Hooters

So I took Jessi to a birthday party today, and after we left, we stopped by Captain D's for some fried pickles before we ran a few errands.  I turned the wrong way leaving there, and so I just turned around in the parking lot next to it, which was Hooters.  Jessi asked me why we had never been there before and so I told her that the girls that work there just don't dress appropriately, and it would be uncomfortable for all of us.

She understood, and then said, "Why don't they just wear owl costumes? Because that would be appropriate."

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O' Organized Christmas Tree

So, today, Jessi took care of Lena and breakfast so that I could sleep a little longer.  I'm so thankful for her! She really is a great help to me.  When I got up and came into the living room, all the Christmas tree ornaments that were on the tree were on the floor.  She said they were a mess and that she needed to re-organize them.

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Got Her!!!

I have no words! Click on the picture for her sweet post...

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Bella

So, I know this is probably wrong, but I can't help it...

Lena Isabella Cullen Sanders

So I found this picture just now, and I'm wondering if you can add redeye...

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Our Christmas Tree

One of my favorite family Christmas traditions happened today.  We got our Christmas tree!  We went to the Brown Dog Christmas Tree Farm in Arlington, GA.  I can't really explain it, but there's just something about spending the time together picking out your Christmas tree that just makes it special.  I love walking all over the farm, searching for that perfect tree that we all love.

They have this beautiful brown dog, hence the name, that is so sweet and lets all the kids pet him and take their picture with him.  Lena LOVED that dog.  She screamed as we were walking past him because we weren't stopping to let her go see him.  Once we realized what she was screaming about, we stopped, and she was SO beside herself.  It was hilarious.  I wish I had video of the whole thing.

When we were deciding on the tree, Jason convinced me that the one we picked would fit, and that he could just trim it up a little if it didn't.  This is after the trimming...

Notice how the top is smooshed into the ceiling?  He said I could just put a bow up at the top and you wouldn't even notice.  I guess my angel will just have to go in the middle somewhere?  Ah well, it's beautiful and I love it!  Not bad for $36!  Another thing I love about the Brown Dog Christmas Tree Farm!  Maybe I'll get it decorated before Christmas!  Honestly, I don't even care what our tree looks like, because we are making memories that will be there forever.  We might not remember all the new decorations or lights we put up, but we will always remember going to get that tree together every year.

And yes, the date stamp on all the pics I took today annoys me too, but I just can't get it off!

On a side note, I was able to comfortably carry my camera around, thanks to my friend Nicole, who made this super cute point and shoot wrist strap.

I don't actually have a point and shoot camera, but I wanted to try one out anyway and it really worked out great for me!  It was very comfy and easy to hold even though my camera is a good bit bigger than a point and shoot.  I recommend it for sure, even if you don't have a point and shoot camera!

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Every Girl Needs a Pony

So today was crazy. I don't know if it was me or just a weird day for my kids, but there was yelling. I'm just gonna be honest. It took all of the Jesus in me not to pick up J & E by the throat. I didn't. Just had thoughts of it. Thankfully my hubby came home early and I was able to get away to run a few errands.

One of my errands involved a situation in which my insurance company almost cost me over $500. Wanna hear about it? If not, just skip down to the paragraph before the picture.  But I'll try to make it short. A few weeks ago we were at Kohls and Eli slung the door open to get out, like I've said a million times NOT to do, and hit the brand new red cadillac mini suv next to us. No dent, but about an inch long deep scratch. It definitely took the paint off. I had to leave a note.

Well, she called me up and said her hubby looked at it and they were going to need it fixed. Ok, no problem. I told her to take it to a repair shop owned by a friend of my family and she did. She called me and told me the amount and it was something over $500. So, I called my insurance company and they said an adjuster would be calling me to get some info. So this lady calls from the insurance company, but didn't seem to be an adjuster. She asked me a few questions about the incident, asked me who to make the check to and where to send it, then asked for the lady's phone number who needed the repair. I answered her questions and told her to make the check out to the repair shop and send it straight to them. She said no problem and there was nothing further for me to do. Awesome. Taken care of.

So this morning the repair shop calls me up and says the job is done and asked me what I wanted to do about the payment. I told them the insurance company was sending them a check and gave them the phone number to call the insurance company to find out what the deal was. They called me back and said the insurance company said they mailed the check directly to me on Monday the 28th. That was 4 days ago. I hadn't checked my mail in a couple days so I figured it was in the mailbox and since I knew the repair shop people personally, I asked them to go ahead and let them be on their way with their vehicle and that if I didn't have the check I would just pay them myself and deposit the check when I got it. No biggie.

Something just didn't seem right though. I called my insurance company myself and they said they would check and call me back. So I get to the repair shop to write them a check and I'm chatting with them about how weird this all is. They told me the guy that picked up the car/truck/whatever had his checkbook in hand when he came to get it. Interesting. They of course told him I was taking care of it since they had already spoken to me and knew the situation, so he put his checkbook away and left. Well while I'm sitting there talking with them about all of this, my insurance company calls me and it just so happens that they sent the check TO THE LADY WHOSE CAR IS BEING REPAIRED.

MHM.

My repair shop friends told me not to worry, and they would just wait to hear from me while I got it all straightened out. Thank God for favor. I called the lady up and left her a detailed message to call me back. She called me about 5 minutes later and said that she already received the check and she thought it was weird that the repair shop told her it was taken care of.  So they knew they had the check before they picked up the car.

