• Memories of the Month - Taking time to document the important memories from January.
    Life

    Memories of the Month {12.2012}

    December 31, 2012 - By 

    This is my last monthly summary for the year! I’m really glad I did this this year. It will be great to look back years from now and have a quick ‘summary’ of each month. I plan to keep doing it in 2013. I’m wondering what I else I should ask myself each month. Is there anything useful that could be added? Any suggestions? This month I was happy about: enjoying the holiday season. This month I was sad about: nada. Somethings I accomplished this month were: hitting a problem head on and being able to resolve it even though…

  • Life

    Year in Review 2012

    December 30, 2012 - By 

    My favorite moments of 2012: ================ [January] Hanging out in Atlanta with the family for Drew’s 14th birthday. ================ [February] The week with my niece.

  • Life

    See Ya, 2012!

    December 30, 2012 - By 

    What did you do in 2012 that you’d never done before? Ziplined through the jungle of Honduras Did you keep your new years’ resolutions and will you make more for next year? I don’t think I really had any besides the same ones I always want to do. Did anyone close to you give birth? My sis-in-law, Jill, had a baby girl in November. Did anyone close to you die? Yes, Rob’s Grandmother What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012? Less stress, less worrying, more peace. What date from 2012 will remain etched upon…

  • Life

    Christmas Day 2012

    December 29, 2012 - By 

    Christmas Day was busy. We started off with homemade sausage balls and apple strudals. Then Rob and I looked in our stockings and the boys showed us what they had in their stockings, since that’s the one thing they can look at before Rob and I get up. Then the obligatory pics in front of the Christmas tree. Finally, what the kids had been waiting for since 6:30 am, the opening of the presents! Daisy’s looking for hers. Great gift, lil’ bro! Daisy ripping open her 2nd present. After opening gifts playing his new games. My sweet girl hanging out…

  • Life

    Christmas Eve 2012

    December 27, 2012 - By 

    Christmas Eve and the day before, I was busy baking and cooking. In the late afternoon of Christmas Eve, Alex performed in our church’s children pageant. He was a shepherd (without a headdress for some reason). Our preachers welcoming us. Afterwards, we went home to eat the Christmas Eve meal that I had prepared was similar to what I did last year. Instead of doing green beans, I made baked beans. We had: Honey Baked Ham Hash Brown Casserole Homemade Baked Beans – recipe coming soon After our dinner, we watched a Christmas movie and then went back to church…

  • Carnival Dream::Day 8 {Disembarkation & Daytona}
    Travel

    Carnival Dream::Day 8 {Disembarkation & Daytona}

    December 27, 2012 - By 

    ~ Day 1::Day of Embarkation ~ Day 2::Fun Day at Sea ~ Day 3::Cozumel ~ Day 4::Belize ~ Day 5::Roatan 1 ~ Day 5::Roatan 2 ~ Day 6::Costa Maya ~ Day 7::Day at Sea ~ At port in Port Canaveral On the last day of the cruise, you get up, eat breakfast, and head to the location where you sit until your tag number is called. You see here that our tag number was 34. We came to realize we were the 2nd to last group to be called. How did we get that lucky? We have no idea. **sarcasm**…

  • Life

    Family Date Night {Hockey}

    December 22, 2012 - By 

    Friday night we enjoyed our family date night in Columbus to see the Columbus Cottonmouths. They beat the Mississippi Surge 5-2. Here’s a few pics from the game. When the game concluded we were famished so we went to Carrabas for a yummy dinner. I found this quick highlight video.

  • Life

    My Afternoon with Alex

    December 21, 2012 - By 

    Thursday afternoon Alex’s Cub Scouts went to church to help make up boxes for the food pantry. Our church provides food for those that are need every Friday and they make up all the boxes on Thursdays. He enjoyed being able to help others. After that we went to the hospital because his class collected books and toys for the little boys and girls in the hospital around the holidays. After doing good deeds he and I had a Mom and Me date at Chick-fil-a.

  • Fun Day at Sea
    Travel

    Carnival Dream::Day 7 {Day at Sea}

    December 20, 2012 - By 

    ~ Day 1 ~ Day 2 ~ Day 3 ~ Day 4 ~ Day 5:Part 1 ~ Day 5:Part 2 ~ Day 6 ~ Day 8 ~ The 7th day was a Fun Day at Sea. The day seemed to fly by. We started with breakfast. Then, a towel animal demonstration. We played some bingo and some trivia. One last nap in our cozy cabin. We enjoyed our last dinner and were so sad to say goodbye to our wait staff. Our bar waitress, Samali One last hurrah in the dining room. We also had to pack up our bags…

  • Life

    Troop 50 Christmas Party

    December 18, 2012 - By 

    Last night we attended Drew’s Troop Christmas Party. After dinner, the boys tried to stump the Scoutmaster by tying knots and then, he had to attempt to tie it. Needless, to say the Scoutmaster knows his knots. 🙂 Then the Scoutmaster reversed the playing field by stumping the Scouts with a couple games that showed his “psychic” abilities! My favorite part of the night was walking down to the fire station to give toys for Toys for Tots.

