As God As My Witness, I thought Turkeys Could Fly...

Y'all, I have to admit it...I love Thanksgiving.  Why?  Well for starters, it's not Christmas.  Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas for all the Christian reasons.  But geez, that holiday has really gotten away from us in the past few years.  With Thanksgiving, there's no pressure to out-do, up-gift, or whatever.  It's just food and family.  Did I mention the food?

Since I partook in pretty much the whole "Gobble 'til you wobble" today, I'm not going to talk much more.  I'll just leave you with some highlights.  Enjoy!

First of all, what a difference a year makes!  Take a walk down memory lane with me.  Rob and Caroline were unfortunate lucky enough to be able to don their turkey shirts two years in a row.  Technically, C's went from a dress to a shirt, but who's counting?

We started today with lunch at Bobby's dad's house.  What a spread they put on, too!

L-R Laura my soon-to-be-SIL, Pam a.k.a. "Mimi" and me

Caroline "reading" a card to Mimi and Rocky's neighbor, Mr. Don

Our lunch hostess and host -- Mimi and Rocky



Let's eat, y'all!

After lunch, we went to Bobby's mom's house...to eat again!  Because it's Thanksgiving, we certainly need to thank God for all our blessings and for our delicious bounty.  We also should be ashamed...very ashamed!

Each year there is a pick-up game of football in Bobby's mom's front yard.  This year, the players seemed a little...younger...than days of yore.  But my heart was so proud of my boy and his cousin!

L-R Rob (5) and Braxton (7)

 And during the game, we the biddy hens looked like this:

There are a pair of new baby twins in the family -- Lucas and Easton are about 8 months old.  Lemme tell you that Caroline went nuts for the boys.  She kept pleading "hol' the baby.  Gi bodle to baby."  She thought they were life-like dolls for her enjoyment only!

Speaking of babies, take a look at Williams family matriarch, Jeanette a.k.a. "Maw-Maw"  Here she is with 12 great-grandchildren.  There is one baby on the way and at least two I can think of who were not photographed.  What a family legacy she has created!

Maw Maw has seen many things come and go in her lifetime, but who knew she could be gansta' fab?  Check out her flat-bill:

Clockwise from Top R: Debbie (Bobby's mom), Maw Maw, Delane, and Gwen

Well, that's a wrap for this year's Thanksgiving.  Here's to weeks of turkey sandwiches! Turkey salad! Turkey gravy! Turkey Hash! Turkey A La King! Or gallons of turkey soup! (Who doesn't recognize that as a quote from A Christmas Story? Love that movie!)  May God bless all of your 365.

Halloween Happenings

For the record, I know this post is 18 days late.  But I wanted to go ahead and do a blog about it so I could record this year's memories.  It was so much fun!  For the second year in a row we went to Jason and Kristy's to do our trick-or-treating.  She made a big pot of Brunswick stew -- my first taste -- and it was so delicious!  I made this cheesy goodness found from Pinterest and it was yet another Pinning Success:

Caroline went as a pink cowgirl, a.k.a. Little Annie Oakley.

Rob was Iron Man and Josh was, well, he was scary! 

 Caroline loves dressing up!  However, she does not love wearing hats.  So this particular costume accessory was a rare commodity.

Here's a sad li'l anecdote: Rob is getting to the point of "not needing" me anymore.  I know this is actually a happy thing, confidence courage, etc.  But when he and Josh ran off to do their own trick-or-treating, I realized I missed him...On a happier note, I have great trust in Josh that he would and did look after Rob.  They were great together.

So, Kristy and I took Caroline.  She was a little timid at first, but quickly got the hang of it.  Just look:

I may have mentioned in the past that Jason owns a very large blood-python and he gets the snake out each year.  Well, I'm alarmed at how not scared Caroline is of the thing.  She went straight up to it, wanted to touch it, posed for a picture with it, and more.

By the end of the night, it was time to add up our "loot" and there was quite some loot to add!

Halloween 2011 was a great success. Caroline couldn't believe that she was given candy just for saying hello to strangers and looking cute. (When you put it like that, it does sound a little creepy, huh?)  But even Bobby got into the dress-up spirit!  See for yourself:

Play Time, Pilgrims and Pinterest Success!

Kind of a random array of topics today, but I wanted to tell y'all about some things that have all been a raging success:

Last night was our first installment of nightly family time.  For one hour each night after dinner we have decided to turn off the TV, etc. and just spend quality time together.  Rob chose our activity... Candyland. 

Tonight we played with Legos.  Li'l less productive, but still very much togetherness.  I must say I'm loving this new addition to our daily routine.  It seems like the "right" thing to do, you know?

Today was the Fall Festival at Prince of Peace.  The 3's dressed as Indians and the 4's were Pilgrims.  As you may know this is Rob's 2nd year in the 4's and we still do not regret that decision.  It's funny to participate in class / do this program as a repeat and see how Rob is handling the nerves better with a year's maturity. 

