Show and Tell: New Year’s Resolutions Edition

I don’t really think i’m the resolutions kind of person. Sometimes I have a hard time keeping up with my monthly goals, what the heck would I do with a year’s worth of goals??

But Andrea is maaaaaking me this morning for her show and tell Tuesdays. 😉
Join me!

So, I am a sucker for quotes. I don’t know why, I love them. I love looking at them, hanging them around as decoration, reading them, and thinking about them in a different context.

One

This first one hit home for me. Often times I think these same things written on this quote below.

I know when you’re in school you think “Is it summer yet?!” All the time on social media people are putting “ready for a new year” “ready for spring break” “ready for graduation”; what if we stopped wishing our lives away and started living in the moment? So for this year, I want to live in the moment and enjoy whatever this year has in store for me.

Two

And then I saw this one below on Pinterest and it kept sticking in my head.

Wow. That’s powerful. I really liked this one because more and more i’m seeing how the way a person looks really does play in to things….opinions, decisions, how people treat others, etc. I think this is also one of the reasons I love the tv show, The Voice, because you really don’t know who you’re getting. You’re just listening for that special voice. It’s really important to understand this. So think about…how many people WOULD you impress if everyone was blind?

Three

As someone who can get frustrated easily, I thought this would be a good one for me to try and live by this year. I’ve got to understand that God made us all different for a reason. So instead of getting angry about someone having a difference of opinion, I want to think about that point of view. I think the part about not all people will believe the things you believe can be taken into consideration in more than one way. Believing in God. Believing that reality tv really is a thing. Believing that one thing is more important than another thing. Should you try to more understanding and open to this? I know I need to.

Four

I am a worrywart to a T. I’ll just go ahead and admit it. Seriously, I asked my dad one time what annoyed him most about me and without having to think about it he said “That you worry all the time”. Guilty as charged. I can’t help it. I guess not being able to control all situations and circumstances drives me crazy. I’m slowly starting to learn that i’m not suppose to be able to control all situations. I’m suppose to LET GO. and LET GOD. Have you heard that before? If not, remember it!

And that’s it. Just those four quotes. I might make them a little more pretty for myself and hang them up to read in my office when i’m needing some inspiration for this year.

Can’t wait to see everyone else’s resolutions this year. 2015 already?!

New Years Recap

I’m going to be honest. I think New Years is a totally over-rated holiday. It’s probably my least favorite holiday. I usually never celebrate it socially. The past couple years I watched Netflix most of the night and came down right before the ball dropped and was in bed by 12:08 because that’s the crazy, out of control, wild gal I am.

However, when there’s food put in front of you, devour it and don’t look back. And that’s just what I did. Mom made a shmorgusboard (spelling?) of food. Of course I never expect anything less from her.

She was chopping away at 5:00 because it’s never too early to prep.

She had her cheeses out and labeled on her super cute serving board written with chalk.

And there was queso, smokies, chips, cheese, vegetable dip, vegetables, crackers, chocolate, chex mix, churros, the list goes on and on. My plan was to hang out at home because when I asked my friends what they were all doing everyone was all “no plans. probably going to sit at home.” so then I did as the Romans and planned to sit at home. No complaints.

Then, as I was texting Emily she said she was going over to someone’s house and I should come. After I tried talking her out of it because i’m an introvert and that’d mean i’m with people I don’t know, she convinced me to tag along, so then I had to get up off the couch (ugh!) and put my face on aka dig my make-up out of the bottom of my drawers and act like I remember how to put it on. As soon as I got ready she texted me and told me Tyler (you’ve heard about him before, that’s her boyfriend) didn’t want to go. I said nawwww girlfriend, Molly brushed her hair and put on make-up, Molly’s going somewhere. So I went over to Emily‘s house….

About an hour later, one girl we knew already at the other person’s house called us and said not to come because nobody was there. Ems got a little taste of her own medicine because she had JUST finished getting ready. I might have laughed to myself. Maybe. And then it wasn’t funny because her, Tyler, and I had gotten dressed and we were just sitting there staring at each other.

Then Emily said “we should get ice-cream” BRAT! She knows i’m lactose intolerant so she did it because she hates me, I know it. I said we could go if I got sweet tea. So I got my sweet tea, and we drove to Coldstone for her and it was closed. HAHAHAHA.

So then we got out and took this picture by the huge tree.

And the picture totally sucked (probably Tyler’s fault) so we reverted to a selfie.

And then we made Tyler jump in because he needed to be documented.

