To keep her off of mine, I got Kennedy a digital camera for Christmas. It's really cute ~ Fisher Price and completely made for kids. I must say, I was a little surprised at the quality of the pictures. Pretty good for this little camera!! Should I be concerned my kid likes to have her picture taken??!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Guess who got a digital camera for Christmas??
To keep her off of mine, I got Kennedy a digital camera for Christmas. It's really cute ~ Fisher Price and completely made for kids. I must say, I was a little surprised at the quality of the pictures. Pretty good for this little camera!! Should I be concerned my kid likes to have her picture taken??!
Christmas RECAP ~ 2007
Christmas was exciting this year at our house! Cameron is finally old enough to understand at least the 'opening presents' part - the hard part was keeping him from opening presentst that were not HIS! We were lucky enough to sleep in until 8:30 and then the craziness started. Cameron's big gift was the train table. Kennedy got a bike from Santa and although Santa did not think Cameron would care about a bike, it was what nearly started World War III right here at our house. SO, luckily, Cameron has a birthday in just a few weeks and he has requested a 'tismas' bike or a Spiderman bike. Ask him - he'll tell ya -- he wants a bike. Chad and I did not exchange gifts this year, although "Santa" did bring an xbox 360 (dubbed the 'family gift' although only one BIG KID has even played with it so far) and he left a beautiful new set of Wolfgang Puck cookware!! Chad and I were really trying hard to get our children to understand the true meaning of CHRISTmas ~ Santa did not go overboard either ~ for the first time in 5 yrs!!
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and here is wishing you the HAPPIEST of New Year's!!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas to all ...
Friday, December 14, 2007
2007 Christmas Coffee
Last night, I hosted a table at the church that Chad and I attend. The purpose of the event is to raise money for the benevolence mission at our church. We watched a video and it said our church has gifted over $30,000 in gift cards to those in need. The admission to the coffee was a minimum $15 gift card. Some of the tables were completely over the top. I decorated mine very whimsical as my inspiration came from a table cloth I purchased last Christmas. It is The 12 Days of Christmas and has bright beautiful colors. We had a GREAT time and I look forward to doing it again next year! You can see more pictures:
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Only because ... well, because it's funny ...
Monday, December 10, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
My new indulgence ....
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Mommy ~ I saw "Littlest Pet Shop" in the attic ...
Kennedy: "Oh yes, I did. I went up in the attic and saw it all right there!" (Insert incredibly huge grin here)
Madelynn (Kennedy partner in crime): "Yes, Mrs. Natalie, it's up there"
Mommy: "No, surely you guys don't know what you are talking about!"
Kennedy and Madelynn: "NOOOOOOOOOOOO, really, it's up there! Can we have it??"
Mommy (to Mrs. Shannon): "Must go now .... see you later. Wine later?"
Mommy (to Kennedy): "Go inside and change for cheerleading. When you are changed, you can go back up in the attic and if it's there, you can have it"
Now, imagine, a finely dressed 32 yr old mommy in heels, dress pants, nice top, trekking up into the attic entry that she LEFT DOWN because she was going to take the boxes from the Christmas stuff up after she changed (not thinking a nosey 5 yr old would climb up there .. who am I kidding, she is MY KID) .... scurrying up into the attic, sweating because it's freaking 90 degrees in DECEMBER, trying to 'adjust' what one child MIGHT have seen.
Kennedy comes out, several times, albeit giving me ENOUGH time, thank goodness, to remove what Santa MAY HAVE ALREADY LEFT AT OUR HOUSE because his sleigh was too heavy (that was what I got out of my emergency phone call to Shawn Trotti for HELP!!!!) and climbs back up in the attic and she turns around, big huge grin KNOWING she is about to get some Littlest Pet Shop stuff and low and behold, IT'S GONE!! She had the most blank look on her face. It took everything for me NOT to laugh - acutally, I did laugh, told her she was crazy and to get down, we needed to go to Wal-Mart. She kept saying "I SWEAR it was up there" .....
This is soooooooooooooooo something I did 25 yrs ago to my own mother, except it involved a boat and a beating and to this day, I swear I was only looking for wrapping paper.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
A wreath I made ...
We are BACK!!
*** My pictures are out of order and I don't know how to fix it ***
Ok, first things first ~ the 2nd Annual Evening of Hope was a complete success. We don't have final figures yet, but we do know that it is MORE than last year and we 'think' it is significantly more than last year. We have been getting tons of response and wonderful letters, plus Shawn and I have been asked to chair it next year. You can here to check out some of the pictures of the EVENING!
We left for Atlanta on Tuesday ~ for those of you that know me, know I was chomping at the bit to go. I must have said 100x "We're going to hit traffic and it will be 8:00 before we get there". Chad's ratings came out, so he had to stay for that - they were high and crushing the competition, as usual ~ so off we go. PACKED into Chad's truck (that got VERY GOOD gas mileage I might add) and heading north - wouldn't you know we freaking hit traffic not even before Land O' Lakes?? I know, let's do road construction on one of the busiest traveling weeks of the year .. DUH!! Anyway, we finally got there .... at 8:00pm ... and my best friend Amber and her family were also up for the night on their way to North Georgia (they are from Orlando). It was nice to visit, albeit brief, but good to see them all the same.