POP Fall Program 2010

POP Fall Program 2011

Okay, wow, he has grown a foot!  He's several inches taller than the 2nd tallest in his class.  But also, look how wide open his mouth is this year.  He is far less timid; rather he relishes activity and attention.  You've just gotta check this out:

Lastly, I am so addicted to Pinterest!  What, you haven't heard of it?  Well, come out from under your rock and request an invitation.  Then follow my boards.  Anyhoo, I "pinned" this scrumptious sounding dinner recently.  Guess what we had for dinner tonight?

Crockpot Italian Chicken (source)

It was every bit as good as I predicted.  Some of you have blogged about your curiosity of successful pins.  Trust me, this was great.  The only change I would make is to the sauce.  To me, serving it over pasta calls for more sauce.  So the next time I make it, I may double the cheese and soup requirements, while adding an additional Italian spice packet to retain the flavor.  But I would classify this with you all in your "Pinterest Success" columns.

Red, Blue, and I Love You

On Friday night, which also happened to be 11-11-11, which additionally happened to be Veterans' Day, Bobby and I hosted an Around The House party for Jonathan and Laura.  As the hostess of this party two things occurred: 1.) I went crazy using the red and aqua color scheme she is using as her wedding colors and 2.) I took less pictures than I anticipated.  I guess I got caught up in the excitement and I just didn't walk around with my camera all night.  Oops.

The invitations were pretty cute, if I do say so myself:

I found all of these frames (below) for waaay cheap at the Alabama Thrift Store and then sprayed them all red.  I later filled them with pics of the happy couple throughout their courtship and used them to decorate around my house...

...like this (below).

I made a very cute sign which hung on my front door in lieu of a wreath, etc.  Of course, I forgot to take a pic of the decorated door/porch, but here is the sign I made:

So, eventually the guests started arriving.  Here is a shot of Laura (middle) with two of her dearest friends and two of her seven bridesmaids:

Check out the "Happily Ever After" sign on the mirror in the background.  I'm telling you, I went a li'l nuts with the red and blue touches. 

Know what the best part of this cake was?  It tasted even better than it looked and that's saying a lot about this gorgeous confection!  This cake was made by a lady from Hueytown who is also making the happy couple's wedding cakes.  I think it's safe to say she'll be making another cake for me at some point in the near future!

I was teasing Jonathan and Laura about how life changes as a young adult.  Did they ever believe they would be excited to receive pots, pans, and dishes as presents?  But overall, they were tickled at the "loot" showered upon them.  They received a gorgeous throw blanket, some dishes, a beautiful pewter University of Alabama serving dish, a shower curtain, some new equipment for the home office, a Japanese Maple tree for their new yard, a set of Pyrex glass casserole pans, and more!

Well, wedding season is upon us.  We have the holidays, too, but then there's a great big ol' family wedding to anticipate.

Until then,

Remember Me? -- iPhone Photo Dump

Okay, I'm due to apologize to you all for my disappearing act. I promise, I truly love having my blog. When I'm in the mood to write, I want to write. When I want to capture some memories, I turn to my blog. But as I'm kinda just starting out, I haven't come up with a "groove" and a "schedule" yet.

In October I attempted to write everyday for 31 Days. My topic being how to strengthen your marriage really worked on my own household. The hubs and I were feeling so strong and secure, that we became extremely busy. Blogging did not happen. So here's a li'l recap of the last month to get you up-to-date. And then I'll try to get in touch with those of you who are about to file a missing persons report on me, I promise!

I became a brunette in October!

I traveled with my Dad and my Aunt to Austin, TX for a beautiful wedding.



 My mom's job a.k.a. my job has kept us quite busy this month with 5 conferences, 2 of which were out of town and the rest that required a good bit of back-and-forth traveling.

L-R Rob, Whitney and siblings Alex and Anna went to the zoo to see the new baby lion cubs.  Man, they were so cute and cuddly!

Whitney and Caroline, who's wearing a momma-made Halloween pinafore.  Go me!

Caroline -- who also suffered a chest cold and ear infection this month -- helped me do some fall baking.  We made this recipe found on Pinterest, another new obsession of mine.

Halloween 2011 came and went.  It was fun to trick-or-treat for the 2nd year in a row with our cousin / nephew Josh!  Rob was Iron Man and Caroline was a pink cowgirl.

All this candy is for me?  Just for being cute?

Mommy, should I be more scared of this killer (live) snake or my Uncle Jason's Auburn shirt?

Football season is in full swing. I mean big, make-or-break games that unfortunately, are trying to break us. I got the chance to meet and have a great conversation with AJ McCarron's dad--that'd be Bama's starting QB for all you non-Bammers.  This was taken before the LSU game, hence the smiles!

Our living room is undergoing a major renovation.  So big, that I'll save it, too, for another post, but just know that it's huge!  And last but hardly the least...

Rob is sick.  He started out with the crud and a pretty heavy ear infection.  Just when he was well, he got Strep throat!  Yucky.  Well now he's on a pretty strong antibiotic that is also making him feel yucky. The photo above is when he actually fell asleep in the Dr's office.  Bless his heart!

Here's hoping I can finally sleep restfully again and get back to a routine.  It's been so very crazy in the Morris home for the past few weeks! 

More updates will come!