FEELS LIKE HOME TO ME: November 2010

Football recap

So by now you know my team didn't win the Iron Bowl. Sad, sad. But I know why. My sweet, adorable, team-trading daughter bailed on her mommy's team.

On game day, I gave her two face tattoos. One for Auburn, one for Alabama.

While taking her picture, I asked her to point to the winning team.

...she pointed to Auburn. Huh? Then they won. Thanks a lot, Libby!

Even though she rained on my parade, she had fun watching the game with her buddy Sawyer, a true Bama fan.

It was a such a wild game! Too bad the Aubs pulled out a win. But, to be fair, they had a lot to gain and Bama had nothing to lose. That's just how the Iron Bowl goes. You never know how it's going to play out. There's always next year and I still say...ROLL TIDE!

9:31 AM
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RTR/WDE

You didn't think I would forget about the other national holiday (in the southeast, anyway) that falls right after Thanksgiving, did you? Of course not!

It's Iron Bowl time!

May the best team win -- I sure hope it's my team and not my husband's team. He loves that Auburn is having a great season and says Cam is innocent. We'll just see about that.

Gooo Bama! Beat those Tigers!

8:00 AM
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Santa's here!

Can it really be that time of year already? Thanksgiving week is upon us and that means Christmas (the commercial side, anyway) is already trying to push its way into our lives.

We took Libby to a local shopping area to welcome Santa and kick off the Christmas season. Notice that we're wearing short sleeves and it wasn't cold, but we did our best to feel festive.

Libby caught a plastic, yellow football from the parade that preceded Santa. She loved it. You can't help but notice it, it's in EVERY picture!

Look! It's Santa Clause!

I don't know if Libby was trying to reach Santa or what, but she got her little grubby hands on my phone. Funny how she didn't have to be taught how to hold or talk on a cell phone. I think she's seen her mommy and daddy enough to take her cues from us.

I promise, I don't bark orders into the phone like Libby is doing here (Even though my husband might say differently!) She said things like, "Hello, how are you?" and "Okay, bye."

Remember everything you do and say your little ones are soaking in. Consider yourself warned!

8:00 AM
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Yard Sale

I'm happy to report that we made it through our busy weekend. We moved and moved and moved. Boxes, clothes, toys and furniture. If I ever have thoughts of moving again, PLEASE STOP ME!

Saturday morning we were up BEFORE the sun setting up tables and dragging out our of stuff for the 1st annual Parkman/Raiford yard sale.

The prep for the sale wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. My in-laws picked Libby up Friday night around dinner time and in two hours I had all the clothes, shoes and other items sorted and tagged.

I would have liked to have more traffic, but overall it was a good morning. We had some very interesting customers - but how could you not at a yard sale?!

(No, these are not the "characters" I just mentioned! They just happen to be in the picture!)

And if our customers weren't lucky enough to be getting good deals at our sale, they also had the pleasure of this friendly guy to bag up their purchases! Great job, Daddy-O!

What we didn't sell was carted off to a local charity and out of my house forever! What a great feeling! More on the move soon...

4:00 PM
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Brain Dump

Warning, this post is going to jump from one thought to the next. Buckle up.

Last week, my friend, Demetri, was in town. She rounded several of us up and we enjoyed a great dinner! Each of the girls in this shot are dang funny!

Me, Demetri, Christie, Nicole, Coop and Jenny

We laughed a lot, which was just what I needed! Mechie was only in town a few days before she took off for Houston. I hope she comes back through Alabama during the Christmas holidays.

My work schedule has been wide open the last few weeks. So by the time I get home at night, I'm not very lively. It's been getting dark sooner, so we've been sticking close to home and reassuring Libby that it is, in fact, dark outside. She asks over and over, "It not dark outside? It not dark?" I can't say she is afraid of the dark, but she is very concerned about the shorter days!

It was my turn to host Bunco last night. All turned out well and we had a great time. Again, I enjoyed having grown up time with my friends. It never fails, we get really loud as we are playing, we all want to win! I didn't win (never do!) but I certainly had fun.