Thanksgiving was wonderful and boy am I thankful for my Dad's health. We took a family picture and I was looking at it on the way home and thought "Dang, he looks good for all that he has been through!" .... Jenn and I went shopping at the buttcrack of dawn and my girlfriends from Tampa were texting me that they were out too - CRAZY girls! We hit Kohl's first for the toys and then headed to where else, Chick-fil-A to grab some liquid energy, and then off to Toys R Us -- stupid. I walked in, turned around and walked out. YOU COULD NOT EVEN MOVE!! SO, we went over to Macy's where it was a complete bust, except for the BLACK trouser socks I bought because I could hear Shawn Trotti in my ear like a little guardian angel saying "You really don't have white socks on with your black ankle boots, do you Nat??" ~ I just didn't think the sales were good enough. Honestly, Shannon and I went shopping last week and the sales were better. Finally, we hit Target (SCORE!!) and then we decided to head on down to Cumberland Mall .... where we had a little bit of success. We went home and grabbed the girls from my Mom and then went and slept at Jenn's house. THEN that night we went out with my dear dear friend Courtney. She is beautiful, inside and out, and short of sounding cocky, we were definitely the eye candy in this one place called Hemingway's. We were in downtown Marietta and the girls were ... well, rough. I had been there before when I lived over that way and only remember their fantastic cheesburgers, but boy does it change after dark. They had a band playing and Chad was itching to fight someone. Not sure why, he hadn't even been drinking, but he said he didn't like the way guys were just STARING at us. SO, to make matters worse, this 5'4" joker in a leather bomber jacket walks up to me and says "So, are you guys married?" and I said "Yes" .. and he said 'I thought so, I wanted to come over and give you married girls some play so you felt good about yourselves" ... surely he was joking. I leaned into him and told him that obviously he couldn't seethat we were with our husbands, we were 'good' and that he needed to leave. He kept talking and I just put my hand in his face and said "Bye Bye" ... I had my hand on Chad's other leg to keep him from getting up ... he was ready to send the guy on his way IN HIS OWN WAY!! We left shortly after and headed back to my sister's.
Finally we are home -- I missed my bed, the weather here and my friends, but I was so happy to finally spend some time with my parents and my sister, as well as Courtney. I don't get to see them nearly enough and TRUST me, I gave everyone grief about traveling to Florida ~ esp my mom, who I know reads this. SO MOM, I will tell you, Cameron asked about 'Nina and Pappy' all the way home. When are you coming?
Today we are putting up the Christmas tree and getting the house decorated for Christmas!!
Monday, November 19, 2007
This Christmas ...
Have a very Happy Thanksgiving ~ we are heading north for a very much anticipated trip to visit my parents and my sister and her family. I've got my camera ready! Yes, we are going shopping at 4 AM on Friday ..... 'cuz that's how we roll.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Florida Fall
This is as close as we'll get to seeing the leaves change here in sunny Tampa, FL! Yes, I know one side is higher than the other, but I nearly killed myself getting it up there, so it's going to have to stay like that until I can fix it .... and yes, that is Roscoe you see behind the front door -- wondering why his mommy is outside and he's NOT! I did make these myself, with the help of a friend. Can't wait to fashion my Christmas one ......
Monday, November 12, 2007
Here are a couple pics I took this weekend. Yes, Cameron still drinks a bottle, but only at night. I kind of equate it to drinking coffee in the morning or a glass of warm milk before bed (who does that anyway?) - it calms him and well, he doesn't drink from a sippy cup. It's all or nothing. He drinks from a regular cup during the day, plus I will delete any negative comments about his bottle as I was hesistant to even post the picture ... but he's my baby and well, how many kids go to high school with a bottle?
Then I was at the Dollar Store and found a set of 2 flute/clarinet things ... hmmmmm, we NEED those. Chad has about broken them twice. They keep disappearing and reappearing .... maybe they will travel to Atlanta and stay there (insert big cheesy grin here).
Friday night we went to The Fisherman's Ball which benefitted the Pediatric Cancer Foundation. Unfortunately, we saw way too many people there that we knew that had been affected by Pediatric Cancer. It was nice to see some familiar faces because we were WAAAAY far away from home and was glad to see our friends had traveled WAAAAY far away from their homes as well. There were lots of people there with VERY deep pockets -- we were not some of them -- but we did come home with an autographed NCAA basketball ~ signed by Billy Donovan. I kept telling Chad "But it's not a football" .. in which his response was "I don't care, it's Gators and it is for the children" .. God I love his heart. Earlier in the day he was at McDill Air Force Base for the Annual Regatta and he is always a mess when he gets back from there - ready to enlist and go blow things up.