Then we she made Tyler call every other ice-cream place in North Texas until he found one open. The struggle for ice-cream on a 30 degree December night, y’all. And it turned out to be across the street from her neighborhood; she sped there from where Coldstone/big tree were. We slid through at 10:21 and they closed at 10:30. We went back to Emily‘s and Tyler made her pull of his boots because #truelove. We watched the ball drop and Tyler fell asleep, so Molly went home.

And then finished the night watching Netflix. YES! Wild, crazy, adventurous night it was. True to myself. New Years is lame, but i’m glad it was lame with two of my best friends because I miss them and they’re fun.

Hope your New Years was riveting!

Happy New Year

Happy 2015!!!!!!
Relax and enjoy today; i’ll see you back here tomorrow for Friday Favorites!

Friday Favorites: Christmas Edition

The day after Christmas is always bittersweet. It’s sad because it’s over and family starts leaving and you have to wait another 365 days for it to come around. But it’s so happy because we get to play with all of our goodies and exchange our clothes and be blessed by this wonderful life our Creator made for His created. What’s more Merry and JOYFUL than that?!

Our work Christmas party was on Tuesday and the Human Resources crew celebrated with matching sweatshirts and the Cowboys mascot, Rowdy!

Actually, we opened presents every night starting on Monday leading up to Christmas morning…mostly from us siblings to one another. My first gift was from Ry, and it was some of the books I was requesting!! 🙂 Then Rick gave me some weights that he obviously thinks I need.

 

Ya done good, boy! I’ll let you readers know how these go.

Christmas Eve morning Morgan and I bundled up with our dad, his two brothers, and my uncle on the other side of the family for a good old fashion Mexican lunch. Because what else says Christmas Eve like Mexican food? Haha, my uncle requests it every time he comes down and of course i’m always in. Mexican food is where my heart is.

Christmas Eve night: of course I had to get a picture with my three partners in crime, and of course one person is goofing off. They find me annoying more than 90% of the time, but no matter how many times they tell me to stop talking or to leave them alone i’ll forever be grateful to be the older sister of Morg, Rick, and Ry. Love you three even when you may not love me back at times 😉

And my two MOST FAVORITE people on this planet were required to take a picture with me. I love my mom and dad more than words can describe, and I know they know it. Sometimes I probably tell them too much 😉 This Christmas i’m not only thankful to God for sending His Son to die for us but i’m also thankful to God for making me the daughter to these two amazing people. Their wisdom, guidance, strictness (never thought i’d say that), generosity, and kindness are all things I love about them. You can take back all the presents I received yesterday and as long as i’ve got these two by my side it’s the happiest Christmas in my book.

Christmas also requires the godmother/godfather photos. This is my mom’s oldest sister and my dad’s oldest younger brother. It’s fun having these two as my godparents and it’s fun having them both around for this holiday.

Joy to the world, Our Savor is come!!!! Merry Christmas morning from myself, and my cheetah Santa hat. Every Christmas morning our tradition is that the siblings and I run up to Starbucks in our pj’s to get drinks for the entire family. Yes, we ordered 10 drinks from Starbucks to sip on while opening presents. Just trying to keep the good people at Starbs busy on Christmas morning!

 ‘Twas a good holiday, y’all! This morning the crew is off to get wings (ew) and i’m off to return/exchange gifts. I’m wishing myself lots of luck, and if you’re in the same boat i’m about to be in….i’ll pray for both of us out on those roads. This was a Christmas for the books; I truly love this holiday! Until next year, Old St. Nick!!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Merry!!

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11

I hope that as you are reading this you are getting ready for one of the best days of the year with the fire crackling, breakfast casserole in the oven, kids begging to open presents and so on.

OR

You have already finished opening presents and right now you are sitting there overwhelmed with happiness knowing how much you are loved and blessed to be surrounded with such amazing people.

OR

Maybe you aren’t doing anything today or don’t have anywhere to go.

No matter your situation I really want you to remember the real reason for the season…

JESUS CHRIST

Today He was born of the virgin Mary. God sent his one and only son to save us from our sins. Today is a happy day for more than one reason—don’t forget that this morning. If you aren’t aware of this gift, this story, or who Jesus is: Let’s chat….i’d love to tell you about Him!
colorsoflifeblog@gmail.com

Have a happy day no matter where you are. And Merry Christmas!!!! From my people to yours.

