A Great- Great Grandmother pilgrimage

Mommom w/ from left Kylee, Kendall, Sophie, Makenzie, Julia, Ethan, Kaden & Saige
My sisters, Mom and I w/ our Mommom at her home

Saige, Kendall and Kylee after dinner in Brasstown Valley

My sister Lindsey & her husband Ken w/ their 5 kids...4 girls and 1 boy w/ the youngest being six and the oldest 10!

Me and my boy

Lala & Pops w/ 8 of their 11 grandchildren and one more on the way any day!

My beautiful blue eyed girls...Kendall with Kylee in the background.

Kaden Michael

On our drive through the mountains we encountered snow so of course we had to stop so the kids could get out and kick it! :)

My Great Grandmother turned 98 this September and it has been awhile since our last visit. She is a kick... still funny as ever, full of stories, and still cleaning her own house! I was so proud to introduce Kendall to her great-great grandmother! My great Aunt was also there...she is 78, and amazes me that she is even that old she doesn't look or act it at all! It was a family pilgrimage up to the mountains of North Carolina w/ my parents, my two sisters and all our kids...we had to drive 3 cars. It took multiple food, bathroom and scenic stops. We even hit some snow on the top of the mountains. On the way home we stopped to eat dinner at the Brasstown Valley Resort.

A Christmas Wedding

Kim, myself and Shay

Me and my bff's at a Christmas Wedding Reception for one of our other bff's, Dierdra, who was married last weekend. The Bride, and I'm not just saying this b/c she is my beautiful friend, was straight out of a magazine from Old Hollywood...timeless. Check out a sneak peek of her wedding photos on the photographer's blog at http://brandelynlee.com/theblog/?p=561

Pre-K Christmas Party

Kaden, mouth wide open, singing Jingle Bells
Kaden w/ bff's George (in matching sweater) and Anderson

Group photo w/ Santa

The table setting...the kids munched on fruit and cheese Christmas trees, reindeer sandwiches and marshmallow snowman

Kaden and Kendall w/ his teacher, Ms. Trish

The Cake

I wanted to get pictures up of Kaden's school Christmas Party. With the Holidays and the fact that I locked Kendall in the car that morning I almost forgot to post this one! Myself and two other fellow Mommies were in charge of the party. We decided to do a Nutcracker theme as the kids had seen the shorten version of the play at a local performing arts high school earlier in the month and loved it. So we incorporated as much as we could...the reading of the Nutcracker, Nutcracker cake, Nutcracker ornaments as party favors, Wooden Nutcrackers as centerpieces and the list goes on. It was all topped off with a visit from Santa...

Christmas Presents Round One

Christmas Round One...Thank you Meme, Aunt Kecia and Aunt Pat. The first of the present opening holiday occurred earlier this week when Keith brought in a truck load of presents from family back in Mississippi and Louisiana when he visited last weekend.

New Camera

The Reindeer Ears were quite the entertainment

This would have made a great shot for my Christmas Cards

Kendall looking for the birdies

Saige showed off her missing tooth during bath time

Tickle Monster

Loved the way Kendall was looking out of the corner of her eyes

Precious angel got a little tired

Ok as if I don't take enough pictures! I have been asking for a camera that would give me more frames per second, more mega pixels, more zoom, more editing features, and more more more! Keith finally gave in and purchased the Nikon D5000 for me as my Christmas gift, which Kaden was so excited about he told me before I actually received it. I have a lot to learn but I'm loving all the new tools on this camera. Here are a few of the pictures I've taken over the last few days. I don't think photography is my calling but I do love getting some great candids and snapshots of the kiddos without paying the big bucks!

Ultimate Bad Mommy Moment

I debated whether to even post this, but seeing as I did it in the most public spot for all of cartersville mommywood to know it, I decided to share with everyone.
I locked my baby girl in the car, in the pouring rain, car not running, at the courthouse across the street from Kaden's school. I parked there b/c there was no parking at his school as it was the day of his Christmas program and to top it off I was the mom in charge of the Christmas party for his class. I had dropped Kaden off in the carpool lane under the overhang and unloaded as much as I could for the class party. Then it was off to park w/ Kendall. I put my keys in her diaper bag and her bag near her car seat so that I could juggle it all w/ the umbrella. To my disbelief as soon as I shut the door I realized I hit the automatic lock button as I was getting out. Keith had taken another car and was walking up to me as soon as I realized she was locked in! I started panicking and crying immediately. Keith found a shovel in a nearby truck bed and started to try and break open the window lift gate in the rear of the car....it never opened but now it won't close and there are dents and scratches to boot...all of which I obviously did not care about at the time, but are now going to cost us a pretty penny to fix. Luckily someone in the same parking lot had broken down and had already called a wrecker service. By the time they showed up 15 minutes later Kendall was crying and waving at me from her car seat. It took them what seemed like an eternity to get her out and after several attempts to unlock the doors failed I found myself getting seriously mad at the man trying to get my baby out of the car I had locked her in....you got to place blame somewhere right! To top it off Kaden's school performance was about to start so I didn't want to be a horrible mom to both my kids so I ran inside to watch Kaden's performance. Luckily it didn't start right on time and Keith walked in with Kendall right before it began only for the whole fellowship hall to turn and watch me grab my baby and burst into tears. Luckily I had the support of other fellow mommies telling me similar stories to make me not feel so bad. And Kaden's teacher and other moms were able to get the room decorated for the party so it all turned out ok in the end.
When we got home Kaden asked me why I had been crying at the beginning of his performance...he said "Mommy was I not singing good and that is why you were crying?"....put a dagger in my heart why don't you! To which I replied "Of course not baby, you did wonderful. Mommy was crying b/c I locked baby Kendall in the car and couldn't get her out!"...and he then said, "Oh Mommy, why would you do such a horrible thing!!" I know, I know!

