This is what I call ....

hitting the "FRIEND LOTTERY".  SO ~ I have these friends that are truly talented and I joke with them that "Man, the day I met you, I hit the friend lottery" .... I say it half in jest, all in seriousness because they truly are some of the nicest, sweetest, would do anything for me friends!  My non-blogging friend, Stacey, has been designing floral arrangements for years and years.  She can take a bunch of flowers from Publix and transform them into an arrangement that looks like you paid $100 for at the florist.   During my 'kitchen remodel' (which is still NOT QUITE DONE), we ended up painting the kitchen and family room - had to because the kitchen and family room are all one very large area.  I kept staring at the beautiful wall sconces that I got from Rachel during one of those Southern Living at Home crazy sales.  I paid NOTHING for them and I am ashamed to say that I filled them with $10 worth of "crap" from Joann's ... even Stacey said she would have liked to 'borrowed' them and fixed them for me, but I digress.  

SO - I emailed Stacey when Shannon (another non-blogging friend) was tiling my backsplash and told her that I certainly didn't want her to feel left out of the 2008 GREAT KITCHEN MAKEOVER and would she mind throwing together a floral arrangement for my wall sconces.  She said ABSOLUTELY!!  SO .... Monday she got all the materials and TODAY, here they are:

OH .... MYYYYYYYYYYY  (I just FREAKING noticed the footballs at the top - are you KIDDING ME!?!?! -- hmph, those WILL be moved).   Aren't they beautiful (and what is up with my camera?)

A close up -- those are REAL feathers too -- REAL pricey too, but that's ok ...totally worth it and a request (I only requested feathers and hydrangeas).

I think they turned out beautiful!   I am SO excited and wonder when Chad will notice!   These put me SO in the mood for fall!

Love this life .....

I have a friend that is getting into photography and she is doing a lot of 'photo~journalism' type photos.  I had promised the kids we would go to the beach, so we ran down about 20 minutes south and this is what came of our trip:

This is my boy  .....

He threw up on our way down there - figures. I quickly just flipped his shirt around .. thank goodness for white t-shirts!

I.  LOVE.  THIS.  PICTURE!!

My baby girl....

Happy Birthday Shawn!

We went out to eat last night to celebrate Shawn's birthday and send off David and Cody to Fire College! I was able to record Chad and our great friend Russ singing Happy Birthday to Shawn (I think Russ's wife Dawn was singing in there as well). It was so pretty -- kind of nice have professional singers as friends, if ya ask me!! The end is the best part - it's so pretty! We had a great night ~ so much fun and SO much laughter!!!!! Just like it ALWAYS is!!

Happy Birthday, Shawn!  I know it's a week overdue, but when you have your daughter ON your birthday, I guess you just gotta take turns!!  It has been fun celebrating with you ~ God SO knew what he was doing when he put us together.    LOVE YOU SHAWN-QUI-QUI!!

More pictures from the night ... 

David & Pam ~ we (as in Shawn) made the boys Fire Marshall Bill t-shirts - it was hilarious!!

Cody had just taken a BIG sip of his tea ~ it had been doctored while he was in the bathroom with tabasco sauce, butter and salt (I think that was it).  See, SOMEONE (who shall remain nameless but his picture is in a previous blog post with BLACK TEETH) mixed the concoction and then sucked it into his straw  and placed it back into Cody's drink - hence when he sat back down and SOMEONE ELSE who was in cahoots (all remaining nameless, but his last name rhymes with BLOCK or CROCK) decided to toast the birthday girl and the boys, so when Cody sucked on the straw after the toast, he, yeah, well, you know ... and I nearly peed my pants in laughter ~ IT NEVER GETS OLD ~ this happened on the cruise too many times to count!!  

The girls - Dawn, Nat, Shawn, Pam and Alisa .....

An open letter....