Fritz Corky Middleton 2014

Today i’m introducing you to my friend Fritz Corky Middleton…our family’s Elf on the Shelf. We sat down on Monday night, the 1st, and read our book because our elf came to meet us. The last one down had to read the book to everyone. After we read the book we had to come up with our elf’s name…30 minutes later, I kid you not 30 minutes after reading the book we finally came to a name(s). 4/6 of us agreed to Fritz, but my brothers wanted Corky. (Leave it to the males to be difficult). Our rule was that the first one to find him the next morning would get to name him. Guess who it was???? ME! So I decided to let everyone win and his middle name would be Corky. #teamplayer

Let’s check out where Fritz was every morning…

 Day 1:

Fritz was up in our tree and the book was on the ledge next to him…so we read it this night.

Day 2:

Fritz was playing darts on top of the lamp that’s next to the mantle.

Day 3:

Fritz needs some help with his toothpaste. Rick saw the toothpaste this morning, but didn’t want to go in there because he didn’t want to clean it up, so he didn’t even see Fritz.

Day 4:

Fritz brought momma a birthday tree…it reads: “Happy Birthday to Ms. Deb. This is your birthday tree. Where are your presents? Your friend, Fritz Corky Middleton
PS. When will I get a name? Santa is wondering”

Day 5:

One other thing you should know about Morgan is her obsession with spiderman. This is Fritz hanging from our railing of our stairs in a spider man mask. Haha!

Day 6:

Fritz brought us another mini tree with decorations from Virginia, which is where we used to live and my mom’s best friend still is. I saw Cheetah print!!!

Day 7:

On mom’s birthday, Fritz put mustache’s on all of us in our family picture. And then mustached himself and taped himself to our picture. That Fritz is already part of our family!!

Day 8:

Fritz must use this little mailbox to get back to Santa every night. He must have forgotten to crawl back out when he got to our house 😉

Day 9:

This night I could not sleep!!! So at 2:00am I came downstairs to find Fritz playing Connect 4 on the window sill in our kitchen.

Day 10:

Fritz met a girl!!! They met at our spa, she’s a mermaid! And he dressed up too…I think he must have been feeling a little feminine that day.

Day 11:

I showed my brother this one song that says “I look fly, I look good, Touch my Swag, wish you would.” And so he started singing it all the time!!!! Well I guess Fritz was feeling it this day because he’s sitting on my dad’s wet bar with the lyrics on his mirror.

Day 12:

Fritz got out my dad’s weights and was pumping some iron marshmallows in the morning. He’s a little more weak than my pops.

Day 13:

Fritz was skate-boarding down the staircase. Wow, didn’t mom teach him any manners??

Day 14:

On this morning we found Fritz making a naughty or nice list, of which we all had more tally’s for the naughty list than the nice list. I guess I know what the four of us are getting for Christmas this year!

Day 15:

Day fifteen lead us to finding Fritz hidden in all of our ribbon and wrapping paper. Fritz must have been super busy wrapping our presents when he went back to visit Santa that he brought some back to our house.

Day 16:

So my dad has this thing where he HATES when people get in his sheets. He’s super OCD like that…so sometimes my siblings and I joke about how we are going to go lay in his sheets. This morning was the day that dad was coming home from traveling and Fritz was in his sheets with all his friends laughing. His note said: “I’m in the clean sheets!” Dad came home and picked him up and brought him out to the kitchen.

Day 17:

This day brought Fritz to the laundry room was a nose mask. Apparently he was hidden underneath some underwear and was plugging his nose to Ryan’s sock.

Day 18:

Fritz was on the toilet today. He has a button on his that says “I pooped today” because apparently my family announces to each other that we do. I know that’s a lot of info, but hey it happens.

Day 19:

Funny thing….my mom has always wanted a baby grand and my dad bought her a baby grand made out of chocolate for her birthday, goof ball. So fritz was found in the front room playing the baby grand.

Day 20:

Fritz didn’t leave our house this day, so we found him in the same place as yesterday.

Day 21:

Fritz is on my mom’s favorite rooster this morning!

Day 22:

Fritz didn’t come back from the North Pole on this day 😦

Day 23:

Fritz is sitting with mom’s perfume. He’s asking where he can get some of the purfume. The funny part about this picture is the fact that one year my dad bought a couple of my mom’s perfume at one time. She stopped wearing it, but he gave it to her saying that it was 3 years old. What kind of dork does that? And announces it?!

Day 24:

Fritz is on his way back to the north pole to see Santa on Rudolph.

We’re saying goodbye to our friend Fritz today and he’s headed back to the North Pole for this upcoming year.

Merry Christmas, Eve everyone!! Be blessed!

One Less Semester

Today i’m waking up a free woman. Free as in i’m free from school, classes, studying, papers, homework, boringness for A WHOLE MONTH!!!!!! Wooohooo, I am celebrating one less semester of college I have to do!!!

