What More Could a Woman Want for Christmas?

Well, I have a lot I want to share with you, but for the moment I will share this. My Christmas was made complete with the one gift every woman not only wants, but needs...

You are probably wondering, "what put the smile on her face?"


Look closer....Yep, after all of these years, all of the Christmases, I finally got the one perfect gift...

You decide...Mr. Wonderful above, or Mr. Wonderful below? The one above tells me everything I want to hear..."Sure dear, we can run to the mall for a new pair of shoes!"...."Why doesn't your mother stay another week?"..."I'll tag along and carry your bags"... "Of course you don't look fat in that dress...nothing could ever make you look fat".... and the list goes on.....

This man, on the other hand, never has a kind word to say to me - unless you think - "Is dinner ready?" or "Have you cleaned my clothes?" are kind words. He certainly isn't Mr. Wonderful!!!

PS: this is the real Sheri back posting. I have changed my password so that my wonderful husband can't hack in anymore.

What I originally posted was, this man doesn't look that happy...is he waiting for me to give him "Mrs. Wonderful"???? :-)

Some Christmas Favorites

Hi -- I am still going to post the pictures from Kelsie's Western show & Cam's basketball kick-off, but I need to find Kenny's camera. So, in the meantime, I wanted to post some Christmas pictures. I think last year, I posted some pix of favorite ornaments on our tree. This year, I have a couple of new ornaments that I took pix of, but I also want to share a few other favorite things. I hope if you are a blogger, you might do the same!

Much to my daughter's dismay, I "86-ed" the big, fat, non-pre-lit tree this year (I gave it away to someone who is enjoying it). It just was too big for our new space. I took Kelsie & Cam to the tree store (aka Hobby Lobby) and I gave them 2 "skinny, pre-lit" tree choices. It was unanimous! I don't think Kelsie has admitted it, but the new tree is the perfect size for the new space and it's pre-lit, did I mention that??? The angel that has been on the top of our tree for several years survived the move, not too much worse for the wear. Kenny had to do a little smushing of her base, but got her up there safe and sound.

A special new ornament this year called "from the cradle to the cross". One of the 3rd graders in my AWANA group actually made this and gave it to me for Christmas -- how cool is that -- it tells the truth of Christmas perfectly in an ornament.

My sister gave me this ornament this year for my birthday & it looks beautiful on the tree.

Ok, I found the cutest new store off of exit 17 it's called "2 posh dames". Very cute stuff and I found this ornament there -- love it. They had an equally cute Santa ornament too.

Now this Santa has been through a lot over the years; his tree is broken, but I keep sticking it back together and hoping for the best. I am not sure if my mom or my sister (or both) made this years ago. I think he used to have a sled too, but that's long gone. Considering all he's been thru, I think he's holding up pretty good.

This mr. santa has held up better -- again, not sure if my mom and/or my sister made him, but he is back sitting on the chair in the living room.

For some reason, I'm showing several santas! This one I bought at this interesting combination junk/new stuff store (mostly junk) I found while driving to the Mall of Georgia. It's a consignment store -- it's huge, takes a long time to get through and it makes me dizzy looking back and forth, left and right through each aisle, but, I found this cute thing to hang over our door in the kitchen.

I hope everyone has an excellent Christmas. We received a Christmas letter today that really made me stop and think. I want to share what it said at the bottom: "We pray that God blesses you richly in 2009 and wish you a Merry Christmas! We pray for revival in our country, safety for our men and women in combat, and thank God for His Son and our salvation". I couldn't say it better myself.

A Bucking Horse, Two 3rd Place Ribbons, & the Tar Heels Open Their Season

That's probably the longest title I have ever had. It's been a LONG day, so I think that's appropriate. Pictures coming, hopefully; I am too tired tonight. Kelsie earned her 1st ribbons as an equestrian. Her 1st horse nearly bucked her off, but she maintained composure and stayed on...although you could tell for a split second she was deciding whether or not to fall off...it happened so fast, no time for Kenny or me to get too scared for her! Her 2nd ride was really good; even though I still don't know much about the whole thing, I could tell that she has made progress. Oh, and it was Western riding today -- a totally different look from the English way -- cowboy hats, spurs, chaps, glittery shirts. Their outfits were...interesting. Thank goodness Kelsie's coach has a collection of stuff for the girls to wear, I would hate to think of how much all of that would cost?@?!#?@

Cameron's basketball season started tonight. It's the first year we haven't been involved with Upward basketball, seems a little strange. He is playing at 1st Redeemer church and their league has a similar philosophy to Upward, which is nice. They had opening ceremonies tonight, pictures and 2 "mini-games" to kick the season off. Looks like he will have a good team and he did very well tonight.

Weather Report

I know, it is going to sound like I am rubbing it in to all of you Notherners, but I have to say it. I was driving Cam home from piano lessons this afternoon and I looked down at the temperature gauge on my dashboard that shows the outside temperature...61 degrees! I couldn't believe it. It sounds like it's raining out now, if that gives you any comfort. We need the rain, though, so bring it on!