  • Life

    Our Kitchen Progress

    December 15, 2012 - By 

    For the past few months I’ve eluded to the fact that we’ve had issues in our kitchen. I haven’t wanted to talk about it, because it’s really consumed so much of Rob and I. We’ve never made a homeowners claim before, so we didn’t really know what to expect. At first we weren’t even sure if we should make a claim, but we decided to go ahead. With the floor buckling and the inside of our bottom cabinets ruined, we knew it would be quite an ordeal. Well, we never imagined how bad it would or could really be. We…

  • Uncategorized

    Pizza Party!

    December 10, 2012 - By 

    Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving, our friends, R & J, and 3 of their kids came over for a Pizza Party and football. For appetizers I made: Salsa Jalapeno Popper Dip I made 2 batches of dough the night before. That morning I rolled out the dough and cut it into pieces for individual pizzas. I put them each on their own paper plate and stacked them up, placing one more plate on the top one to prevent drying out. I prepared all the toppings. You can include whatever you like, but I had ham, pineapple, black olives, onions, green peppers,…

  • Life

    Christmas Tree Shopping 2012

    December 9, 2012 - By 

    Yesterday we headed out to Wetumpka to the tree farm we found last year. Somebody’s ready to cut one down! Alex says, “This one is just my size!” We quickly found this one. And decided to cut it down. The boys cut it down all by themselves this year. First time ever! Rob was happy he didn’t have to get down there and help. Off to get it shook and baled. Alex concludes, “On 2nd thought, Mom. I think we should have bought this one!” More pics here.

  • Life

    Memories of the Month {11.2012}

    November 30, 2012 - By 

    This month I was happy about: getting the kitchen done! This month I was sad about: Auburn high losing in the 3rd round of the playoffs. Somethings I accomplished this month were: getting the kitchen done! Something new I did was: helping with the demolition of part of our kitchen and helping with installing new counter tops. Books I read were: The Rough Guide To The Maya World by Peter Eltringham The Lords of Tikal: Rulers of an Ancient Maya City by Peter D. Harrison Lonely Planet Belize by Mara Vorhees Every Now and Then (9/11, #3) by Karen Kingsbury…

  • Life

    A Little Sign of Christmas

    November 30, 2012 - By 

    We recently purchased this beautiful wreath from our friends’ daughter who was selling these for the Girl Scouts. There’s nothing like the fresh smell of pine to get you in the mood for Christmas.

  • Costa Maya, Mexico
    Travel

    Carnival Dream::Day 6 {Costa Maya}

    November 28, 2012 - By 

    ~ Day 1::Day of Embarkation ~ Day 2::Fun Day at Sea ~ Day 3::Cozumel ~ Day 4::Belize ~ Day 5::Roatan 1 ~ Day 5::Roatan 2 ~ Day 7::Day at Sea ~ Day 8::Disembarkation/Daytona ~ Day 6 we got up early as we had a 7am excursion in Costa Maya, Mexico. In fact when we arrived it was still dark. Our adventure for the day was boarding a Catamaran for an exciting snorkel in the 4th largest barrier reef in the world called the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef at 585 miles long. Here Alex stands as we wait for everyone to gather…

  • Life

    Thanksgiving Day Menu 2012

    November 28, 2012 - By 

    This Thanksgiving was a quiet one. With Rob’s Mom and Step Dad visiting Grandma in Florida and Rob’s sister living in Oklahoma now, it was just the 4 of us along with Rob’s brother, Nick. I managed to cook way too much of everything, but that’s ok. It was so nice to have running water and a floor and countertop. I’ll be posting pics soon. Anyway, the menu consisted of: Green Beans Apple Cornbread Stuffing Praline Sweet Potatoes Fried Cajun Turkey by Rob (in the oil-less fryer) Gravy (similar to Popeye’s) Apple Pecan Bars

  • Life

    Win with Grace? Lose with dignity

    November 24, 2012 - By 

    Drew’s high school, AHS made it to the 3rd round of the playoffs. Drew has been super excited that they continue to win, as he really wanted to perform (marching band) at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Unfortunately, that dream came to a grinding halt tonight. They had to play their rivals, OHS. AHS played horribly. Being out-coached, coming out cocky, and expecting the same play to work ever time is not a formula for a win in the playoffs, especially against your arch rival. High school rivalries can get pretty nasty. At the buzzer, I watched as the much of the OHS…

  • Carnival Dream::Day 5 {Roatan} Part 2
    Travel

    Carnival Dream::Day 5 {Roatan} Part 2

    November 8, 2012 - By 

    ~ Day 1::Day of Embarkation ~ Day 2::Fun Day at Sea ~ Day 3::Cozumel ~ Day 4::Belize ~ Day 5::Roatan 1 ~ Day 6::Costa Maya ~ Day 7::Day at Sea ~ Day 8::Disembarkation/Daytona ~ So if you missed Part 1 of Day 5, you need to go read about it here. Here’s a few pics from our trip back from the zipline. Seventh Day Adventist Bilingual School After leaving the zipline, we asked Richard to drive us to “downtown” so we could shop. He took us to this weird strip mall. We noticed while we were there that an excursion…