(Don’t you just sense the excitement)

Yes, I know I should be all “OMG college is so fun” “OMG let’s get crazy tonight!” But you know, the whole school part of college i’m ready to be done with; I don’t know how many more finals weeks I can handle 😉

(I’ll probably OD on this drink one of these days)

What’s on my agenda this month off (Dec 10-Jan 12)?

• Read Language of Flowers
  • Emily #2 (you’ll hopefully meet her this week on MMP) mom bought this for me this weekend (she’s the sweetest)..I started reading it last night and I am already on chapter five.
• Go on a carriage ride
  • Emily #2 and her family invited me to go on a carriage ride the day after Christmas to look at lights! So fun!
• See all of my friends (that live here + back from college) and capture all kinds of pictures with them.
• Watch a ton of Netflix. This is my month off from school so i’m going to enjoy not having school work to do and lay in my bed being lazy and watching Hart of Dixie all over again, just because I can!
• Start my new job!!!!
  • I’ll let you know how this one goes.
• Start my new school!! All kinds of new things are happening for me this coming month, all i’m saying is…bring it on!
• Make Mix and Match Mama’s Apple Magic bars because December is all about sweets and they look good. I like me some apple!
• Bake a zillion gluten filled cookies for my family that’s coming in town because they can eat gluten and love my mom’s recipe. (Recipe to come this month)
• Continue to find our elf, Fritz every morning. Christmas Eve morning i’m planning to show you where Fritz’ adventures led him each night…so mark it on your calendars!

Weekend Recap: Bribery & Birthday Version

I asked off work this weekend for Reeana‘s graduation on Saturday. My plan was to go down Friday and come back Saturday night after the ceremony. Unfortunately those plans fell threw and I knew I couldn’t drive to Austin and back by myself in one day. I asked 10 people if they could go with me and they couldn’t. (10 is the real number). I was so so SO disappointed I missed it. But am so proud of her!!

So Friday night I didn’t have anything to do. It was crazy weird…no work, no Christmas shopping, nothing. I had to bribe my brothers to hang out with me. Hahaha Ryan needed $14 for his game and he owed Rick $4. So I told them if they gave me something to do that night and I had fun that I would take them to best buy to get a card for his game. So we shook on it….and after Rick got done showing me how he has to do weights and we played Outburst Jr

We went to Best Buy and got his card for a game, but he had to take a selfie with me or I wouldn’t buy it! Hahah, don’t I look too fabulous to be hanging out with my brothers on a Friday night? #Not

#selfiefailure

Then we came home and I enjoyed my time watching Netflix (Hart of Dixie is the BOMB if any of you haven’t watched and are looking for a new show!!)

Saturday morning my aunt came in town. Then my mom and aunt went to my sister’s soccer game, my dad and I went last minute shopping for his gift for mom’s birthday yesterday. Leave it to males!

They got home from her game and we ate dinner, ice-cream for dessert, us girls giggled, and I did Morgan‘s nails. Not too long afterwards everyone went to sleep pretty early.

The next morning I didn’t wake up until about 11:30, I know shame on me…but after I found Fritz and wished mom a Happy Birthday!!!! She opened her presents.

While Ryan modeled some of the things she got.

She went to my sister’s soccer game AGAIN with my aunt. And while that was going on….this was going on here! I decorated for her “Zebra Party” because adults deserve themed parties too!!!

We were originally going to get an ice-cream cake from Baskin Robbins that was lactose free, but when I went to sample it I was not impressed. So I had to do some last minute improvising and I swung by the store to grab a ZEBRA table cloth, ZEBRA plates, ZEBRA napkins, ZEBRA cups, ZEBRA stars, and her cake this year are “ZEBRA Cakes” haha

This was her gift, because who wants to be done with presents the morning of their birthday?? A ZEBRA neck massager.

I also hung a zebra banner across the kitchen that said “Happy Birthday”!

Another thing about her birthday is that it’s 18 days before Christmas!!!

When mom, aunt Janet, and Morgan got home we sang Happy Birthday when she walked in the door!

And then spur of the moment decided to go to P.F. Changs for dinner. It was a good way to end the night, and I really think she liked my decorations (the back of the banner is the top of this pic), and decided to keep them up through today!

It was a fun weekend and the first time in 3 years i’ve been here for my mom’s birthday because i’ve usually been in Norman for finals week. I’m glad I got to be here. Happy Monday!

Come on in…Christmas Decorations

Well, ho ho ho! Come on in to take a peak at my Christmas decorations!

