of his friends called him. When Darin was being called Meat, my sister was like in 5th or 6th grade and she was some what chunky during this age. And so all his friends started calling her "Lil Meat." Oh boy did she hate that! I felt so sorry for her bc they all thought it was funny (in a cute way), but she hated it. It hurt her little feelings and embarressed her. Once she got older (in high school) every now and then she would run into his old friends from high school and they would still call her that. She finally fired down on one of them! She's no "Lil Meat" anymore. Now I was a freshman when Darin was a senior and I quickly got the name "Fresh Meat." Hmmmmm....yes I was a "fresh"man, but I'm guessing I was young and new and CUTE to all the senior boys and they all thought they were going to hit on Darin's little sister. That NEVER happened! (But I did like all the flirting. Heck, they were seniors for crying out loud)!!

Back to this morning: Jamie Crawford graduated with Darin and was one of his good buddies in school. Jamie is doing the bootcamp as well and he's the one that yelled that out to me! I have seriously not heard that name since I was in 9th grade! How funny....and yes, it made me smile!

Priceless

Trever is 16!

I am being a huge slacker lately with this blog.

Yesterday my step-son, Trever, turned 16. It's so hard for me to believe this. When I first met the kid he was 10! He and I quickly got along (only bc he loved my cooking) and I try so hard to make our relationship work. I always tell Leven that I fell in love with Trever first. If you have ever met him, you would quickly understand why. Trever and I are ONLY 14 years apart. I know some siblings that are further in age than that. So I had to become a "mother" super fast. Which was really hard for me in the beginning. Let's see...he's not my son, but he lives with me. He's 10, I'm 24. He leaves his toys, socks, shoes, underwear, baseball stuff EVERYWHERE...I'm a neat freak! He's a dirty, nasty boy that smells everytime he comes in from playing outside. Ugh! Super hard in the beginning. But on the other hand, I learned that he's polite, sweet, thankful (he still tells me "thank you" after every meal I cook), kind hearted, respectful, and lovable. He and Leven's relationship is something you just don't see much anymore. They are so close and when I first met them they were like little best buds. I use to laugh at them together. Wherever Leven went, Trev followed. And it's still like that today. And Leven neverminded it. Now that he's getting older he tends to run his mouth more, just like any teenager I assume! I always try and think back at how I was as a teenager. He's a really good kid...so far! We pray that he stays on the right path. He's in the top ten percent of his class right now and loves baseball and basketball. I know that I annoy the heck out of him, but I want him to appreciate everything that Leven and I do for him and what his mother does for him. He is very loved by sooooooo many people. I am trying my hardest to teach him to be a good husband and father one day. And I promise, he will!

Sunday we all went out to my parent's land to shoot skeet. Leven's mom and hubby drove up just for the day! Grans got Trever some really cool Oakley sunglasses! (He loved them!) Mike set up the skeet shooter and away we all went. I'm horrible, didn't hit one clay thingy! Leven's not too good either, ha! But Trever was awesome! Being that it was his first time to ever do it! He couldn't miss. We munched on cookie cake, watched the kiddos play, and visited! Here are a few pictures of the day:

Weekend Fun!

Friday night we headed to Tyler to watch the Mexia Ladycats play Tyler Lee in a warm-up volleyball game. They lost, but did very well playing against a 5A school. 


Saturday morning Leven had volleyball practice and then he relaxed around the house ALL day while Taydem and I headed to Henderson for the Tall Pines Festival. Truitt was singing the National Anthem around 6 so we got there early so Taydem could play some games. We met up with Danin and rode with her over there. Taydem is terrified of ANYONE dressed in a costume. When I say "terrified" I mean she breaks down, loses it, shakes, cries, covers her eyes, etc. So right when we get to the festival, someone is dressed in a McGruff Crime Dog costume. OMG! As she walked by it, she covered her eyes and was saying "No, no, no" over and over to herself. After he passed her she grabbed on to me and put her head between my legs. Her body was shaking out of control! Poor thing. So the rest of the day Danin and I kept a look out for the dog and dodged him in every way possible. I guess she won't be sitting in Santa's lap this year.....!

We watched a puppet show, got her face painted, she rode on a pony ride (while Danin walked around with, and started getting dizzy walking in circles-ha!) and we watched some bands sings. Finally Truitt got ready for his big performance. My dad's parents also came so they could hear him sing. This part of the program was dedicated to Veterans so Papaw had folks coming up to him the whole time thanking him for serving our country. He was actually the ONLY one there that had served in World War II. I know he felt super special and we were all proud of him. When they called Truitt up to sing he started to panic. He got on stage and told Chrissy he wanted her up there with him. That was pretty funny! I know Chrissy was freaking out at the time. But he made it through the song and a smile on all of our faces! Good Job Truitt!!

Darin and his two boys

Taydem was wore out! 

Yesterday morning we headed to church and I snapped a few pictures of Taydem and Trever before!

That afternoon we headed back to the church for Festival 31. Our church puts this festival on every year for families in our community. Huge blow up bouncers, food, candy, games, hay rides, etc. Taydem had a blast and she looked tutu cute in her lady bug costume. We ran into Dustin and Molly and their kids and they were dressed as Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Tinker bell! Adorable!! 

Tonight is Leven's first volleyball play off game! They play Greenville in Lindale! Hopefully we will come away with a win.