Christmas ADD

When putting up the Christmas decor I usually don't have much "useful" help. I do have helpers but they get distracted too easy.

This year I was worse than them. My mission was to put up the tree. If I got nothing else done I wanted the tree up. It didn't go as planned and I was the problem.

Our day went pretty much like this. It started at 8:00:

1. Pancake breakfast~yummy

2. Church~sermon made me cry.

3. Lunch

4. Nap~not long enough

5. Unpack the storage building so that we can get Christmas decor AND Gracelyn's baby clothes out for a friend to borrow

6. Start going through baby clothes and reminiscing about what she wore and when she wore it.

7. Throw a load of baby clothes into the wash and then decide that I better start working on Christmas stuff.

8. Pack away lots of pictures, knick-knacks, mantle decorations to make room for the holiday stuff.

9. Change out washer and dryer and go through another set of clothes and get teary eyed.

10. Set up dancing snowman and sing along with him for a few minutes.

11. Try to find a place for a sign that I got last year at bunco but never had a place for. It is super cute and I wanted it hung up in a prominent spot this year.

12. Notice that the new sign place needs to be cleaned since it is in the kitchen and above the cabinets. I don't clean up there regularly~you're shocked I know.

13. Look over on top of the fridge and realize that I could qualify for the show "How Clean is Your House". ACK.

14. Clean the fridge and switch out pictures for the frames on the front of the doors and then clean up the mass of papers that I have collected over the past year. Reminisce over all the birth announcements and pictures of special friends we have received since we have lived here.~It was a HUGE stack.

15. Deem that the reason the troops are restless is that they are starving. I'm on a mission to get that tree up so ordering pizza it is.

16. Go through the 3rd set of clothes and swap out the laundry~AGAIN.

17. Sit down to catch my breath in front of the computer and end up writing a blog entry. he he he.

18. Look behind me and realize there is no tree up yet.

I'm in big trouble.

Such a sweetie

Cam told me that he sure is glad he can kiss me any time he wants. AWWWW.

Women of Faith OKC November 14th-15th

I had a wonderful time at the Women of Faith Conference. It was my third year to attend and my favorite so far. The line up was Mandisa, Nicole C. Mullins, Patsy Clairmont, Lucy Swindall, Merilyn Meberg, Melinda Watts, Sheila Walsh & Sandy Patti. The pictures loaded from end to beginning so you are getting them in reverse order! :)

Mandisa. She is beautiful.

Melinda Watts and ME! :)
Lucy Swindall

Nicole C. Mullins. She posed just for us.

Sandy Patti

Patsy Clairmont

These are of various women that got to go. What a blessing they all were!

Don't ask!

A rose by any other name...

It is a funny joke among our family and friends that Cannon has ALWAYS called Mason DeDe. Even if you were to say it slow and ask him to repeat you as in ma-son. Cannon will slowly say de-de. It is funny and with all the struggles we have gone through to get his speech on the right track him calling Mason DeDe wasn't that big a deal to us. We refer to him as DeDe sometimes as well when we are talking to Cannon so I know it isn't helping the cause. Well over the past few weeks I have been working with Mason on picture identification of people. Nana, mommy, daddy, Gracelyn, Cannon and himself. He attempts to name them all or at least smile because he knows who they are in the pictures but today he walked right up to me with a picture of himself and said LOUD..........DeDe. I just smiled and thought he will always be our DeDe.

I promise a post soon of just pictures so get ready!

Turning over a new leaf

So I went to the local gym and signed a contract that states I am going to go there and pay them money so that I can sweat, hurt, and be overall unhappy for an hour a day. UGH! But it was time. Well it was PAST time but it was time. I worked out for 2+ years and loved it so it shouldn't be too hard to get back in the swing of things right? I am hoping it goes well. I had a great workout this morning. This place is different from my previous place in that it is all on area but there was a great amount of machines. I didn't see any familiar machines besides a treadmill so I tried out a few that reminded me of the ones I liked before. I found a close match. Tomorrow I will get busy with the actual weights which I love way more than a machine. :) Wish me luck and great success.