My family takes FOREVER AND A DAY to get things accomplished around the house. Hence why our Christmas decorations aren’t completely up, but are scattered around the upstairs. Also, why we have an empty Christmas tree and we are still waiting to purchase our little tree for upstairs.

 However, look who I found in the tree yesterday morning…our elf made a visit for the first time, for the first year. Now keep in mind all the kids in our family are 13+. My sister and I were telling our mom about the elf on the shelf deal because it’s always at the houses that we babysit. If you need to know one thing about my mom it’s the fact that she is a gigantic Christmas-a-holic. She loves this season!! We were at Target one day last year and decided to show her what the elf on the shelf was. She picked up the book and tossed it in the cart. We looked at her all “realllllyy….?” But there was no talking her out of it. Elf was coming home with us! And now here he finally is!

Yesterday morning our elf took a trip to the top of our tree as a temporary angel and we read the book last night when everyone was home. The whole deciding on the name thing did NOT come easy with 6 people having to agree. It took us thirty minutes and plenty of “NO! Not that name!” until we decided….on two names….Fritz and Corky. The deal was whoever found him first this morning gets to decide on the name. Let the games begin!!

I had the honorary task of putting the first ornament on the tree.

A leopard print sparkly owl. Can I get an amen??

My momma made this wreath for our front door earlier this season. Is it not stinkin’ cute? She’s super crafty and I think it turned out awesome!

We decorated all of our outside lights Sunday when it was hot and 75 degrees. I actually did start sweating. Give me cold weather or give me death! (history quote) #nerdstatus

Our columns are lit bright with garland wrapping around them and little elves sit on the garland to represent my siblings and I.

Our entry way holds some fun Santa’s…that happen to be scattered throughout our house.

 

Like this “Wine Lover” Santa.

And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care….

My grandma made each of us stockings so these are very near and dear to my heart. I was working the day these were put up, and whoever did it put my grandma’s up first in line. I loved it! Here’s a close up, and our decorated mantle.

How about creepy santa who just stares that sits next to the fireplace?

The banister was all decorated too with garland and lights. And putting up our fall decor in the background of this pic haha

Fun picture: This is my sister pulling away from me as i’m trying to get a picture in front of our mall’s Christmas tree. By now, people were walking by and staring. It was great. She was so embarrassed.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere. And the weather is starting to feel like it, too! Now to finish my wrapping and then I can hibernate for the winter until the calendar turns December 25! Because when you have a big family and others coming in town, this is only the beginning…

Also, because we just got on the topic of Christmas and gifting….be sure you finish up your shopping through my Stella and Dot trunk show, it’s ending soon!

You can’t miss this!!!!

A truly Happy Thanksgiving!

I love November, I love Thanksgiving, and I love having reasons to be thankful. It shows how much I am truly blessed. I once saw this picture on social media somewhere…and it became my inspiration for today’s post after I had to search and search and search for it on Pinterest so I could show you.

This put a lot of things in perspective for me, and I hope you see something you like too.

My #ColorsofLife10daysofthankful on Instagram was semi-based off of that post, which you should have seen every day here…..so if you haven’t been following i’m going to go ahead and recap it today. And if you have, you have my permission to skip to the bottom and see my last picture. Or don’t. I want you to hang around for a while!

Day One:

I’m thankful for the people I am blessed to live with and for having a roof over my head. It doesn’t get much better than having a place to keep you warm when it is snowing outside. It’s true what they say about home really being where the heart is.

Day Two:

I’m thankful for the ability to run, and use my two legs and feet. I know some people aren’t blessed with two functioning legs, and I never want to take that for granted.

Day Three:

I’m thankful that I get to be a kiddo nanny. I love kids and i’m glad we have the outdoors for them to run around and play to get their crazy, built-up energy from school out.

Day Four:

I’m thankful that I have a favorite drink to I enjoy. Some mornings treating yourself  just gets your day going in the right direction. And sometimes it’s good to reward yourself for being a trooper on busy days.

Day Five:

I’m thankful to be employed. I know there are many people out there that are struggling to make ends meet or even get a job in the first place. I’m teaching myself not to complain about working on some days, and to be grateful for having that opportunity.

Day Six:

I’m thankful that it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. I love the Holidays, time spent with family, and the happiness of the season. Cannot wait until we get our Christmas tree up and our decorations finished.

Day Seven:

I’m thankful to have a Church to go to every Sunday morning. And i’m thankful to have a God that allows freedom of religion in this country. Sometimes I may question the things that happen in this world, but I know it’s not for me to question.