I ask that you keep me in your prayers this week as we make the final preparations for The 2nd Annual Evening of Hope. I, along with my very dear friend, Shawn Trotti, are the co-chairs of the event and well, we're almost there. I'll make sure to post some pictures Sunday .. OH, SUNDAY ... Kennedy's dress rehearsal for competition cheerleading. GO SHARK PUPS!!
Sunday, November 11, 2007
While Daddy was gone ...
- shaved his head ~ again
- fell getting out of the bath tub and gave himself a black eye
- fell in the shower (due to emptying out my ENTIRE bottle of conditioner and slipping) and gave himself ANOTHER black eye
- fed Roscoe 1 lb of Publix chicken tenders .... it was our dinner
- fed Roscoe an entire Rotisserie chicken .... I discovered it within 15 sec of it happening, but I refuse to eat after the dog .. again, it was our dinner
- threw Kennedy's video game in the pool = ruined
- let the dog out, who then chased a cat ALMOST out of the neighborhood, thank GOD we're gated
- painted the wall in my bedroom with a small tube of puffy paint that KEEPS reappearing even though I know I have thrown it away 4 times
- colored my kitchen cabinet with a sharpie ... thank you Magic Eraser
- painted himself and a portion of a wall with DAP spackling
That's all I can remember for now and no kidding, all of this stuff happened just by me leaving him for a mere 20-30 seconds, if that. For instance, I sat down, LITERALLY, sat down to read the paper and 15 seconds into it, he comes running in covered in spackling that I had JUST placed on a very high cabinet ... that joker must have been watching me because he pushed a chair over to it, got it down and went town. I know this is God's funny joke on me for whatever I did in my former life. BUT ... let me say this, with all the things he does, here is my list of things that he does that I absolutely LOVE:
- happy, every single morning when he wakes up
- he snuggles with me at night and will rub my face in the morning if he should wake up before me (considering he comes and gets in the bed with us every night .... and I will never deny him of that because one day he will want NOTHING to do with me )
- that he is a BOY ... through and through .. there is absolutely NOTHING sissy about him
- he will pick up crabs on the beach, they will pinch him, he will throw them on the ground and pick up another one
- his teachers and all the girls at his school ADORE him
- he says 'tar' for 'car' and I think it's so cute
- he will grab both sides of your face and lay a kiss on you and say "love you"
- the faces he makes .... anytime he is about to get in trouble or is just trying to be funny
- his red hair
So Chad is home and we are leaving for Atlanta on Nov 20 ~ but we have a BIG event coming up this weekend .. The Evening of Hope. I'm chairing it, along with my great friend, Shawn Trotti. We are quite the power house, I must say, but I'm glad it's almost over.
Monday, November 5, 2007
I'm still alive .... barely
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Chad went out of town last night to head to Nashville for the CMAs...
Anyway, if you don't hear from me, call me. I might be hanging from the ceiling fans or passed out from the bleach fumes.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Pictures and 'stuff'




Saturday, October 27, 2007
Mommy .... my tooth is loose.....
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Why I can not leave Cameron alone for, I don't know, 5 seconds?
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Introducing ...... ROSCOE!
This is Roscoe. He is now our dog. We adopted him yesterday, on my birthday, and he is great. He is dalmation and basset hound mix. To me, if Chad were a dog, this is what he would look like ~ very stocky with a big head. If Kennedy could get him to jump on her bed and sleep with her, she would ~ however this joker can not jump (YEE HAW!). He is 3 yrs old and very laid back, but has a FIERCE bark (YEE HAW again).
Monday, October 15, 2007
SURPRISE!!!!
I have the BEST girlfriends! Friday night was a normal Friday night for me. Boring, nothing going on. I had talked to a few of my girlfriends earlier in the day and we chit-chatted, but nothing out of the ordinary. I even had coffee with Kandi that morning before we started our work day! Shannon (my neighbor and dear friend) had called and asked if I wanted to come over and hang out for a little while since her husband was working late. Around 6:30, Chad had suggested we go to dinner and I told him that I was going to go over to Shannon's a little later. Little did I know, he was simply encouraging me to get in the SHOWER! I had worked in the yard for about an hour once I got home from work and was not presentable at ALL!
Around 7:15, Shannon called to see if I was still coming. I asked her if it would be ok if I came over in my pajamas because I wanted to take a shower. She said "SURE! I'm in my pjs too" (LIAR!!!!) ~ so imagine my surprise when I casually walk over to Shannon's with a box of makeup stuff I had received in the mail that day and I walked in to 10 of my girlfriends screaming SURPRISE! I screamed - in FEAR - and turned around and walked in to laundry room and shut the door. I had to process everything that was happening ~ I had no idea. Then I started crying because I couldn't believe everyone was THERE! LOOK at my feet ~ yes, let's just pretend I was trying on my Halloween costume, but at least I was comfortable.
Shannon, Shawn, Pam, Alisa, Lara, Susan, Julie, Renee, Stacey and Kandi ~ THANK YOU for making this one of the best birthdays ever! It really meant the WORLD to me and I love you guys!