The recap~

Christmas Eve~

Lobster, steak, antipasto, bacon wrapped asparagus and Claudia's potatoes au gratin. (awesome!)

 The kids made a mess of the living room. 

 I had a trio hug with Lindsay and my MIL

 Cocoa waited for a long time….but did not receive any steak. She did get a lot of hugs though. 

Christmas Day~
Lolo got a shark hoodie, which really looks more like cookie monster. 

Ozzie did not get a hoodie;  he doesn't even know what a hoodie is. He'd love some steak though. 

 Linds got a longboard. (college transportation)

 The girls got weird/cute/weird/cute fuzzy sweaters.
Seriously, they are so weird they are cute. 

 Cocoa does not approve of the long board. 

 Cocoa REALLY does not approve of the longboard. 

All in all…our Christmas was more than we could have asked for. 

We are a lucky group of people. 

After all this goodness…we then celebrated Lindsay's 18th bday. 

*sigh*

It's a tough job living the dream….but I'm up for it!

XOXOXO

And then she had the nerve to turn 18.

Did you have a fantastic Christmas? 

I can't really hear you, but I'm hoping you answered YES!

***

Anyhoo's today I'm here to talk about someone growing up.

This little button {Lindsay} turns 18 today.

She has been looking forward to this day for so long. 

Actually, she's been looking forward to it for 18 years.

Why? 

What is so great about turning 18?

Linds: You can buy LOTTERY TICKETS!!!!

Honestly, we don't usually buy lottery tickets….she must get the gambling habit from my Mother….who knew the gambling gene skipped a generation?

Also? She can now work more than FOUR hours without taking a mandated break. 
The rules of hostessing go out the window when you are 18!

One thing people always say about Linds is: 
She is so pretty...so bubbly…..so cute…and funny!

And she is.

But she also has a another side.

I've tried to not share this with the public, but our little Lindsay has a much darker, much scarier side.

She might even lead a gang...

 And that type of gang would be a comedic, shopping, dancing, hostessing gang. 

Hide your credit cards…she's a good shopper…and please, please don't ask her if your group is the next to be seated. SHE will seat you when SHE is ready to SEAT YOU!
{LOL}

How can one so pretty make such faces?

She keeps me laughing all the time….and that is just fabulous!
No one ever died from laughing.

or did they…...

I know, I know. She is something special.
That specialness is SO darn deep, I can hardly stand it. 

Happy 18 to our Lindsburger!

Do you remember your 18th birthday? 

Do you like to make funny faces for the camera as well….or is that only for 18 year olds?

Christmas Card Cussing and That Thing involving Glitter.

Christmas Cards and Cussing: 

Do you love getting Christmas cards? How about the newsletter'? 

 This year, I was lucky to just get my cards made. I took the girls photo one night, uploaded it to shutterfly and ordered them within 10 minutes. But as I as making the cards, I was having issues with the site, and I have to confess…..

I cussed OUT LOUD while placing my Christmas card order.

If you want to stop reading now…I won't blame you. 

*snicker snicker*

I didn't even realize I cussed OUT LOUD until Lindsay did that ExORcIST thing with her head spinning to look at who was sitting next to her cussing.

It might have been the word that starts with an F and doesn't end with T. 

Oh well, she is almost 18, she might as well learn the truth: 

Her Mother IS a HEATHEN!

I'm going to hell in a longaberger hand basket. 

I finally received our cards in the mail last week from Shutterfly; I've been working mailing them daily. Sadly for me, our PC died this year that held most of my addresses….so I can really only send OUT a card after I GET a card. 

This is not a great system for me.
Seriously, I'm the girl that had an excel spreadsheet for my Christmas card list. 

Yes, I have issues. 

That thing involving glitter:

I was cleaning up the craft room the other night….boy, it looked like Martha Stewart and her cohorts had been here and they were ALL ON CRACK!

I grabbed a few vials of glitter that *someone* left out.
Do you know of my  disdain for glitter and anything that contains glitter?

I honestly can't believe it is still on the premises. 

Anyhoo's….as I was lifting up the containers of glitter over my head to set on a shelf…..the sh*t hit the fan.

Actually the glitter hit my face, hair, chest and EYEBALLS!
Red glitter everywhere; it looked like a sparkly massacre!