Day Eight:

I’m thankful to go to school in the first place. I’m thankful that I can complain about sitting in school every day and taking tests at 8:00 on Monday mornings and the sheer fact that I am able to afford school is just a blessing.

Day Nine:

I’m thankful for this little one not only because he’s the most precious thing ever, but also that I have a friend in his mommy. I have known her for a while and recently became good friends with her. I’m thankful for those fast friendships and really just friendships in general.

Day Ten:

I’m thankful that I have money in order to buy Christmas presents for my family. I’m thankful I get to celebrate this holiday for its real purpose and that I have almost all my presents wrapped!!!! Wahooo!

AND ONE MORE THING I CAN’T FORGET.
Day 11:

I’m so thankful for YOU all. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog. From my friends, my family, and my followers…y’all make it so fun for me 🙂 It makes my day to see comments left and for the texts i’ve gotten about my blog. Just so much thanks going on here today 🙂

Now i’ll leave you with this…..

Have a WONDERFUL holiday this morning, eat tons of turkey, try my green bean side dish from Recipe Club and most importantly…enjoy yourselves!

Halloween Weekend

I know this may be a little late, but i’ve been busy linking up with some of my favorite bloggers this week. If you missed them, check out my Simplicity Pin-Spired post and My Bucketlist. However, I want to keep track of all my holidays, so I want to recap this past weekend….Halloween! Now for some reason, ever since I went to college my weekends have always started on Thursdays. Don’t ask me why ’cause I couldn’t tell ya. Maybe it’s the fact that I usually don’t schedule Friday classes? Maybe it’s because Thursdays are usually when I went out of town for the weekend?

Halloween weekend started out with me nannying Thursday after I was “Sew Psyched”

to be picking up momma from the airport. The nanny kids got “boo’d” and in their goodie bag was sprinkles. They wanted to make something with the sprinkles in it, so I let them make brownies with sprinkles in the middle.

And lick the bowl…because are you really making brownies if you’re not licking the bowl??

And then #drama because the brownies were taking too long to bake.

I was watching Miss Daisy girl this past weekend, so of course we had to have play time when I went over there.

Friday morning I woke up super early for my 8:00am class and then because it was a holiday I totally deserved a McCafe Iced Mocha. Happy Halloween to me!

And then I was totally SCARED and SPOOKED OUT by my choice of shorts (get it) that I had to take an elevator selfie. Boomer Sooner!

After I got home from class I spent the day with my momma because I missed her while she was gone. And we went to run her errands…including finding this decorating glittery leaf thing.

And then of course I went to see Daisy.

And on the way over there this ugly stupid annoying crappy life ruining light came on forcing me to stop at my least favorite place ever on my way home. The gas station.

But I didn’t want to stop on the way over there because look who I wanted to play with. Her eyes don’t normally look like that 🙂

And on Wednesday I finally got a new phone, so when I actually got a chance to play around with it, it was Friday.

And guess what I did on HALLOWEEN night???

Yes, I WORKED! I asked off and still got scheduled to work. Is this a joke????

Apparently my dad thought it was.

But because nobody was actually eating out on Halloween (duh!) I got to leave early and give out treats to little cuties around my neighborhood. Love handing out candy the most.

And had a plate full of nachos for dinner with moms.

Then on Saturday I worked again, but the morning shift. When I got home around 5:00 I had hot chocolate and enjoyed a bubble bath because…..freezing outside!!

and mom’s vegetable soup for dinner.

and on that particular night Ryan went with me to stay with Daisy, so we watched football before we fell asleep. A happy first day of November!

Sunday morning we woke up and after enjoying our extra hour of sleep we felt rejuvenated enough to take Miss Daisy on a walk. This kid needs a dog.

and it was SO WINDY!

But Daisy was all smiles and ready to dance when we got back. Sweetest puppy ever.

The rest of my Sunday was spent catching up on homework and projects/cleaning my room/writing/doing nothing. It was finally a relaxing day after the past couple hectic weeks. Aren’t those the best??

How was your Halloween? Did you get lucky enough to work like I did or did you get to eat your body weight in candy??

Tomorrow on Meet My Peeps, i’ll introduce you to a cute little boy 😉 Hint: He likes dogs!! ^

September 22, 2014- Morgan’s 18th

Happy 18th to my girl, MP!! Morg turned 18 yesterday…I’m happy, but i’m old. Hahaha

Let me just start by saying, y’all. My sister is so pretty!!

When our family was weeeee little, Morgan and I were the BEST of pals. I can’t remember not doing something with her, and we have about a jillion pictures to prove so.

