Stockings Hung With Care

The other evening I was checking my emails. My Dad had sent me some pictures of their home and their Christmas decorations. The photos were lovely. But I noticed something just not right. He had sent me a mantel shot with his stocking, my mom's stocking, and my little sister's stocking (Who by the way is not little any more but she will forever be called my little sister). I go home every year with my family and we have left our stockings there so we too can be visited by Santa. But where were our stockings. The mantel was surely missing about 5 more stocking. I thought for a moment that maybe it had just been forgotten. So, in response to my father's email I sent him a reply. I asked kindly where my family's stockings were. Maybe possible they were overlooked or forgotten. I then asked if our stockings could be hung with care too. In response to my email, my dearest Dad gave me this sweet reply.
There they are!! All of our stockings. They do look like they were hung with care. At least Santa will not have to squeeze himself down the chimney to get to our stockings. I know Big Cowpoke will be excited to have his outside in the snow, but I am not so sure how well I will fare in the weather at 7 am in the morning. So, ha ha ha Dad. I am still laughing, but please can we have our stockings inside the house?

What Else Could Happen?

Like every other mother these days, I have been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. I have been going to town almost everyday, which is a 30 minute drive one way. I find a gift and then bring it home only to find out that the person to which the gift is for already has what I had purchased. So, then it's back to town again. Yesterday, I was on the hunt for a red bike with flames. This is at the request of Big Cowpoke. So, my mission, to find that bike. I started at one of the three WalMart stores in our area. Can you believe that there was only one bike left his size, and it was far from red. My heart sunk. Christmas is two weeks away! Where have all the bikes gone? Next stop, the bicycle store. They are professionals there. They will have a red bike perfect for Big Cowpoke. Now, while on these shopping adventures I am far from alone. I take a long Little Cowpoke and Cowpokette. Little Cowpoke was very excited about going to a bike store. He seemed to like the girl bikes better. More colors and more sparkle. I tried to redirect his attention to the boy bikes. Then he found a tricycle. How much fun, he could ride it around the store. Then he parked it. Yes, he did in deed park it. Right into a row of about 10 other bikes. Down went the first four bikes, just like dominos. I grabbed them and asked Little Cowpoke to grab the rest. Oh he grabbed them alright. He finished off the row of bikes for me. They all fell down. I was so red and sweeting profusely at this point. A man said, "Do you need some help?" I wanted to say, "Nope, I've got this all under control. Let me hold my baby, spank my toddler, and set up these bikes here for ya, okay?" But instead I said I was looking for a red bike and all they ended up having was one red bike for 90 dollars and then the 2008 bikes for 130 dollars. I think they have lost their minds and I was off to Target. I apologized for the domino effect with the bikes and quickly left before anything else happened.

I did not find a bike and I ran out of time to look at the other two WalMart stores in our area. You know you are in the south when you have three, that is right, three walmarts with in a 20 mile radius of each other. I love the selections though!!

This brings me to today. I wanted to leave early this morning to go to town and search for a bike. Yet again, my plans were spoiled. I walked on the treadmill for about 11 and a half minutes, not nearly long enough to loose any sort of weight. Then I quickly showered and was getting ready to leave when Little Cowpoke has declared that he wants to sit on the potty. And that is just what he did.

Thirty minutes later he was locked in our bathroom. Our toilet has it's own little room. There he stayed for thirty minutes. Finally I knocked on the door and asked if everything was alright. He opened the door and declared, "I go on potty. See!!" He pointed to the shut lid so very proud of himself. I said, "Way to go buddy!" We exchanged high fives, then I noticed it. The entire roll of toilet paper was missing. Gone. I asked him where it was and he smiled and pointed to the toilet. I opened up the lid and low and behold an entire roll of unraveled toilet paper wadded in the toilet. Oh dear. I started to laugh. I couldn't help it. We both laughed.

