winter swim with friends

spending a fun afternoon

with a couple of friends

at the Tunica Aquatic Center

today is going to be a good good day

happy birthday donuts

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{seriously it was an act of love since there is no donut shop in town anymore. The grocery store doesn't put theirs out until after 7:00 which is too late and Walmart's shelf was empty too? Next time I will be more prepared for traditional birthday donuts!}

cards from mom and dad

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{mine played "you are my sunshine" which I wake her up with every morning and

Kenny's came with a big box of Sour Patch Kids}

in car line, Carly came out loaded down with

balloons from mom & dad, cards & gifts from friends and her teacher

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At school: Carly had a "lunchable" in her lunchbox. Her traditional school lunch on her birthday. It is the only one she has all year and she thinks it is such a treat?? We didn't talk about it this year so she was surprised {she thought I had forgotten}. She also took chocolate chip cookie brownies for her classmates, teacher and the principal {who shares her birthday}.

after an afternoon getting her ears pierced,

running the battery completely down on my phone by talking and texting everyone,

eating taco salad for birthday supper,

she opened tons good mail!!!

[Aunt Kacey, Uncle Rocky, Aunt Libba, Uncle Beege, JC, Nonna, D, MamMam, G'daddy, Finn]

including her traditional card from MamMam & Gdaddy with this year's "10" dollars She is looking forward to seeing them next week.

. Nonna and D's card with snack money for when she goes to the Morgan Keegan Professional Tennis Championship in a couple of weeks Carly is so excited she will be seeing Oudin play!

. Uncle Beege, Aunt Libba and JC sent good mail last week and there was no stopping Carly from opening it early. They sent a super cute cloth purse with a peace sign. She loves it.

Kenny and I gave her a new tennis outfit and some private tennis lessons

She had the first one Wednesday. Even though it was so COLD she loved it!

Happy 10th Birthday Carly Bug!

all I want for my birthday is 2 pierced ears, 2 pierced ears

Hey Mom, Look I'm 10. I'm double digits!

Carly decided months ago that she wanted to get her ears pierced when she turned 10.

So after school on Monday, her birthday, we went to Claire's. She was such a bundle of excitement and nerves!

She said it hurt a little but that it was SO worth it!

They should have a patch for this!

Our computer finally crashed last Friday . We saw it coming for a while. So glad we ordered a new one a couple weeks ago. HP said it shipped yesterday and I'm standing at the window watching for that fedex truck!! And thank goodness for this phone!

looks like grown ups live here

We bought a new bed a couple of years ago, and since then I have been wishing for new linens. We had a double bed before and bought a queen. The double size quilt we were trying to use just wasn't cutting it. Then almost 2 years ago, I bought my alligator Walter Anderson print and since then it has been rolled up in the closet. So finally "things for our bedroom" topped my Christmas lists. I got new sheets, spread, comforter, shams, throw pillow, my print framed and new lamps. Kenny was out of town when I "redecorated" the room with all my gifts. He asked how I liked it. I told him I loved it that it looked like grown ups lived here now!

wordless wednesday

some things are always fun

Carly got weaving looms for Christmas and a couple of bags of loops. The looms belonged to Kacey and I when we were growing up and there was much discussion about all the potholders that had gone before. The guys didn't know anything about weaving looms or making potholders.

As soon as the present opening was over, the first thing out was the weaving. After a quick lesson, she took off making her own potholders. By the next day, she had used all her loops and was trying to find out where she could get more.

all about the countdown

by request for all who have asked .......

This is Carly's Christmas countdown box. Her Aunt Kacey gave it to her before December 2005. It is Carly's box, but it has turned into the way our family's holiday is organized and celebrated. The first year, we filled the boxes with candy, small toys, nail polish, bubble bath, jewelry, and I made a couple of notes because quite frankly, I was not creative enough to fill all 25 boxes. Come to find out, Carly liked those little notes more than she liked the little trinkets.

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Each year, before December 1st {sometimes November 30th at midnight}, I plan a month's worth of holiday fun. I make a calendar and add important dates like weekends out of town as well as marking the days of the week. It is important in scheduling - you can't make Christmas cookies if you are going to be out of town and some activities are better suited for Saturdays than Monday nights.

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This is the calendar I make and keep handy. I have to make sure that the scheduling continues to work....occasionally activities have to be changed or swapped the night before {shh, don't tell}. Carly keeps me honest. If the note says, going to the Christmas parade, she doesn't care if it is 10 below and sleeting she still expects that we are going to the parade. I also have to make sure we have what we need to accomplish the activity such as bacon if the activity is breakfast for supper.

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Most days, there are notes with activities but there are still a couple of small objects through the month. These work well for the days that we are not home such as the Saturday of the weekend that we have Christmas at the Lake House.

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Each year Carly's 25 box has a riddle that ends with a new game for the family. Kenny is really good at making up rhymes/riddles so they have become increasingly more complex. This year's had a scavenger hunt with 5 riddles.

Some activities have returned year after year. Some have come and gone. And others have made return appearances. Here are a list of activities that have been in Carly's box over the past 5 years.

• decorate your room
• new Christmas t-shirt
• paint nails with a tiny bottle of polish
• new Christmas puzzle
• Christmas parade
• bath in mom's tub with bubble bath
• dress Julie & Natasha {AG dolls} in Christmas dresses
• special night with Dad
• breakfast for supper
• make rice krispie treats
• make brownies
• visit Santa
• go to a Santa party
• write Santa a letter
• art activity
• make gift tags
• make wrapping paper
• ride around and look at lights
• out for ice cream
• ice cream sundaes for dessert
• Wizard of Oz tickets
• Zoo Lights
• go to work with Dad
• decorate gingerbread house
• make Christmas cookies
• make smores
• make bird feeders
• start a new chapter book
• shop for school missions project
• set the dinning room table for Christmas dinner
• make shrinky dink ornaments
• go to church Christmas concert
• eat lunch with mom {at school}
• out to movie
• Christmas movie night

[2005 - Kenny helping Carly read the riddle from box 25]

girls! girls! girls!

Loaded up to meet more friends for dinner at Hueys,

a movie - The Spy Next Door, and then ice cream.

What a group of sweet girls! So glad they all get along so well together

and that they are now old enough to take care of themselves!

we are....off to see the wizard

Our local theater was putting on a production of Wizard of Oz during the first week of December. Carly had seen the poster and asked could we go. I said maybe. When I was organizing Carly's countdown box, I decided as one of our activities that we would go.

I asked Kenny if he wanted to go, and he asked at the Orpheum? I told him no that it was a local production and he said, I just saw an advertisement for the Broadway production of the Wizard of Oz at the Orpheum let's do that instead.

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So I bought tickets {mind you 3x the price} for later in December and put the note in Carly's countdown box. The tickets were for Sunday evening after we had Christmas at the Lake House. Carly asked as we are pulling up in the driveway, can I open my countdown box doors? She opened Saturday and it was a little toy. Then she opened Sunday's box and it said "go see the Wizard of Oz". She looked at me with a little bit of a sad/confused face and said "but we missed it". {She hadn't said anything else about the local production but obviously she had known it passed by without us going}.

It was a wonderful show. Carly sat on the edge of her seat for just about the whole night. The costumes were fabulous, there was "flying" and other special effects and I think Carly's favorite, a real dog.

A perfect addition to our holiday season!