I'm lucky to be alive.

It will be 2015 before my hair is glitter-free. 

Ok, so my cussing is getting out of hand...surely I'm on the naughty list now.
***

Our family celebrates big on Christmas Eve….a nice big dinner with most all of Coach's people.
They are actually my people too, but we don't' share DNA….only the insanity.

Wishing you and yours the very best with minimal cussing!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

The Cameron Shirt Squabble~

I asked if you knew why we called the Coach's shirt his "Cameron Shirt" 

Some of you knew.…some didn't. 

I was kinda disappointed in a few of you. Really, you should be watching MORE TV. 

What are you doing? Exercising? Reading to your kids? Volunteering for the needy?

Here is the Coach's Bro and GF, Suz and Da' Coach wearing his Cameron shirt. 

(From now on, I'll have ALL my photos taken in between my BIL and Coach…I'm a PEANUT!

See the shirt here too?

Are you getting the picture yet?

THIS Cameron!!! He is on the funniest show EVER!

So yeah, Cameron's character is gay…..so of course he has great taste!

Which means the Coach has great taste….I mean, we already knew that when he chose his wife!

HA! Thanks for playing along! 

XOXO

The party that was

Well, I we did it! 

I we pulled off a fabulous party! 

And yes, the community was glad we did it. 

I think we ended up with 28 or so guests. Some arrived just prior to the party time of 7pm. 

(Of course, I ignored the early birds until 7PM) and our last guests left at midnight. 

Fun was had by all. My girls were a great help and Coach pulled more than his weight.

Did I get any pics of the food table? No. Twas too busy.

But there was a lot of seafood; shrimp, squid salad (not my choice!) crab claws, and some food NOT from the sea too; salads, cuban sammies…Oh, I'm still full!

 I ventured into the kitchen at one point only to find this group drinking cider. I learned later on that cider is moonshine; someone brought it from GA. Seriously? They just ruined apple cider for me. 

I always forget to get a photo of the four of us when we are all dressed and awake. But I did capture the Coach with the girls just before Linds retired for the night. 

 The girls always love when their Dad wears his "Cameron" shirt. 

A few of our guests also commented that he was wearing a "Cameron" shirt. 

Do you know who they are referring to?

Happy Monday my friends!!!

Digging in the back of the closet, looking for my social butterfly hat….because the community needs me.

It's been a full week. 

Anyone else wish that December was six weeks long? 
Who will help me start that petition…..

c'mon, don't be shy. 

Anyhoos--

We are having our annual Christmas cocktail party on Saturday night.

Well, annual except for last year. I was too tired last year and I'm thinking I might be too tired this year, but it's too late. 

{Unless I lock the gate doors and turn off the lights}

Actually, I felt sad that we didn't host a party last year; as if I let down the community. 

It's a lot of pressure to be the one to have a party….because you know, the community counts on me.

What.A.Burden.

***

Linds marched in the Christmas parade this week, has two Christmas show performances at school, plus her ACT test on Saturday morning. Then she has to come home and bake for our party.
You know, for the community!

She is probably more tired than I, but she's young….she can suck it up handle it.

Lo has also been busy with school, finals and work…and I'm making her bake for the community today.

 Please note, that it was 82* at our Christmas parade….just a few blocks from the Gulf of Mexico. 

It doesn't suck to be us in the winter. 

Come summer, we suffer. 

Oh, and our a/c went out yesterday!

JOY!

Merry Christmas!

We are getting a new unit today….the silver lining in this is that we can afford to purchase it, and the first unit has lasted 15 years. 

Our new unit will be wayyyy more energy efficient and in turn will save us $$ in the long run. 

{Yes, we still need our a/c in December}

Always looking for the joy in the not so joyful….my new motto!

Any parties on your weekend agenda? 

Do you ever throw one for the sake of the {LOL} community?

If I haven't told you lately, I love and appreciate YOU!

XOXO

A Blue-Blue Christmas

Actually, more of a teal, turquoise type of Christmas.

Linds and I had this great idea after last Christmas: Lets do a color themed tree!

So I let her choose….and choose she did.

We already had a lot of silver, white & cream, so we only needed a little bit of the blueish colors to accent; and when you buy after Christmas they practically pay you to take the ornaments.