Dear Monica,

Hi there!  My name is Natalie.  I want to thank you for the MINIMUM 10 calls per day I receive from 'at home business opportunity companies' that are calling to follow up on the ONLINE information form you filled out.  GUESS WHAT Monica - you thought you were pulling a fast one and giving them some random number that you PROBABLY thought didn't belong to anyone.  OH Monica, you silly girl, that phone number belongs to me!  GUESS WHAT ELSE Monica - I work from home a lot and certainly can't be interrupted 47x/day with these phone calls.  KNOW WHAT ELSE, Monica?? I have a husband that leaves for work at 4AM and comes home at 11AM to catch a few zzzzz's before he has to be Mr. Mom and he LOVES the phone ringing all day - NOT!!  Makes for a grumpy husband, Monica, which in turn makes for a GRUMPY wife.  SO MONICA, one sweet girl that called on SUNDAY, yes Monica, SUNDAY ~ a day of rest for me and the family, well, she was so sweet that she gave me ALL OF YOUR INFORMATION!!  GUESS WHAT MONICA ~ I found your phone number and I found your address because I really need to work for the FBI.   SO MONICA, every time one of these jokers calls ~ which today so far has been 14x because sweet girl informed me your information, well, silly me, MY PHONE NUMBER, was sold to about 1000 companies, well, I GIVE THEM YOUR PHONE NUMBER!  I tell them, with joy in my voice (oh and in my heart) what you did and I tell them "Here is her number! Please give her a call" ..... 

Suck it Monica

Love and kisses,

 The Brock Family

A party and the first day of school ....

*** WARNING:  This post contains LOTS 'O PICTURES ****

First of all, Hurricane Fay ~ yeah right, it didn't even rain.  NOT.  ONE.  DROP!

Here are some pics from Kennedy's party ~ it was held at Splitsville, a really cool bowling alley in Tampa.  It was great -- we were in our own little secluded section with no one to bother us.  

Kennedy surrounded by her girlfriends

Cameron and his best buddy, Drake.  I rented an extra lane for the boys and Daddy's ~ Cameron actually got the highest score on his 'team'!
Kennedy's cake - is this not TO DIE FOR!?!?!?  It matched her invitations PERFECTLY.

Blowing out her candles - I love this picture.  I am not sure why my hands are clenched - I think I was just hoping and wishing with her!  I love how her eyes are shut so tight!

Family picture -- she is SO my daughter -- posing.   While we ate cake, the Daddys bowled - it was funny.  Chad had to bowl "Fred Flintstone" style -- barefoot and with his hands just wrapped around the ball because there were no shoes big enough AND there were no bowling balls with big enough holes for his fingers!

The original Trotti Hottie -- "Do I have anything in my teeth?"  Gotta love black icing .... 

Our extended family "children" .... Those shirts?!?!  Yeah, me and Shawn made them.  
First day of school -- GO FIRST GRADER! 

Cameron did NOT want his picture taken -- under ANY circumstances ... I would later pick him up at 9:30 from school -- just an hour and 1/2 after taking him there -- I knew he wasn't acting like himself and he had gotten sick at school (school = PK3 for him) 

Kennedy and Mrs. Oberle ~ how cute is she!!??!  AND she loved her paint can full 'o goodies!

Before we know it, it will be Halloween, then Thanksgiving and then Christmas!!!!  

Hurricane Fay or Tropical Storm or WHATEVER

For those of you that are wondering:

Yes ~ we are in the 'line of fire' for Tropical Storm/Hurricane Fay.  It is projected to hit our area sometime Tuesday evening.  Actually, I PREFER it to hit in the afternoon.  Ever since the tornado my sister and I sat through in Murfreesboro, TN at 11:00pm, evening storms scare me.  They have even closed down school tomorrow.

Please keep us all in your prayers.  Several of my friends that are native Floridians are not concerned at all - but it is not rubbing off on me at all.  I'm not scared - I'm FREAKED OUT!

Rascal Flatts

Thought I would "Take You There" for the opening of the Rascal Flatts concert - one word - amazing! It was a fantastic night! Will update more later!