Cam's 1st Piano Recital--UPDATED W/PIX

Pictures to come! Cameron had his 1st piano recital tonight. He played "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and "Jingle Bells" and did a great job. We miss his 1st teacher (hi Linda if you are out there!); he seems to be adjusting pretty well to his new teacher. It just dawned on me and I have to tell him this tomorrow, he made it thru both songs without getting itchy! It's crazy, but he gets itchy when he plays. Don't tell him, but I think it's an unconscious ploy! :-)

SIDE NOTE: Last week I woke up a couple of mornings to temperatures around 25 degrees. I said to myself and a few others that I had been brought to Georgia under false pretenses. I thought that in the dead of winter here, it might get down to 35 degrees and here at the end of November, it's 25! What's up with that? HOWEVER, I must report a positive trend. Yes, it is cool in the mornings (not normally 25), but they are referring to the daytime highs around 50 as "abnormally cold" -- I talked to my mom yesterday and she said it was 8 degrees, -5 degrees wind chill -- so, a definite plus in the weather department here. Come warm up down here in Georgia with us!

Thanksgiving

We are having a nice visit at my parent's house for Thanksgiving... I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving.

Kelsie and Cam were happy to see Jessi and Devin...

My bday happened to fall on Thanksgiving...my mom made my new favorite dessert -- BANANA Pudding!!! Yum....

Ok, well, I don't think that I got sound on this video for some reason, bummer! It was a fun game that my sister brought over, but it was REALLY LOUD!!!

Circa 21 the night after Thanksgiving -- "A Wonderful Life" and it was very good...

The women had our annual ornament exchange...

Part of the reason you will see few pictures of me right now!!! If you know what I mean!

Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever...1 Chronicles 16:34

Rare, Never Before Seen Footage

My English Girl

Today was a big day! Kelsie showed in her 1st equestrian event (I think this is the right lingo). She did a great job. They pick names out of a hat to decide who rides which horse, which to me, riding a horse for the 1st time in a show, that takes guts. So, Kelsie rode a horse named Gracie and they seemed to get along pretty well. Take a look at our day...


Kelsie's friend Eve came along with us and helped keep Kelsie occupied while she waited for her turn.

Kelsie's trainer Marcie getting Kelsie all ready -- did you know they wear hair nets under those helmets? BTW, who knew there are 2 types of riding; English and Western. This was English today, thus all of the prim and proper clothing, etc. I have learned that when you ride English, the saddles don't have horns to hold onto -- yikes!

Kelsie was getting ready to mount the horse, if you look close you can see her eyes...

I love this picture, she looks so serious!

Me, Boring?

I had a call today from a friend...you know who you are...and she told me that my blog has been boring this week with no updates! She even went to my husband's blog to find out what's going on here and what did she find? My son appearing to pee in a public place and very ugly feet, or were they? You will have to decide for yourself.

It's been a very busy week here, so thus, no updates. Work has been busy and just life in general I guess. My Bible study ladies had a family get together tonight, which was nice, but I forgot my camera. However, stand by because tomorrow, Kelsie has her first horse show. Now I know that is not the technical name for it. Hopefully after tomorrow, I will be much smarter on these horse things. We'll see. Hopefully I will remember my camera and have some good pictures to share.

Phase II

We really have had a great week, not just weekend. Kenny's mom & dad, Gena & Philip have been in the area -- I have some other good pictures from our time w/them, soon I will get them posted. Friday afternoon St. Louis arrived, well 2 of my friends from St. Louis :-) Little did I know that I was going to be entering Phase II of house decorating, but wow, it was/is great. I know a Phase III and maybe IV is imminent!!! Here are a few pictures...



Mary and Nita arriving! We had a great time. It went by so fast, but as my dad says, if it goes by fast, that means you had a great time. True.

Saturday morning, the Hand's stopped on their way to Myrtle Beach. We had a nice visit -- I was happy to be able to introduce them to Nita and Mary. I think we enlightened my mother in law with 20008 10 year old boy stories that she might have rather passed on -- lol. We had a great political discussion as well.


The men tried to stay away from the women's discussions, probably not a bad idea.

We loved spending time with (aunt) Gena and (uncle) Philip this week. Ok, yes, I did pack them a little snack bag for their trip to Myrtle Beach (picture below) -- but, it's a long drive and M&Ms and Diet Coke are a must.

THEN, the work started....off to Hobby Lobby...

I tried to find some before & after pictures of a couple of the changes. You can't get the total picture from the below & I will find those Kitchen valance pictures (Nita & Mary, I want you to remember the transformation, so I'll find the pix, I know I took some -- UPDATE: found the picture on an old blog post!).

BEFORE -- above....
AFTER -- below...

We added the grill above the picture in the kitchen and Nita made valances from the red curtains in the living room (we took those down and bought greenish/brown instead). Did you ever know that you can make these things by using rubber bands, nails and tape????? WAY unbelievable! "Before" and working on "After":

We are all thankful to have our family and friends visit...very, very thankful.