I was scared. 

I was scared it was going to be tacky. 

I'm weird like that.

But I'm glad I forged through my scared-ness because I love our blue-sih/teal/turquoise tree.

Angel Wings and Disco Balls; pretty much sums up our family. 

Now, please don't get all cra-cra about us having a fancy-ish tree.

We have another tree in the family room. Lindsay lovingly refers to it as the 'janky' tree…..and not because of the decor, but because of the size/texture/shape of the tree.

Ok, it might contain some janky/funky/silly ornaments too. 

In case you thought Cocoa was of any help, here is your confirmation that she is not. Actually, I could hardly hear the Christmas music over her snoring. 

It took me over a week to get all the decorations up. In the past it only took a day or two; what is happening to my life???

Is your tree up yet….and are you more on the fancy side or the janky side?

The good, The bad, The ugly

Wednesday night I arrived home from work at 5 p.m. 

Linds was already home, but kinda sweaty from dance/school…her hair looked as though it didn't care about anything. 

Lolo pulled in a few minutes behind me from her LONG day at school, and I started my rant/shouting rage: 

"Get pretty, we've got 25 minutes to take Christmas photos before the sun goes down!"

"What are you doing? Brush your hair, get out of those yoga pants! I said GET PRETTY!"

The Good

Wait, did you think I was the cool, calm collected type of Mom? 

That makes me chuckle. 

I'm really not a maniac. BUT, it is so hard to get the two of them home DURING daylight at the same time. 

Therefore, my maniac-ness is justified. 

 The Bad

Actually, if you knew Ozzie, his bad end IS his mouth. 

 The Ugly

 This happened in the middle of the night the weekend before Thanksgiving. No one heard anything…..even though some {me} of us  have exceptional hearing.

Our mailbox is used to being run over by careless people, but our fence is usually safe. 

Whoever did this, well, they had a mess of a vehicle come Saturday morning. 

Lolo was first on the scene Saturday morning….and she did her best as a CSI investigator. 

Her determination: the vehicle 'had' black side mirrors. 

*had* 

The good is that THIS Saturday our run plowed over fence area will be repla$ed. 

It's always something….whether good or bad, we try to roll with it.

Have a great weekend my friends.

XOXOXO

It's could be a very interesting party~

 I merely sent a text to the Coach asking for an address for our Christmas party….and then the innocent question: 

Anyone else you'd like to invite?

The turtle Momma is Kay from Duck Dynasty. I'm good with that whole  list aside from the scary one; Sinead Grim Reaper.

And yes, the Coach's name in my phone is 1 husband, that way he'd always be first on my list: after all, he IS my favorite husband.

Happy Humpday my friends!

XOXO

Giving Thanks and Laughing

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving week; I LOVE my people!

So many great things happened….every single day.

There was shopping. Cooking. Talking. Laughing. Eating. Laughing. Cooking. Shopping. Laughing.
Laughing. Laughing. Laughing. 

We had some new friends this year….actually total complete strangers who fit in just like a crazy ole' 6 fingered glove. 

That's how we roll around here. 

Roulette.

Laughing.

And don't tell the gambling po-po, but we let a 4 year old run the tables around here.

Corn Hole.

Laughing.

Posing.

Laughing.

Laughing.

Cooking. 

Cooking.

Laughing.

posing. 

We had a full house all week, but on Thanksgiving the number went up to 17!!!

After dinner; sigh, we pulled it off again!

Suz, Aunt Trisha, Linds, Mom. Where is LoLo? Must be in the kitchen picking off turkey skin…..

My MIL Judy is so funny. After dinner, she changed out of her dinner attire and into football attire….oh, and little wine pre-football made her run faster!

It is mandatory that Cocoa has her own football so that we can actually PLAY football. 

Playing football makes you run AND laugh. 

One end zone was the garden…the other was the woods. Luckily, no produce was injured in this game. 

All remnants of Turkey week are put away…..and we've started moving into Christmas!

I hope you all had a wonderful week as well; filled with good people and much laughter!

I had to capture my Uncle Jim and Cuz Patrick as they were leaving Saturday; real men wear PINK!

Hey, did you know it's December?? 

XOXO