Here it is. The wadded mess. There was more I pulled out of the hole. I love toddlers. They are so inventive. At this moment I had to feed Cowpokette. I was sitting on my bedroom floor feeding her when Little Cowpoke walked out of my bathroom with a confused look on his face saying, "eah eah.....". I had to look twice. At first I thought he might have gotten into my lipstick again, but on second glance he had blood all over his mouth and on his hand. I had no idea where it came from or what was going on. The baby was put down and we went into the bathroom to grab a towel. I asked him what he was doing? I dabbed his mouth to see where the blood was coming from. There was a lot. I stayed calm so he would stay calm. He had two slits on his upper lip. I asked him what he was doing. He just stared at me. I finally figured out that he was trying to shave. Just like his dad. He cut his top lip with the razor. We then moved into the kitchen to get some ice and water. Little Cowpoke wanted a band aid. I tried putting one on his lip but as you all know did not work. It was way too big. So, after about 45 minutes of Cowpokette crying and me blotting Little Cowpokes lip, it stopped bleeding. The time was now 1:30 and I was not going to make it to town. *Sigh*. The bike hunt will be left for Internet shopping. That is my final conclusion. After these last two days I am not sure I want to leave the house. I just want to crawl under my covers and hide. Big Cowpoke better love his bike, that I don't have yet, but will get, if it kills me. I hope your Christmas shopping is going better than mine! Wow, what a day, until next time y'all come back now ya hear.

The Power of Blending

I am new to the whole digital scrapbooking thing. Well, not too new, but with in the last 8 months new. I have never really done a page where there was any blending involved. It is an easy process and the end result sure gives you a wow factor. I did one today. I copied a layout that my big sister had done a while back. She is my idol. She has been scrapping for a long time and she is my mentor. She has taught me everything I know. She still teaches me. Good thing for Hello, or else I would have been stumped with this layout too. She is my crutch. I am so glad I have her to fall back on when I get stumped or my page just looks plain ugly, she isn't afraid to tell me if a page is ugly. And surprisingly it doesn't hurt my feelings when she says, "Uhm, no that is bad". I love that about her. A lot of times she tells me to just move something ever so slightly and it makes a difference. She is so smart. Anyway, back to blending. She showed me the way with the large eraser and then she was my inspiration with her layout. You can see her layout here. From that this is what I came up with.

I used one paper from the Oscraps Jolly O Collab kit and the ribbon too. The rest of the credits you can find here. This was a really fun layout for me to do. I think I will do more like it. I think I will need to scraplift my sister more!! She has awesome pages!! I love her clean simple lines. Anyway, nothing real exciting has happened today, just a scrap page. So, until next time y'all come back now ya hear.

Merry Christmas to ME!!

I have been wanting this for so long now. I have been so patient and I have been so good. I have not badgered my husband at all about this. I have not gone and drooled over it time and time again. I promise. I have done none of these things. Plus I am on Santa's nice list. So, since I have been so good, Mr.Cowboy bought me this!!!!

AHHHHHH!!!! Don't you love it? Isn't this what every 27 year old dreams of for Christmas? A Honda Odyssey. I have dreamed of this for a very long time now! I have searched for the perfect van for so very very long. My search started about two years ago when I saw the Nissan Quest. I went and test drove it. The salesman told me, "This van is designed for the sexy soccer mom." I said, "That's me that's me!!" I was sold. But my dearest husband was far from sold. So, I waited for two long years and many more test drives. I loved the Toyota. My sister even bought that one. I was so jealous. I had van envy. I was still driving around the three quarter ton desiel. Stuffing three kids into the back seat. Oh was I so jealous of my sister with her roomy van. I was so torn between which van to choose. Like I was even a loud to choose. I didn't have any money to buy a van. All I could do was dream! But Mr. Cowboy came down to this van. It is slate green with olive green interior. Which to me looks like a tan. The slate green is ever so slightly green. I love it. See how happy Mr. Cowboy is? Yeah not so much. But then look at me!!! Very excited!! It comes with rear dvd and a navigation system. The next morning I woke up Big Cowpoke and told him if he got dressed fast we could wait for the bus in the minivan!! He got dressed fast. Then later Little Cowpoke asked if we could go ride in the minivan. We all love our minivan. The dealership was the nicest ever. They also sell BMW and Mercedes. So, they were REALLY nice. The salesman, Mark, even gave me a tour of our new van. I even made a scrapbook page with it.
I have not scrapped in forever. It was nice to scrap again. Plus this kit is awesome. I love having a Holiday kit that isn't all red and green. I love the blues and yellows in it. They have awesome elements too. Everything is from the Oscraps Jolly-O kit. You can find it here at Oscraps. If you want to leave me some love you can do so in my scrapbook gallery here. Thanks for stopping by and until next time, y'all come back now ya hear!