And since we've all been so busy, I thought it would be a great time to have a yard sale. Wait, what?! Am I crazy? The answer is: YES!

We're in the process of moving (more on that later) so we're getting all of our junk ready for complete strangers to rummage through. I know it will be a good time. If you're local and want to stop by, we'll be open for business at sunrise Saturday, stop by and shop!

I'll be back soon with pictures from the move and maybe a few from the yard sale. That is if anyone will allow me to take pictures that early in the morning!

3:45 PM
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Bad to the Bone

Libby called for me the other morning, "Mommy! Look at me!" Then she came running into the living room. My (sometimes) sweet daughter had been transformed into a biker chic.

And the funniest part? Her dad talked her into this and tied her bandanna for her!

Yep, she's one hard talkin', bad walkin', pull-up wearing chic. I guess I'll add a Harley Davidson to her Christmas wish list...?

9:59 AM
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Locks of Love

I have pretty cool friends! Last week they chopped off their long hair for a Locks of Love. You may already know, but Locks of Love is a non-profit organization that makes wigs for children under 21 that have lost their hair due to radiation while fighting cancer. You must be willing to donate 10 inches of your hair. Then it's mailed off to the organization in Florida where they make wigs for cancer patients.

Courtney is an a coach at a local elementary school. She has done this once before and this time she encouraged about 20 of her students to donate their hair to the cause. Also, her sister, sister-in-law and our friend, Amanda, joined in the fun!

Coop and Cassie before the cut.

The entire school came out to watch their coach and fellow students cut their hair.

Snip, snip...there goes Coop's locks!

Amanda's turn. Bye bye long hair!

Right after the cut. I'm so proud of my friend!

All of the adults after their having their long hair chopped. They had to get more hair trimmed to even out their cuts. Now they all have new, short 'dos!

Later the same day at the Chick-fil-a Fall Festival. Coop and Libby have the same cute bob!

I was very proud of my friends for their willingness to do good for others. I was inspired and I hope you are, too.

11:15 AM
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Party Time!

After a busy night of Trick-or-Treating, we dropped Libby off at my parents' house and made a wardrobe change. We were off to another Halloween party.

Costumes were required, so Drew and I were super fans. Ehh, but for the other team. Drew was an Alabama fan for the night and I pulled for Auburn. We got lots of compliments from fans from both teams.

There were so many great costumes! Here are some of my favorites:

The Scooby Doo Gang - Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy.

Dog the Bounty Hunter and wife, Beth.

Justin Bieber was there!

Even Laverne and Shirley. Please look closely, Laverne is rather masculine!

One of my favorites, Cousin Eddie from National Lampoon's Vacation.

And the Smurfs. Yes, they were that blue in person!

We had a great time and don't worry, we're both pulling for our original teams again. I could only wear orange and blue, and Drew crimson and white so long before we couldn't stand it anymore!

12:00 PM
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Trick-or-Treat!

The Halloween fun continued into the weekend.

Thursday night, Coop, Libby and I hit our local Chick-fil-a's Fall Festival. Libby played a few games, scored some candy, ate some nuggets. But was most excited about the hayride!

Our town trick-or-treated Saturday night, instead of Sunday, but it was all the same to Libby.

We started out early and stopped by our friend, Amanda's, house.

She baked cupcakes and Libby was a big fan!

Then we joined our friends, Brett and Beth Leatherwood. They had lots of good food and a hayride! Who could compete with that?

(Image borrowed from Photografs Through our Lens. Brittaney has more cute photos from the night on her blog.)

We loaded up and cruised the entire neighborhood. It was just perfect for the little kids (okay, who I am kidding? The parents, too!) We would hop off, walk to several houses, then get back on the hayride and ride to the next street. Libby really enjoyed herself this year. She knew to say, "Trick-or-Treat" and "Thank you" at each house. She also knew to stay away from any houses that had scary decorations. One house went very scary with their decorations with ghosts, cobwebs and spiders. We were walking towards the porch when Libby told me, "We not go there." Smart girl!