Fa La La La Auld Lang Syne...

...La La La Laaa!

.....because I know that you are all just hanging on the edge of your seats, wondering when o' when am I ever going to blog again, I knew that I just couldn't let this last night of 2007 pass by without one final blog post on my first ever year to blog...(actually, the first year I knew what a blog was!)


Anyway! I hope you all had a very merry Christmas! I did! The holidays are my favorite time of year. I love to get together with family, and catch up on what's going on with everyone I don't always see as often as I'd like throughout the year. We had two different family get togethers at our house this year, which was different, but fun! I'm pretty sure I wowed my nieces and nephews with my Dance Dance Revolution skills! Even Rachel, who I play that game with often, was impressed that I could do it in my current prego state. I think my niece, Hannah who just turned 15, thought she'd smoke me on the DDR.......wrong! Maybe next year Hannah! None of us could touch Rachel and Tyler on the Karaoke though, those two have some serious star power flowing through their veins!



In this past year at my dad's we have had two new additions to the family, so this Christmas was extra special! Landon arrived in February, and miss Maggie entered the world in April! Carter arrived the year before, so our family Christmas has changed quite a bit in the last couple of years! They are all at such fun ages! Max is 5, Carter 18 months, Landon 10 months, and Maggie, 8 months. I look forward to next year when Landon and Maggie are keeping the fast pace of Max and Carter, and our newest addition (who still doesn't have a name!) looks on with fascination! ........I'll pause here for a note to my sister Crystal and bro in law Chris...if you hurry, we can squeeze in one more new arrival for next Christmas..:)))

Then we have the big Christmas blowout at my grandmothers on Christmas afternoon. All of my aunts & uncles, great aunts and great uncles, cousins and their children gather for an afternoon of food and fun. And as long as uncle Manson is there, (and he always is, 'cause, you know, there's food!) a good time is promised to be had by all! My grandmother is a feisty 72 and still insists on having every Christmas collectible she has ever owned out for display or on the tree by Christmas day. And sometimes she barely makes it! With help! But it is truly a blessing to be able to spend time with her anytime, but especially during the holidays. She is my only living grandparent. Same thing goes for Kyle's grandpa. Kyle's only living grandparent. He's 86, and not in the best of health, not always in the best of moods, but always glad to see us bring Carter to see him. Another Christmas eve spent in his company is a blessing indeed!

Carter got the gift to end all gifts this year...(at least in his eyes!) Santa brought him a battery operated John Deere tractor with a loader and a backhoe! He was so excited! Although, I don't know that he was much more excited than we were, we knew he was going to love it....and he does! That battery has been charged daily since Christmas! On warm days he can ride outside, but when it's cold, we cleaned out the garage especially for the purpose of him having somewhere to ride. I couldn't bear to give it to him, then have him barely ride it until spring!

He also got a hay baler like daddy's and a rocking chair, and a few other things from Santa, but the tractor would have been enough!

So now with 3 hours left in 2007 my thoughts turn to 2008. With excitement I look forward to the coming year. I look forward to meeting my new daughter. I look forward to each and every moment with my husband, son, family, and friends, and pray that I remember to treasure them....each and every one!

Most importantly, I look forward to strengthening my relationship with my Lord and Savior. I pray that each day throughout the coming year I allow Him to guide my steps. I pray that I will be a faithful servant who puts Him above all else in my life. It is so easy to forget that our purpose on this earth is to worship and serve Him.

I don't know that I'll be able to stay awake to watch the ball drop at midnight...I wonder if it would have the same effect if I DVR it and watch it tomorrow?.....Probably not! Meanwhile, we don't really need fireworks, I think my neighbor is sighting in his new automatic assault rifle! He has been firing that thing off all day and night! It really makes for a bright night sky!..(yeah, I know, I feel a redneck joke coming on too!)

I wish you all a Happy, Healthy New Year! I will leave you with a few pics from Christmas.....

Papa, Gran, Carter, Max, Landon, & Maggie Matthew, Rachel, & Carter
Grandpa Smith
My Dad, Uncle Kenneth, Aunt Laketa, Uncle David, and my Grandmother

Another one...

...another cute story that is. At least I think it's hilarious, and if you happen to know my mother and father in law, you will too!

