{a ray of sunshine}

i did take some time tonight to make some

goodies with the boys.  the gingerbread house

is still in her box because i just haven't had it in me.  yet.

these little pretzel hugs were so easy and so yummy!

 we were rolling along quite nicely until i got distracted

removing a batch from the oven, colliding with the heating

elements above and losing half the batch to the bottom of the oven.

the next batch tasted of nothing but burned hugs. 

that little endeavor ended quickly. :(

{bye-bye!!}

weekend. 

u were not  very nice to me.

you  made monday something i

looked foward to for a change.

let's just say i have a very organized panty.

again.



{banned from blog: scott walker}

holy moly, i'm excited!!!!

who knows?? maybe that painful Bible study on the song of solomon struck

a chord somewhere.....maybe. {wink}

but, this is too good not to share with my girlfriends. 

and, i'll get brownie points from the husbands too!  and, i need

all the help i can get there too as they all think i'm a nut. 

to put it lightly. ;)

okay, back to the task at hand.

operation:  date night

i absolutely cannot take credit for it but got the

idea from none other than my latest addiction:  pinterest.

but, it is a year of preplanned {for the most part} date nights.

i am going to spruce mine up a bit with some red leopard ribbon and embellishments. 

i'm so excited, i've even printed some labels/envelopes for a friend. 

but, the date nights can be very simple and budget friendly to all out

weekends away.  i want a mixture of both. 

i also purchased christmas cards for every month.  well, 13 actually, one to give with

the gift and one for each month, some serious, some totally hilarious! 

i can't put all of the ideas here because i want to surprise him and he is banned

from reading the blog until christmas.  but, i will post the monthly date nights

as they are opened per month.  

this has been so fun!  i've basically taken an idea

and will fill the envelope with simple things such as gift

cards, tickets, maps, printouts, etc and then on the day of the date
i will have a basket of goodies, picnic basket, 
a suitcase.....whatever may be applicable.

i think he will be a very happy guy!! 
but, i know that i am probably more excited in all of
the planning, collecting, reserving, etc than he will be. 

now, we just  need to establish a date-night childcare

coop for all of the friends and we'll all be good! ;)  

{check!}

i finished my last shoot of 2011 last night.

it was beautiful, but all i can say is THANK.YOU.GOD.

i survived.

i'm very thankful for the business, but very tired at this point.

so, i will finish up my edits and orders and enjoy Christmas

with my little family.  church will not be happening for us

this morning as scott is down for the count and evan has upper

respiratory havoc going on.  so,  although unplanned, we will be staying

home and in our pj's today.  i will finish my marathon on loading and ordering

{it is expected to last until the wee hours of tuesday morning}.  and, then, hopefully

finished for the most part except for orders.  whew! it's been a busy time and 

i'm ready to settle down.  i've met with my photog friend jess and we

are both revamping once again this year.  little tweaks to help us

stay in better balance with business and family.  i'm excited to start the new year. 

our barn pad is clean from debris.  starting over there as well, ha! 

{i can really only laugh.  really}

although, a  gingerbread house may be built today instead.  and,

if you know my reputation with gingerbread houses.  the outcome

will not likely be pretty.  fun maybe, but not pretty. 

the boys are going to start some Christmas gift projects today they've

been dying to do and i will supervise from my desk.  probably, not the brightest

idea in the world on my part.  but, i've put them off long enough. 

praise music in the background.

peppermint mocha in a new polka dot Christmas coffee mug. 

{you know, i drink from them all year long, so i added a few this year}

i may even get brave and post some snaps of the Christmas decorations 

today.  i do have one outside wreath out of eight hung outside.  i finish things

promptly like that.  so sad!  maybe they will all be hung the d day of tuesday.   

i'm looking forward to a cozy but productive day!! 