When I started growing up, I became too cool for my family….i’m sure you know how that works. So, Morgan and I weren’t as close, but recently we’ve become besties again. About 50% of the time we are told we either look like twins or we look absolutely nothing alike. I don’t know, i’ll let you be the judge of that.

Personally, I think she looks more like this:

Hey, Morg. Thanks, I heart you too!

 

Morg will be the first person to play a prank on you. (Excuse my heinous hair blowing in the wind. I totally look like a male), but this is the only picture of her pretending to cut the rope while my parents were parasiling. Wink, wink.

Or dig into dessert.

   

I envy Morgan for her total go with the flow attitude. I wish I could be more like that.

  

(note…neither of us chose those dresses above. hahah)

Unluckily, her birthday fell on a Monday so guess what??? She gets to go to school all day.

“Yaaaaaaay school”

But when she gets home at 2:00 it’s time for a birthday breakfast mixed with a birthday lunch. Donuts and Beef Stroganoff. SO WEIRD!

The only time all six of us were home together last night was from 6:30-6:45 so that was designated present time.

I wasn’t lying..see the clock says 6:38. Rick got her a new Vera Bradley wallet keychain thing.

Ryan got her the jacket she has on to match the LuLulemon headband he is wearing.

P.s. can I just say look how pretty she looks and this is before she’s about to go to soccer practice for 2 hours. Such a natural beauty!!

Dad got her a Michael Kors watch!!! And she was totally not expecting it. My goober dad does not know how to pose for a picture so the best I can get is him talking….sigh. Males sometimes.

Mom got her oreos!!!!! Ha, kidding. Mom got her a life proof case early, so she just gave her these on her birthday.

And me????? What did I get her?

I made her Olaf!!!!!!! I know, I don’t have a career in cake baking, but this is the best I could do. I think she liked Mr. Olaf cake 🙂 She loves Olaf and Frozen, and when I was pinteresting the other day I saw him and just knew it had to happen.

And no, that’s not all I got her…

I bought her tickets to see her man Luke!! She wanted Luke Bryan tickets, so she took her friend and they went Saturday night. She said she had fun, so i’m really happy!

And when she got back from soccer practice last night I heard her coming in and went to say hi 🙂

And first thing she said was “let’s eat cake” so we lit her candles and she made her wish.

And nobody was feelin’ cake that late last night so she dug in alone.

And immediately after that she had to work on a project for her government class. The hard life of an 18 year old….but I still think she enjoyed her day and that’s all that mattered! I love birthdays!!

Christmas Pictures

This is crazy early because fall has only just begun, so don’t hate me for this!!! But, in spirit of the first official day of fall (YAY!) i’m posting about Christmas Cards. Some of you may not want to think about it, but Christmas will be here before you know it. For us, we always try to get our Christmas pictures done with before Thanksgiving. I know, I know, it’s out of the spirit, but you’ll see why… Christmas pictures for our family is a MULTIPLE HOUR fiasco. We tell my brothers that we are taking Christmas pictures….cue the whining.

It takes a lot of prepping…boys want to look pretty.

Girls don’t want to be looking this creepy.

 

Most years we take the “school picture” photo. Do you remember in grade school they always make you tilt your head and lift you chin and you just look like a fool? Well, we do. And we like to make fun of it.

Or you get squinty eyes.

We have to use “back-drops” AKA dad holding a sheet and mid-picture drops it on our head.

And eventually, you will get there.

Merry Christmas from the Middletons 2010.

And the next year, you’ll wear different clothes.

You’ll always get someone goofing around.

You’ll get one you think is cute, but someone else hates.

You’ll get the family’s “typical picture.”

You’ll get some other random poses, and when looking at it you’ll wonder what the heck you were doing.

This specific year we thought it would be a good idea to incorporate our sports into the picture. SO we tried more poses.

And we finally get one.

Merry Christmas from the Middletons 2011.

The next year maybe the same-ish colors, but switch kids. We took these pictures when I was home for Thanksigiving break my freshman year at OU. My parents usually end up sending our Christmas card out waaay late, so this is when we finally decided on starting earlier in the year.

    

We always try different poses, different places, different angles, different lighting, etc. to make sure that we can get ONE that is acceptable.

 

Merry Christmas from the Middletons 2012.

And then when we procrastinate and don’t do it during Thanksgiving break, it’s too cold to go outside. This particular year we went with the military green and black for the boys.

“Really, we have to check the lighting in every angle of the house?”

This one was just too awkward and blurry…it happens.