The other day Carter and I were going down the list of animals and their sounds, you know:

Carter, how does a cow go?

Mooooo.

How does a duck go?

Quack Quack.

How does a rooster go?

doo doo...(the little boys at church love this one!)

How does Daddy go?

No, no, no


Then, I just thought I'd have a little fun and see what he'd say,

How does Paw paw go?

NO, NO, NO....(His paw paw (Kyle's dad) is very loud!)

How does Maw Maw go?

JAMES!.....(her husband)...LOL ...(she does kind of say it alot!)

I said, Maw maw says what?

JAMES!!...and he cracked up at himself!

This went on for several minutes. I can't wait for Maw Maw and Paw paw to hear this one!

Too Cute....

...not to take a breath for just a moment to pause and tell you the cutest story ever!!..(and if you don't think it is, don't burst my bubble...K?)

So the last couple of weeks have consisted of a blur of Christmas rush that included the usual shopping, cleaning, etc...you all know the drill! No presents wrapped yet, but hopefully that'll change in the next day or two.

Anyway, a few nights ago I was getting Carter out of the bathtub and he was chattering his usual adorable 18 month old chatter. Which on this particular night consisted of hay, tractors, and cows...and our dogs Sam and Lexy...(a side note here, he pronounces the "L" in Lexy as an "S"....cute, unless you are in church and he also happens to be discussing his pacifier which for some reason he calls his "shat"...I have no idea!) Anyway, His dad was home from work and sitting on a stool in the bathroom listening to Carter recap his day (as best as he can anyway...).

In an oh-so-adorable fashion, Carter patted my belly and said so sweetly....baby!..Then he proceeded to give the baby "sugar"! (Oh yeah, Mom and Dad have now melted into a big puddle on the bathroom floor!) Then he continued on by patting his own bare belly and saying "baby"...lol....This is the cutest kid in the world! Can you guess what he did next?

He marched his little bare bottom over to his Dad and patted his belly and said..."baby?"....LOLOLOL

Dad wasn't amused. Mom was rolling.

Manic Monday?

"Hello, Deedra!
Is your child a little ray of sunshine at the sitters' but a thundercloud when you show up on the scene? Try not to get upset by these end-of-day meltdowns. They're signs of true love: Your toddler knows that it's safe to let out all of his pent-up feelings around you. While you may be tempted to run a few errands on your way back to the house, you should probably opt to put those tasks on hold until your child is more at ease. It's a decision that could make your evening a lot more enjoyable."

****courtesy Babycenter.com weekly newsletter****

Yeah, whatever, babycenter.....what-ev-er! My child has gotten to the point that if I leave him with a sitter, let alone 2 in one week, he really makes me pay.(did anybody see him Wednesday night at church? or Sunday night?) They say the more they stay the better they get. Not Carter. He stayed with a sitter 3 times this past week (for a few hours at the most!), and he has been a clingy bundle of nerves the rest of the week...(my hair does look really good though! :) Thanks, Kayla!





Anyway, I have done the unthinkable in order to avoid leaving him much this next week. I have an OB appt this morning (very early) and it's time for his 18 month checkup, so I made both appts for the same day. They are a few hours apart, but I have some shopping to do, so we'll just do that in between. No problem.





I'm delusional.





Please say a little prayer.





The sanity prayer maybe.

Paula Deen I Ain't!

...let me just start by saying, I love to cook. I love vegetables, I love appetizers, I love to cook anything and everything. I HATE HATE HATE to bake. So, when I heard that we were having a cookie exchange at church I decided I'd better try my hand at baking cookies since it's been ages since I did that.

I started the week by DVRing any Paula Deen episode that had any reference to cookie baking, then scouring foodnetwork.com for cookie recipes....EASY cookie recipes. Now, I have this one old standby, but I was thinking I was up for trying something new and exciting. (which was my first mistake) So, I gather up all my ingredients for the 2 recipes I decide to try, we had a couple of Christmas things this weekend anyway so I figured I'd just take my cookie masterpieces as my contribution. I failed, however, to take into consideration that my morning sickness might make a comeback this weekend, and maybe I wouldn't feel like creating a "masterpiece" when I didn't buy anything for a backup plan, just in case my cookie plan failed.

