That's All

Ok, so all regular readers (all 4 of you) prepare yourselves for a bombshell.

Being a stay-at-home mom is NOT glamorous. (I have recently watched "The Devil Wears Prada" so my feelings here are most likely under the influence of the movie.) It does not involve couture. I do not rise from slumber each morning, put on full make-up, enter a could-be-a-house size closet to choose a staggeringly fashionable outfit with the perfect accessories and stilettos and face my day looking like something out of next month's "Vogue."

Nope, most days involve t-shirts and either yoga pants or jeans. That is if I actually make it out of my pj's. Today is not one of those days. I did manage to brush my teeth, though. For special days (i.e. Mom's Day Out, Kindermusik or playdates) I may even bust out the Listerine but not today. Sorry, precious husband.

It is, at this very moment, 1:21 in the afternoon, and I am still in my pajama pants and a t-shirt. To some of you this may sound luxurious. Rest assured, it is not. I am currently sporting a stain of what I can only hope is a bit of cereal bar from my child's breakfast on my shirt and completely exhausted from entertaining a 2 1/2-year-old for the last 5 hours ( including reading Goodnight Moon at least 10 times in a row. ) I chose today to be home because it is the only day this week we don't have some activity planned. And now, thankfully, Annie is napping.

As for me? Well, as Miranda Priestly would say, That's all.

Gatlinburg Pictures, Part 2

Game Day or Bust

Well, it's Saturday, which OF COURSE means football. Don't get me wrong here ... I've grown up watching football since forever; in my family it's just sort of expected that you know what the position of wideout means or what a quarterback blitz is.

When Anthony and I first got married, all of our Saturdays during football season revolved around the games that were on TV. Things were a bit different back then, and I'm not just talking about the fact that our mortgage was something like $15. On those wonderful football Saturdays, we'd just lay around, eat chips and dip and watch football ALL DAY. Literally. It was such a simple time.

Actually, things are still pretty much the same when it comes to game day. Even though both of us went to Mississippi State, only one of us claims to "bleed maroon and white." Personally, I'm ever so slightly less loyal and more than a bit mortified by State's recent win/loss records. If Anthony would let me, I'd run out front right this very second and change our Mississippi State flag to I don't know, maybe Georgia or USC? But nope. I have to "hate" Ole Miss ( a bit difficult since my cousin, mom, uncle, grandfather and brother-in-law all went there) and act absolutely outraged when they win a game. (Please no one tell Anthony that I almost always sneak into the closet to call Kelly after Ole Miss has won a game and be happy for her. He might disown me. Actually he probably would.)

Sadly, Mississippi State plays LSU tonight at LSU. I don't think it's going to be pretty, and most tragically it's going to be on national television. Perhaps we'll be the only two people on the planet watching the game. We can hope ...

Stay Tuned

Well, most dear and faithful readers, we have returned safely from our jaunt to Gatlinburg ... being that we came home with over 300 pictures, I am only providing a teeny-tiny sampling here, but I promise I won't be posting all gazillion pictures in the days to come!

We did have a really wonderful time, and I'll relate some of our adventures (falling into streams and whatnot) soon ...

Look Out, Gatlinburg -- Here We Come!

We're off to Gatlinburg in the morning and will be getting home late next week, so I'll return to the blogging world soon after that ...

The Best Medicine For a Wounded Heart

Katie

And so another one of my precious animals has left this earthly life ... my most beautiful and regal cat, Katie, was put to sleep this morning. She was gorgeous and dainty but boy could she hold her own if the need arose.

The story of how she came to be in my possession goes all the way back to a parking lot at Mississippi State when I was a sophomore and thought she could live in my dorm room undetected. From there, things just get a bit more interesting ... in her lifetime, Katie basically lived all over Mississippi, including with my great-aunt (Auntie) in Meridian while my roommate and I looked for and eventually found a place in Starkville we could afford that would also allow us to resume ownership of precious Katie.

She lived with me from then on, moving to Biloxi with me when I got my first job after grad school and then back to Columbus after Anthony and I got married. Then after discovering Anthony was allergic to cats, my parents very graciously offered to let Sam and Katie TEMPORARILY live with them.

That was around 9 years ago, and she'd lived there quite happily ever since.

As you know, in my family we're pretty much all "animal people." So I like to think that Katie's in heaven somewhere with Sam and Auntie and most likely ruling the roost.

At least that's what I'll see when I picture her.

Crazed Photographer For Hire

Friday:

Our big playdate with Caroline (i.e. adult coversation for Mommy with Caroline's mom!) a necessary trip to Publix and a picture of Annie in her favorite green racecar buggy, pictures of the girls having their respective rests, and of course our sweet Annie in the playroom after her nap.

The dancing queen ...

Saturday: Game Day

Can't you just feel the love all around?

There's a very special place in heaven for sweet Mary Barclay!

Watching Daddy mow the grass ...

Trying on Mommy's shoes ...

Getting ready for the game ...


The girls trying to contain their excitement over the fact that they're on the verge of having the house to themselves for several hours ...



Proof that no matter where you are, there is always a BABY STROLLER to be found ...

Ok, I've had it!!

And I've just realized there are about a bazillion pictures on this blog, and probably our parents are the only ones still reading!! So I'll save Sunday morning's pictures for the next blog ...