The Pink Pig

Last night was the first of what will now be our annual pilgrimage to the Macy's Pink Pig at Lenox Square in Buckhead. Priscilla, the pink pig, has been chugging for 56 years. It is kind of a right of passage to being a little girl in the Atlanta area. Kendall loved every second of it, Kaden was a little bothered by all the pink, and Keith was a little dissapointed by all the hype. I, however, was just excited to be starting a tradition w/ my daughter. And the whole pink carpet w/ the velvet ropes was just too much! We finished off our visit w/ dinner at our family favorite restaurant...Maggiano's.

www.macys.com/campaign/pinkpig/history.jsp
Costs $3 a trip. Go to website for hours and two rides for one discount coupons.

Jenna's Baby Shower

Saige, my niece, had secrets and kisses to give to her Mommy, my sister Jenna, a rare moment of sweetness!
Jenna and my parents

The three of us...me, Jenna and Lindsey

Jenna and Saige in her beautiful dress.

The seated dinner set up. Saige and our friend Natalie's little girl, Alyson, pick their seats!

This past Tuesday was my sister Jenna's baby shower dinner at the club. It was a wonderful dinner and the room was decorated w/ a white christmas theme and pink and white balloons to top it off...perfect! I can't believe we are about to welcome another little baby into our family...still waiting on a name! And her due date is only 4 weeks away!

My Girlfriends

Michelle's baby shower, from left, Aimee, Dierdra, Bailey, Chivonne, Suzanne, Me and Veronica

This was the most beautiful baby shower. It was a rustic theme w/ birds and the colors lavender and white. This cake was amazing...that is a real tree stomp as the base and real twigs. And the food was delicious...shrimp and grits, french toast casserole, chicken salad, double blueberry muffins, and the list goes on...yummy!



Our 5th Annual Christmas White Elephant party. We celebrate w/ good Italian food each year and a different gift theme. This year it was at Fusco's in Acworth and the gift was one that pampers. From left, Dierdra, Me, Veronica, Heidi, Chivonne, Deanne, Kim, and Anissa. Also at the dinner was Shay, Angela, Suzanne, Michelle and Bailey

One of Dierdra's showers...Me, Dierdra's girls Ava & Alyssa, Shay, Chivonne, Dierdra, Veronica, Metta and her son Connor.

There has been a whirlwind of activity w/ all of my girlfriends in the last two weekends...from Dierdra's pre-wedding celebrations and birthday, the arrival of Lauren's baby girl, Michelle's baby shower, and Suzanne's little man turning one. Add on Christmas get together's and there has been no shortage of quality girl talk. Beer & Bingo was definitely a fun night this past Sunday!

Ok quickly...I can't believe I forgot my camera this past Sunday afternoon for little Jacob's birthday party...this was the ultimate kid party...a bouncy house, the Varsity catering, a three tiered cake, and to top it all off a snow ice truck came for each of the kids to make their own signature icy...wow, kudos Wade & Suzanne.

Santa Brunch

LaLa and Kaden about to enjoy their dessert.

Kendall has a new bff...her Aunt Linny...you can see why as she is double fisting into the chocolate cake that her Auntie has placed in front of her!

Kendall was a lot more content on Julia's lap than Santa's! From left...Julia, Kendall, Makenzi, Ethan, Kaden, Saige, Kylee and Sophie.

Kaden was reciting his very important list, which kept going and going and...

Saige reads off her list!

We attempted another sitting w/ Santa...as you see it did not turn out well. I guess there is always next year. However, if Kendall is anything like Kaden is with the Easter Bunny it may take a few years!

This past Sunday my whole family...all 13 of us...attended Santa Brunch at the Club. All the kids got to talk to Santa and sit on his lap and tell him of all the items they were wishing for. Kaden of course was very specific and cute little niece Saige had a very thick envelope w/ all of her items...the funny part was she said it was a copy of the original...The original she had left on Pops desk...I think she already knows who the real Santa is!!!

The bunch buffet was awesome. There were tons of kid requested items and the dessert bar about did us all in. I was sitting next to my niece Sophie, who I'm pretty sure attempted to try every item. I thought for sure she was going to get sick, but she just kept on and with every bite said "this is sooo good I just can't stop." To top it off the little 7 year old ordered a black coffee to finish off her meal!

The icing on the cake was the elf that came around and made balloon animals for all the kids. And there was no drama...just laughing and a whole lot of eating!

First Time Ice Skaters

Saige and Kaden in action...they stayed very close to the wall

My sister Jenna watched baby Kendall while I was out on the ice

Kendall in her adorable ice skates outfit

My nephew Ethan's sixth birthday was this past Saturday and it was celebrated with ice skates! It was the first time on skates for most of the kids so a lot of the parents were naturally worried and decided to throw on ice skates themselves and help the kids out on the ice....myself included. I took Kaden and my five year old niece Saige and I have to say by the end of it they were doing better than me! We all had a great time and the three of us were the last ones to leave the party. It was a blast and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! Happy Bday E :)

Ode to the Christmas Tree

Trying to get our 10 foot live Christmas tree up this week with all the trimmings proved a little more than difficult w/ a curious toddler and an eager to help little boy! It is finally up and decorated but it was a process. Thankfully Kendall has not bothered it since and surprisingly doesn't seem to care anything about the ornaments within her reach :)