I followed that recipe to the letter. "Cream butter and sugars (brown and white) together,...blah, blah, blah....well, by the time I put in the white chocolate, macadamia nuts, and candied cherries, I knew I was in trouble. The recipe said the "dough" should be thick. My dough was like sand....chunky sand. I decided that since I'd invested so much in this stupid mess I'd see how one batch turned out. And, I must say, they didn't look so bad, but they tasted like sand. Chunky, chocolatey, sand. The second batch I decided to add a little water so that maybe they'd stay together a little better. They did, but it didn't help the taste much.

I finally gave up on that recipe and tried my second one. It actually came out pretty good. Not great, definitely not Paula Deen good, but okay. At this point, I decided to cut my losses ( I had to get rid of the cookies anyway, right?..I'm sure not taking these to church!) and just mix the two batches up in my prettiest cookie tin and take them as my "dessert". (It is now 5pm, and we have to be somewhere at 6pm,.....no time to make anything else!) So, I mixed the two in my prettiest cookie tin and off we went.

If you happened to be at the DCCA meeting last night and had a nasty sandy cookie, I apologize, I promise to dazzle you at the next meeting, K? And for my family, I didn't feel like making anything else today, or going to the store, so I apologize if you saw the pretty tin of cookies and took a sample. In defense of my sandy cookies, I actually heard one lady tonight say they were good. I don't know if she was just saying that or trying to mask a look of disgust, but she said it! For my fellow church ladies, I will be bringing my good old tried and true standby cookies tomorrow, there are none of the nasty ones left!

I will also be writing a letter of complaint to Paula Deen. She must have left something out of her recipe. I can't possibly be THAT bad at baking........right?

Or maybe I didn't giggle enough and use enough southern slang as she does.....or maybe, she just isn't really a good cook after all, I mean, have you ever eaten her cooking personally?

(I'm getting catty now, I'm going to bed....)

Thankful Thursday...

I haven't done a Thankful Thursday in a while but I couldn't let this one pass by without participating. This has been such a heartbreaking week, yet through the tears I have seen strength beyond belief. Strength that can only be explained by the grace of God and prayer.

I am eternally thankful for the opportunity to be a part of Eric Crowe's life, of each one of the boys in that class' life. They were and still are such a blessing to Kyle & I. We were to be their teacher when in truth they ended up teaching us.

I am thankful that God granted me the strength to visit Gaye & Tim yesterday. I guess I was going to minister to them, to love on them, but they truly ended up ministering to me. Loving on me. I was a nervous, hormonal mess on the drive over but Tim was in the yard and as soon as he saw me drive up, he came to my car, greeted me with a hug and thanked me over and over for coming. All of my nervousness and fear of saying the wrong thing vanished. Gaye greeted me the same way, a big hug and a pat on my growing belly. If you hesitate to call, visit, or send them a card...don't hesitate!! They need and appreciate it right now!

I am thankful for all of the wonderful comments and prayers listed on my earlier post about Eric. I planned to buy a card and send it but after reading a comment from yesterday it hit me that Gaye might like to have all of these things. I printed off my blog and every other one that I knew of with a post about them and all the comments and took it with me to see them. I know that a card would never have been able to say what all of you said so beautifully.

I am thankful for Adam and Brandon who were able to put their feelings into words. At least as much as anyone possibly can at a time like this. I know these tributes will bless Gaye and Tim as much or more as they have blessed the rest of us. I pray that God will give you and all of Eric's friends peace and strength during this time of such great loss.

I am thankful for our wonderful church family. This family helped Kyle and I through the loss of our two babies and rejoiced with us through our first pregnancy and Carter's birth, and now pray and rejoice with us during this pregnancy. I know they/we will be able to surround Eric's family with love and strength through the Grace of God during these next days, months....years.

I am thankful for my family. I am especially thankful for my husband who has been a rock this week, even though I know he hurts as much as I do. I am thankful for my son and for this baby girl I'm carrying. I pray that I will be able to teach them to be as loving as Eric was and as creative. Because for those of you who knew him, you have to admit (because I know every single one of you remember!), when he did get into trouble in high school....at least he was creative about it! :))

For more Thankful Thursday, visit Laurel Wreath.