USS KIDD

This past weekend the cowpokes and I ventured to the capitol city. When we came over the big bridge Big Cowpoked gasped, "Look New York City!!" I had to laugh, "No son, that is just Baton Rouge." He was so excited to be in the Big City!! We had ventured into the big city to see my brother in law run a marathon. That would be 26.2 miles. He is crazy. We made it just in time to see him cross the finish line. You can see him doing that here. I can't run one mile let alone 26.2 of them. After the run, we went out exploring the big city. We took the kids to the USS KIDD. The man that gave out the tour pamphlets was actually one of the shipmates on that boat. He has some good stories. Then we went exploring. Here is Big Cowpoke and Little Cowpoke hanging their heads out one of the compartments for the big guns. I don't know all the technical names. Big Cowpoke was one of the first ones down the hatch. You could really explore all over this ship. Down in the bellows of the ship there were many different kitchens. This was one of the larger ones. Little baby Alex was really upset. Look at that face!!Then there were beds. Now the kids all fit there nicely. I could not imagine having to sleep there. I would freak out!!
Little Cowpoke didn't mind the tight space at all. Of coarse not, he is little. Then it was back up to the main deck. This ship was huge, and not even as big as some that are out there. Here is my sister and her kidos climbing up the stairs. Big Cowpoke liked pretending he was shooting down all the bad guys. This boat was so perfect for him. He was running around all excited. After this deck everyone went up higher. I did not because I am so afraid of heights it's not funny. So I stood below them taking their pictures. Alex stopped crying to say cheese. Big Cowpoke slowed down for a brief second to take his picture. Ella just stopped to smile. She loves her picture taken, Such a natural. Big Cowpoke found the big guns. The tried moving them all around and was making shooting sounds. Boys. Anton caught this shot for me. The boat has a pirate flag on it. Ella kept calling it a pirate ship, Big Cowpoke called it a battleship, and I called it scary. They tried on helmets.They tried shooting guns. They worked together at moving the big gun. Then I took a shot looking through one of the guns. That is the ole Mississippi river. And this my friends is the USS KIDD. I am not too good at taking two pictures in a row. It was fun being able to see my sister and her family. I love having family close by, even though they are moving away from me. But next time I am going to show you my newest toy. My Christmas gift from Mr. Cowboy. Until next time y'all come back now ya hear.

Christmas Tree Farm and Burnt Chicken

What a great field trip. Every year the Pre-K thru Third Grade classes at school go to the Christmas Tree Farm. As a parent I get to go too. It's up in the middle of the hill country and the drive is so beautiful. I love the fall. I know it's December but the fall is really late, it is still 80 degrees here. Well, I wanted a picture of the beautiful fall leaves so I tried my best at and outdoors shot while driving. So I stuck my hand out the window and here is what I got.

Now a normal person would have aimed outwards but I wanted a picture of the beautiful oak trees I had just driven through. But I missed it and all I got was the side of the truck. Well I made it to the farm. Big Cowpoke was so very excited. He wanted to take some pictures. Big Cowpoke took this one. This is Jake the Donkey. He was "tied" to the sugar can thingy and trying to steal some sugar cane stalks. Here is Jake at work, crushing the cane and making all sorts of juices come out. Big Cowpoke is good with the camera. A bit out of focus. But hey, what pictures of mine are in focus?Big Cowpoke is happy not to be in school. He was a bit on the crazy side. I was grateful when they all loaded up into the wagons for a hay ride. "Let's Gooooooooo!!" While they were on the ride I got to go shopping in their gift shop. I love their gift shop. It's all Christmasy and Country. I love it. I wish I could make my house like that. It fells so warm and cozy. Then I went and took some tree pictures.