{peeking above}

I am literally up to my eyeballs in edits {a + for a small business regardless of the lack of sleep}, ornaments, mesh ribbon, wreaths {I'm hanging them on the windows this year, I love how southern that looks},  tubs and tubs of more Christmas decor, dogs, boys, cookies to bake, presents to wrap, dirty laundry, clean laundry, chickens and well, the demolition/clean up and redo of the barn, etc, etc, etc....} 

BUSY weekend ahead, but thankful for all of it!

and, surprise, surprise our family session got cancelled due to that crazy wind a couple of weeks ago.  I decided to forgo the family idea and bought new outfits for the boys.  Chapped lips for both boys to the Nth degree have postphoned that session as well. 

Maybe, just maybe I'll get cards out this year.

{last week}

My good intentions to have things blogged before I got consumed with my Christmas rush....well,

let's just say.....eventually. ;)  But, I did see this on my desk today and laugh everytime I see it.

Notice:  Evan's shoeless feet.  His shoes were too big {thanks to Daddy}.  And, Scott

is reaching across the table for my  hand, I am oblivious.  Noah is smirking.  

We are the picture perfect fam!! HA! Totally kidding!

{highlights of our thanksgiving holiday}

or, low lights - depending on the perspective.

BUT, we had a great time together as a family.  We missed

our other family members but truly savored this time together.

We just walked through the door, boys are in bed, laundry is humming

along and suitcases are in piles.  But, before I get busy with two edits

that need to be completed by morning and hit the ground running

when that alarm clock goes off....I wanted to post some of the things

I definitely want to come back and revisit in the very near future.

*totally planning on pulling out of our driveway headed south by 6 am -

only to pull out of that driveway at 4:15 pm.  Lost a tad bit of time there.

*driving 6+ hours before I could not drive another mile.  Considering I had

been working since 3 am, I was okay with that.  Well, until we could not

find a hotel room.  We had no forethought of it being a holiday weekend.

We stayed at hotel #6.   It was a {clean} bed is all I can say. 

*waking up somewhere in Louisiana realizing I had left every.bit.of.

my.makeup.at.HOME!!  Not way to start a relaxing vacation.  Scott

got directions for the nearest Wally World {very poor directions I might add}

and I had to restock every piece of makeup I use.  A huge chunk of my souvenir $$. :( 

*making it to the port terminal and the minute we walk in are in the midst of a sea

of purple and gold LSU fans.   BUT, we had high hopes.  No worries at this point. 

*sitting in the terminal {famous yellow seats} realizing that NEW bag of makeup was 

NOT in my carry on.  Noah forgot he had kicked it out of my bag and had not put

it back in as we were on the interstate.   We were already through three security levels.  

I was on the verge of tears. Okay, maybe a few spilled.  I was TIRED.

After Scott ran to the rescue, I opened another bag as I realized he didn't have

his passport only to find my original bag of makeup.  There are no words really.   

*night #1 on ship - pretty uneventful.  Thank God.

*#1 morning on the ship - SEASICKNESS for me! 

I held the walls as I made my way for the meclinzine.

A big reminder of how horribly bad my morning sickness was.

*days 2 & 3 on ship - relaxing.  And, lots of swimming for the boys!

*day #4 - Scott's first real day out of the cabin.  He had a bad, bad time. :( 

Port:  Jamacia.  I had fretted over this one the most and it ended up

being my very favorite.   Pictures to follow. 

#day 5:  Port:  Grand Cayman.  Let's just say we got into a real, live

boating accident as we crashed into another boat at Stingray City.  And, 

in that same accident 6-8 people snorkling almost got hit by our out of control

boat.  Not the way to start a scary experience anyway.  I'm thinking that

Captain lost his job when we returned back to the bus.  At least by the amount

of yelling I observed from one of his superiors.   

#6:  Port:  Cozumel.   Our bus broke down.  And, then with only 30 minutes

 to be on board the ship, we got completely stalled in traffic because a taxi broke

down in front of us and we were wedged in.  Needless to say, the taxi FAKED

being broke down as he was simply waiting for his customer for that 20 minutes.  We 

made it back to the boat 10 minutes after required loading - just in time for 

the 4th quarter of the LSU game.  In a sea of purple and gold.  It was painful. 

I'll be back with much more later.  There is much more to tell.  But, I have

to get editing the night away!!