Santa Baby......HA!

...last week this excited mom planned out a trip to the mall, just so that we could make a trip to see Santa. We had actually already ran into Santa in Walmart a few days before and Carter wouldn't go near him, but I was convinced that he was just a "bad Santa" and that the cool Mall Santa was the one to make Carter croon. I was like a kid on Christmas myself because of the Santa mishap we had last year.......

Look at Santa, he's even surprised by the tantrum this then 6 month old pitched!!.....this devastated me. I mean really. This kid loves everyone, every animal, every bug, everything!!! I just knew that this year he would jump into Santa's lap and rattle off his list. (..well, at least as much "rattling off" as an 18 month old can manage.) So off we go. It's the middle of the week so there's no line and I stop the stroller so Carter can watch this other baby cuddling with Santa and say things like "Look Carter, Santa's loving on the baby"....." Ohhhh how sweet" ....."Hi Santa!"...."Look at Santa, Carter".....Santa must have picked up on Carter's hesitation because he said. "Roll your stroller right past me, get him out and put him in my lap. Then move." Sounds like a plan.........

Not gonna happen! ......the chick taking the pictures hesitated while I hissed..."take it!"

Did I mention the two people with masks we ran across while trick or treating?....did I mention that Carter growled back at them?.....did I tell you that he barks back at the neighbors horse-like saint Bernard when he acts like he's gonna eat us alive?

So, when you get your Christmas card from us, you know why there isn't a jubilant picture of Carter and Santa in a loving embrace.

FYI.....my mother in law told me that Kyle was terrified of Santa for years. (I just knew it didn't come from MY side of the family!) I married a Santa weenie and he has gone and passed it on to my child!....(I will forgive him, however, since he also passed along those eyes!)

p.s....we had his first dentist appointment yesterday, and when I recover from it, I'll blog about it.

(...in memory of Eric on what would have been his 20th birthday. This is just the kind of story he would have loved.)

Please Pray......

I received a heartbreaking phone call very early this morning from my friend and pastors wife. She said "I'm so sorry to have to tell you this, but Eric was killed in a car wreck this morning. And I know how much you love those kids and I didn't want you to hear it from anyone else." Lisa, I will be forever grateful for that call. I have no idea what I said or if I even thanked you for thinking of calling me.



Please help us remember Eric's mom, Gaye, and his step dad, Tim as well as the rest of his family in very much needed prayer during this time. To further add to the heartbreak, Eric had been out of town for about a week working, and was returning home to see his family and to celebrate his birthday with them this weekend. He would have turned 20 on Dec 5.

Eric was an only child who for much of his life was raised by his mom alone. She worked very hard and raised a truly loving child. He had a mischievous side and was loved by most everyone who knew him. He wasn't perfect, but never claimed to be. There wasn't a time I saw Eric when he didn't hug me and tell me he loved me. He made a point of finding me on Sunday mornings and hugging me, and lately patting my growing belly and asking how the little one was doing.....in fact, I'd just told him recently that not many people could get away with a "belly pat" with me, and he'd have to stop once the baby was born...he laughed and told me I had a deal.

I have so many wonderful memories of Eric, and of all the boys in the youth class Kyle & I taught for several years. We love every single one of them like they were our own. I could go on for hours. But the thing that I hold to now,...that I know his family is holding to now, is that Eric was saved. He was a child of God and is now resting in the arms of his savior.

Visitation begins tomorrow at 11 and Eric's funeral will be on Monday at 2. Please help me as I lift up his family in prayer. Especially remember his mom, Gaye, and dad, Tim. They are devastated as you can imagine. As all of our children are, Eric was the center of their lives. One of my favorite people to sit near at football games when Eric played was Gaye. She could get on those refs with the best of them! And I always admired Tim for stepping in as such a fantastic father figure when there wasn't one present. I don't know that I've ever seen a man more broken than Tim was today. Pray for our church family as we love on them, and lift them up in the coming days and weeks.

Eric Benjamin Crowe

1987-2007

Eric, I am so thankful that you were part of our lives. We loved you dearly and will miss you terribly.

Love,

"Miss" Deedra, Kyle, & Carter