This one just….no. We tried to go with the cute presents in front look, but it didn’t work. Rick looks gigantic with that present and Ryan looks goofy.

Personally, this was my favorite. It was cozy and casual.

Merry Christmas from the Middletons 2013.

And let me just tell you this. We have our Christmas cards. Well, they aren’t sent out, but they just have to be addressed for this year. YAY! No fuss, no hassle!! And we had them done in JULY!

We started with the generic pose.

And then I was taken out of the family for a shot. 😦

 

And we took different poses here as well.

 

And we took some just the kids. Don’t make fun of me!!! I know i’m short 🙂 

And some of just mom and dad.

Now I created a couple options for our Christmas cards. Mom and dad couldn’t agree (go figure) so dad’s sending out his and mom’s sending out hers. His and hers Christmas cards.

Merry Christmas from the Middletons 2014.

What we’ve learned from Christmas pics:

1. Start as early in the year as possible. If you are anything like our family when taking Christmas pictures, you will be so relieved when you’re done before the season, with one less thing to stress about.

2. Have everything prepared beforehand. Know where you are going, who is taking the pictures, what you’re wearing, what poses you want to do. It will just go so much more smooth when everyone has an understanding of what to expect. 

3. Look for clothes in your closet. We don’t want to purchase a bunch of new outfits for a snapshot picture that most everyone will throw away in two weeks. We use whatever we can find that we have in our closets, and if we need something else, we can go get it. Also why we start planning early!

4. Utilize Costco’s website. If you have never used Costco’s website and you are a member. USE IT! We take our own pictures, upload them to Costco’s website. And get 50 cards for $16.00 with tax (don’t quote me on that), envelopes and all. So cheap and they have many options for greeting cards.

5. If you have pictures from a summer vacation, use them. Our card this year is from our Orange Beach vacation back in July. And we’re done. We don’t have to worry about it, no whining males. It’s great. Plus it’s a little different than what we normally do.

6. Don’t be afraid of bribery. Tell your kids if we can get this picture done in an hour, we get can dessert tonight, or whatever your kids/family like! It works, and bribery can be key sometimes. My brothers are 13 and 15, and we bribe them still. Or maybe it’s just the male species….:)

Good luck, friends. I hope your Christmas cards turn out wonderful for 2014!!!!

September 11, 2014

First of all, I just want to say that I have a heavy heart today for those affected 13 years ago during the 9/11 terrorist attack.

I still remember this picture like I saw it for the first time yesterday. I was in second grade when this happened and our bus driver made an announcement that after school we shouldn’t play outside. In fact, my neighbor’s sister was on one of those planes. It’s just horrific and sad.

But, on a brighter note! G TURNS 94 TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Eeek! I love me some G-Paw!

This my mom’s dad. He owns his farm in Iowa. He is so succesful. I wrote about it a little this summer. He was in World War II and he always tells us the story about the time he got shot in the butt. So funny. He’s 94 years old and goes to coffee every morning, drives himself places, and still gets around on his own. He’s in such good spirits. This picture is him standing by a memorial for WWII veterans with his name on one of the plaques.

This is a picture of my grandpa and grandma. Aren’t they just CUTE???

Grandpa will be goofy with us whether he wants to or not 🙂

Grandpa always makes it hard to say goodbye at the end of summer.

This is our 3 generations picture 🙂 We look nothing alike!!!! Everyone tells me i’m a carbon copy of my dad.

Grandpa still likes to play cards with us. This time we were the winners! He’s so good at cards too.

Grandpa has the funniest sense of humor and he is always a blast to be around. I told you, we talk on the phone every week. It’s true, about 20 minutes every week we play catch-up.

He’s just an all-around genuine person. This is him and my dad shucking corn one summer.

Here’s grandpa and 2/6 of his kids. (My momma is so purdy isn’t she???)

This is grandpa and all of his grandkids at the oldest grandkids’ wedding.

  

Of course I had to get my own photo shoot with him that day.

Here we are comparing noses, because my mom has the worlds biggest nose and she definitely gets it from my gramps!

Gramps is the only living grandparent I have left so I try to cherish every moment we get together.Like eating frog legs, going to the fair, helping him pick out a bed, just some fun little things.

He’s testing out his new bed here, y’all. He stayed there for a looooong while.

Another sad goodbye 😦

 

Can’t wait to see him next summer. And i’m so jealous of my mom and sister for getting to spend his special day with him today. Next year we get to go to his birthday party in september because it’s the big 9-5!! Wahoo!

So here ya have it, a special day, for a special person. Love my grandfather.