Playing Tag

This tag is from Cassie. How do I know Cassie you might ask? We grew up in church together. I am not exactly sure when she graduated but I know it was after me but that didn't matter. As a member of our youth group we did lots of fun things together with all ages and genders. It was a great place to grow up.

Link the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog~Check

*Share 7 random/weird facts about yourself~Check

*Tag 7 other people and link to them at the end of your blog~Check

*Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment~Check

I also want to add that I think these tags are great for getting out of a blogging rut and I think I have done this particular one about 3 times so far. Amazing that I have that many different & random things to tell, but folks my life is different and random all the time.

1. I am very unmotivated in the housekeeping department. I've made reference to it before but seriously I just am not motivated to keep a house in order. Do I desire a clean house? Yep! Do I wish I had someone else to do it for me? YEP!

2. I have around 55 crosses in my house. I love them so much. Each one is special and I can tell you where I have gotten each and every one of them.

3. Cannon is my sleeping partner. We take a nap together every single day. Mason doesn't go down for a nap quietly so putting the boys down at the same time in the same room just wasn't working. So Cannon gets to be in my room. :) So we cozy up together and read a few books. EVERY DAY. It is a sacrifice I make for him. I wish I didn't have to. I would much rather clean during their naps than sleep but oh well the lengths I go to for them.

4. I don't like being home all the time. I seriously need to get out of the house once a day. I don't always get my wish especially this summer when gas was soooooo much. But now that diesel is on the decline I don't feel so bad getting out more.

5. I love the snow. I mean love it. It is cold, wet and soooo wonderful. My birthday buddy at church does as well and I love her because of it.

6. I like to get my hair cut often. I am so blessed with hair that grows at warp speed so I have the luxury of cutting it several different styles and if I get tired of it I just let it grow and within a few months I have a different style. I am currently on the search of the perfect short do. How do these measure up?

7. I am still have my uniform from when I volunteered at the hospital at the age of 13, but I have not a clue where my marriage license is.

7 lucky people to be tagged that I think would actually do it~hmmm....let me think.

Kari, Kassie, Amy, Kristi, Hillary, Renay, & Melissa

moving on...

I don't have anything important to share, just wanted to see the VOTE title gone. Glad you guys voted. I mourned the next day for a while. I'm over it now.

Have a happy Thursday! :)

VOTE

VOTE

VOTE

VOTE

VOTE

And if you want to have a great read before your VOTE head over to my friend Wade's blog. He has some words of wisdom for us this morning. I agree with what he says. Main point of today: VOTE!

New Camera

NOTE TO SELF: Should have gotten the new camera BEFORE Friday.

Oooppppssss. I knew our camera was acting up. We had some battery issues. It is fine really, but I was being stubborn and really wanted a new one for various reasons. The main one being that we were missing half of the events that happen in the house because it is just sooooo slow. So in turn I refused to spend more $$ on batteries and low and behold Halloween snuck up on us. ARG. So I don't have pictures. But I will dress the kids up again soon and take their pictures.

They loved their costumes this year. I had a very adorable skeleton (Mason), a super tough Buzz Lightyear (Cannon), and a sassy cheerleader. They really looked so precious. We had a fun night of trick-or-treating in the Ators neighborhood and then headed home with our loot. What a fun night. Wish more of you guys could have made it by. There were Indians, superheros, cowgirls and cowboys, senators, governors, brides, kitty cats and punk rockers. And that was just what we saw.

Okay, on to the pictures with this new camera. I took a TON tonight because along with the camera I got a 4GB card. WAHOOO. If you know me at all and what I have dealt with over the last 6 1/2 years I was forever erasing pictures off my camera because we ALWAYS ran out of room. It was so much fun to just keep shooting and shooting and shooting and never think about space. WOW. Where have I been? Anyways to end this post I would love to thank Cameron who has heard me complain, moan and groan for a few months over our now retired camera. Thanks sweetheart you're the best!
Mason wouldn't sit still to save his life therefor his pictures where more action shots that showed off my dirty house. Didn't think you guys needed to see the laundry piles. I will get him tomorrow for sure.