These are the baby Christmas trees that were just planted. They are so cute.

They get to all look up to the large Christmas Trees. This farm is really neat. You get to go up and down all the rows of trees and pick which tree you want to buy. Then they cut it down and you take it home. They will even put it in stand for ya!! After the hay ride Big Cowpokes class went to pick out their tree. Here they are. All excited about standing in front of their tree. Can you see their tree? It's kinda small. I think the teacher is taller than the tree!! It was fun. Then when I got home I decided to make some chicken. I forgot about the butter and herbs I had put in the pot and it all burnt. I didn't notice until Big Cowpoke said, "I don't like that smell, what are you cooking?" Kids are so honest. I ran over to the pan and scrapped out he burnt pieces and started over. This is what I came up with.It still looks a little burnt. But I like blackened chicken. Yum. Then I added some other stuff and it looked like this. But that was not the finished product. Everything is better served over pasta, so I added some bowties and that was dinner. It was good. So much for my diet. This was Big Cowpokes plate. I didn't eat that much pasta. I wish I did. I love pasta. It is so good. It loves me too. It likes to stick to my bones. Making me look bigger than I really am. But that is my made up chicken and pasta dish. The kids didn't like it, I thought it was so so, and Mr. Cowboy said it was great. So, who knows. Do you ever make up dishes. I try to but I am no that good of a cook. So things end up being burnt or tasting like garlic. I love garlic. But that is all for now, y'all come back now ya hear.

Poo Poo Face

Oh what a way to be woken up!! I had just put Big Cowpoke on the bus and came inside to find Little cowpoke awake. So, I changed his diaper and got him a sippy cup and put on some cartoons so I could get some more zzz's. It didn't take long before I was hit in the head with a canister of wipes. This still didn't move me to roll over and see what was going on. Not much longer I was woken up by the sounds of Little Cowpoke grunting while trying to climb on the cedar chest onto my bed. Still I did not open my eyes. I should have known better but I just thought maybe he wanted to lay down with me and rest too? Don't two year olds do that sometimes? Maybe? No, instead I was rudely awakened by the smell of, you guessed it, poo poo. Little cowpoke was standing right over me with his pants around his ankles and his diaper half off around his knees with a fresh clean diaper in his hands saying, "I pooped, new diape". I have never jumped out of bed so fast before in my life. Wow, it got me up quickly. I think they should make alarms that have little kids saying that. Another good one is the sound of a child throwing up. That one will make anyone jump like crazy out of bed. I know it works for me. My husband......does any alarm work for him? Well anyway, back to my wonderful morning.

So, after this I decided that I was not going to get anymore sleep. Little Cowpoke and I ventured into the kitchen. I was eating breakfast while I hear the bad sound of water hitting tile and coming fast. The first thing I said was, "Stop that, right now. Turn it off." But the water kept coming, and fast!! While still saying, "Stop it, Stop it!!" and running, I found a sippy cup wedged up in the water thingy on the fridge door. Sorry I can't remember what that thing is called to save my life, it's late. But who knew a sippy cup could get stuck like that and all that water could come out of their so fast? I got the cup unwedged (is that a word?) from the door, and Little Cowpoke just laughed and got me some towels. We cleaned up the water and then decided that since those towels were all wet that we could spot clean the wood floors. So resourceful. But that was it for today. The rest of the day went pretty smooth. Thank goodness. But until next time may you all have sweet dreams and y'all come back now ya hear!

Killed Dead

I heard this the other day and have been laughing since!! I thought that once something was killed that is it. They are dead!! But killed dead must be worse than just being killed!! Hee hee. I heard someone say that on the radio. I think it is funny. Here is Little Cowpoke playing "killed dead". It looks like he might have gotten hit by a bus. Nope he seems to be alright. He was just laying there so still.
"Cheeeeese!" Such a tuff cookie. Now this next one is defiantly killed dead. Bear, the lab, got run over by the couch. He is defiantly killed dead. This is what happens when you are in the living room and the couch just runs you over. You have to watch out for those couches. They are wanted in six different states and they don't show mercy to anyone. Poor Bear. We loved him so. Well, next time you go hunting make sure you get that dear, killed dead. Until next time, y'all come back now ya hear!