NO FURTHER COMMENT ON THIS LADY FROM ME.

I am however very unhappy with my insurance company. Am I not the customer here? Did I not tell them where to send the check? And if they decided they needed to send it elsewhere shouldn't they have called me to let me know?

That was way long and the END of that story.  I'm not talking about it anymore because it stresses me out.

At this point I still had several more errands to run, but the hubby called and said he had to go back to work, so I had to stop and go straight home. He got home around 6ish, so I finally got to go finish my errands.  Enough business talk.  LOOK what we got Lena for Christmas! She's gonna LOVE THIS!

All the while still thinking almost every moment of my friends in China.  I can't wait to see Lily!

And I'll end on that note. 

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Step by Step

Yes, I am blogging at 6:18 AM.  Our dear friends are on their way to China as I write this.  I've been singing "Step by Step" by NKOTB since the wee hours of the morning.  Thanks Anna:)  This has literally been a step-by-step process for these guys, and they are finally taking the last steps to get to this baby girl.  Lily doesn't even know it yet, but one of the BEST things that will ever happen to her is happening right now.  My heart is leaping with excitement for all of them!  God has worked things out so perfectly...

Isn't she beautiful???

Please pray for all of them over the next 16 days!  They are on the most challenging, exciting, joyful, and life-changing adventure of their lives...

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This has been such an amazing day! Worship this morning was awesome, and Dayne really brought the Word! All I can say is WOW. If you missed it, get the cd!

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Superman

This was Jason's birthday gift from the kids, for those of you who didn't catch this on facebook...
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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Happy Holiday

I have to say, this has been one of the most enjoyable Thanksgivings I have ever had. I don't know if it's because I'm just so thankful to have my hubby home for more than 1 day, or the fact that we didn't have to go shuffling the kids around everywhere, but I have loved every minute of it!

We went to Headland on Wednesday night to have dinner with my Mama's aunts and cousins.  Total of 35 people.  We really enjoyed seeing everyone and spending some time with them, and the kids had a blast running all over the place with their cousins.  It was a great night.

We had Thanksgiving at our house this year. My Mama came over early and we cooked together, which I loved, Jessi and Eli were sneaking random bites here and there, and Lena was just so excited and literally running all over the house the whole time. It's like she knew it was Thanksgiving. Then my dad, brother, sister, and niece came over. I only had 2 cooking mishaps, but I don't even care!  It's Thanksgiving!

1st mishap: The Pumpkin Pies.
I cooked them first so I could get them out of the way and the oven free for the sweet potatoes, Jason's mashed potato bake, and the turkey. I didn't get started until 7am, so I was in a bit of a bind with the clock. I really needed the oven before the pies were done, so I just took them out early and ended up having to put them back in while we ate for a lot longer. But they turned out great anyway, so it was good.

Mishap #2: The Turkey
Yes, the turkey. After all the "no baggie" drama, I actually found the baggie while I was trussing the turkey. Now, what all that other junk was that I pulled out the night before, I don't know. I'm just glad I found it before I baked the turkey.  I seasoned that baby and in the oven she went. After the amount of time I thought was right, I inserted the thermometer into the meaty part of the thigh to be sure it was completely done, and it read 190, which was actually about 30 degrees higher than I wanted, so I took her out and let her rest while we finished up.

Beautiful right?  I thought she was PERFECT!  But when I started carving (that's why she's on a towel btw), the breast was fine, but the legs and thighs were NOT.  I still have no idea why.  I guess I need a new thermometer, because it really did read 190 at the thigh, and it was not touching the bone.  So, I had to put her back in the oven and we had to wait a little while longer for her to cook.  But it turned out okay.

We sat at the table and ate, and just enjoyed the rest of the day doing nothing but sitting around.  Then, my Mama stayed home with Lena while she napped, and me, Jason, Jessi, and Eli went to the movies to see Tangled.  It was really cute.  We ended up sitting with my aunt and cousins and their kids (the ones we saw Wednesday night) who happened to be there too!

When we got home, Jacque, the lady who half raised me and was my godmother, was there!  I was so glad to see her on Thanksgiving!  I usually don't get to see her because she always has big plans with her family.  We talked about black Friday sales and I thought about joining her at 4am this morning.  HA!  I am SO not a fan of early morning black Friday shopping.  I usually make sure we have everything we need before Thanksgiving so I don't have to leave the house that day for ANYTHING.  But she brought some sale papers over and I looked through them and saw a few things that were on the kids' Christmas lists, so I told her I would call her if I decided to go.  Well, 4am came, and there was NO WAY I was getting out of the bed for shopping.  I did get up around 8am and decided to get ready and go see if there was anything left.

It really wasn't bad at all!  I found several of the things I went for, which were the main things on our list for the kids, got great deals on them, and not once did anyone try to fight me!  Traffic was no biggie either because I just went a different route.  Did I mention I did NOT have to get up at 4am and still got the deals I wanted?

Now, it's time to start getting things ready for Christmas!  I absolutely LOVE this time of year!

Oh yeah, and tomorrow is Saturday!  Which means I get to have my hubby home for 2 more days!  I'm so excited!  I don't even know what to think!   I am SO THANKFUL!

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