A Thanksgiving Novel

What would a trip to visit me be with out going to the alligator park? I love this park. There is a big pond that you can walk around for some exercise, baby alligators you can hold, and lots of play stuff to play on! This is a sign that is hanging in the alligator house.

Then we all walked over to the playground. It looks like I have a lot of kids!! I wish I could have four. While walking we encountered this..........

Those are fire ants. This is a small ant mound. If you look closely you can see them all running around. This pile is small. There are some that are about 12 inches tall. Then we finally made it over to the playground. I just love this playground. I love playgrounds. I could stay there all day long. But we weren't there long when this happened................Poor kido fell in a mud puddle under a swing. He was so upset. I said, "Quick take his picture." He first walked into the puddle then tried to get on the swing and noticed his feet were wet then he tried to turn around and he fell. Good thing is was like 85 degrees outside. Then Little Cowpoke and I went for a swing. Actually I stole his swing and tried to get him to come on it with me but he didn't want to. So, I picked him up and we went all crazy!! I just love to swing. It is so much fun. I haven't done it in a long time. It brings back some great childhood memories. While growing up we would swing really high and then jump off the swing and see who could jump the farthest. 1.....2.....3............I still don't jump very far. But it is so much fun. You all should try it sometime. There is this bumble bee at the park that is way fun!! I love it and wish I actually fit in it. The front of the bee is so much more fun than the back. I got my sister to climb on too!!! Little Cowpoke didn't want to share the bumble bee. Two year olds are so stingy sometimes. I love this picture. Poor baby fell down and got hurt and a little hug from mommy made it all better. What is it about mommies that make things all better? Then after getting completely dirty and sweaty at the park the kids all got cleaned up in the big bath tub. Mr. Cowboy tried turning on the jets and they flung water all love the place. I guess we didn't have the water level high enough. The kids all screamed!! But to keep the fun rolling and this post a novel I will include Thanksgiving too. Remember those leaves that I watched my sister make? Well here is what she did with them.

Oh such sweetness!! These are so very yummy. This cake was really yummy. Lydia sat next to us and I think she got a bit bored with all the cooking. "I think that leaf should go a little to the left....."Here is the finished White Almond cake with Raspberry filling. My sister let me be the first one to cut into the cake!! Let me tell you this was sooooooo goooood!! I ate a huge piece. It was very moist and sweet. But enough about cake, let me tell you about our Thanksgiving meal, if I haven't lost you all yet. This is our meal. I made the mashed potatoes. That is what I did. Now my sister made everything else. She is a good cook. I love food!! Here we all are sitting at the table ready to eat. Mr. Cowboy doesn't look to happy. Now for Thanksgiving number two. We ate at the in-laws house. They had two turkeys, one oven cooked and one fried, and a ham. Then she cooked three different types of sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cornbread dressing, green bean casserole, rolls, and cranberry sauce. I am sure there was more and I am just forgetting it. Here is the ham. I guess we can all learn from this photo. Never use colored toothpicks because the coloring will bleed into the pineapples. I don't really ever eat pork or ham or anything that comes off of a pig, but oh my goodness, this was the bestest most moistest ham ever. If those are even words?? So good. I can't believe we let these two in the kitchen. This is Paw Paw and Mr. Cowboy. They fried the turkey. They both have crazy hair and even crazier personalities. I was so patient waiting for the food to be done. I didn't sneak any turkey I promise!! Oh Mr. Cowboy you soo need a hair cut. I refuse to cut it, I am so bad at cutting hair. Come on look at mine and I get it professionally done. Then what else do you do after a big Thanksgiving meal, but to go bowling!!!Wow look at those skills!! Mr. Cowboy is a really good bowler. And yes, we did have bumpers. Can he do it, can he get a spare? He did. Mr. Cowboy came in second. What better way to end the day than dancing in the dark in the kitchen. I just love Thanksgiving. I am so glad to have had family in town to visit. I am so grateful for family.