{2009, the most interesting of years...}

I can't believe 2009 is almost over, but then again it's not been a great year for our family either. It was about the second week in Jan. '09 that Jim got an offer for a new career and we accepted the offer within about 3 days of it, the house was put on the market shortly thereafter, Jim moved to Texarkana the 2nd week of Feb. our house sold the middle of March and we closed on it April 29, the kids and I then moved in with my mother/inlaw until school was out the 1st of June, the rental house flooded the Sat. night before mother's day and we lost soooo much, almost everything we had, such a horrible sad night http://stacyloggins.blogspot.com/2009/05/okay-i-really-need-to-check-in-and-let.html you can read about it here. The kids and I moved down here the 2nd week of June, lived at my mom's for 3 weeks, then moved into our apartment with no furniture, we slept on air matterss beds, clothes stayed in boxes and suitcases, rental furn. it was a TOUGH time in deed, then in late Aug. we received the insurance money and started putting our house back together, while typing this I still cannot believe we went through all of that, it was seriously the hardest times ever!!! but, there is always a but isn't there... we all came through it all just fine and are soooo thankful for each other, we truly stuck together. And so the rest is history and life has gone on and all is well! I would like to just say to 2010 "take it easy on the Loggins family, nothing too big, okay".

{Baking & Sacks}

I did alot of baking this year as I do every year and here is a picture of some of the things I made and there is more in the frig. I made orange balls, choc. oreo balls, choc. covered cherries, turtle bars, pretzel bark & of course chex mix!!!!!

I stored my goodies for neighbors in these cute bags, I simply folded the bag, and put some ribbon and touille and tied it up and inserted a card, how easy is that!

{Christmas Pictures}

We had a wonderful Christmas, I can't believe it's over though, makes me kinda sad. We had lots of fun times with our family, ate alot of food, oh my did we ever, and have been playing with our new Wii, it is so much fun!

This is Cameron's Santa pile...

Hannah playing Wii...

A tired looking Cameron with his new riding boots...

Hannah checking our her stash...

showing off the new boots...

love this picture of my Christmas morning babes...

All the cousins...

My cute sister showing off the calendar I got her...

Spiderman (aka John)

I am in the process of changing my blog, please excuse the mess!!

{Our Christmas Card}

{Family fun}

We left Sunday morning for Dallas to have Christmas with Jim's family, that evening we went to Uncle Julios and ate dinner with his mom, his sister Terry and her family, we had the best mexican food ever!!! it was soooo good, we had a great time! after dinner we went to Terry's house and had dessert and opened presents. Then we went back to his mom's house (where we stay) and on Monday morning we headed to Jim's home office and then visited some old friends in the neighborhood, it was really good to see everyone, went to the mall and finished some shopping and then that night Jim and I went to his company Christmas party at the Nokia Theatre, we had a box suite for the Rockettes, it was so wonderful, we had alot of fun!! Then this morning Jim had a company meeting and the kids and I just slept in and hung out with Grandma, then we headed home around 1:00, now we're all settled back in and getting ready for Christmas!!!


Cameron and Hannah with Grandma

Hannah and cousin Alex opening gifts!

Jim and his sister Terry

Cameron and Brownie

Jim and I before the party!

{On the homefront}

I have been so busy the last few days and today I am chilling out a bit. My sister and I went shopping on Thurs. night by ourselves!!! yeah!! we started at 7:00, hit the stores, ended with Starbucks and then noticed at around 10:15 that Target was still open, so we mustered up some more energy and went in until 11:00. it was so much fun, they actually closed at midnight but we were too wore out at that point, we got alot of shopping done!! Yesterday started off with more errands, Hannah's school party, then her gymnastics party, then cousin Madeline's slumber party, went I got home around 8 I climbed in bed and watched tv and was asleep at 9:30! Sometimes I wear myself out and forget about my MS until the ol' legs start hurting and then I know it's time to take a load off. This morning Cameron and I went to get H and I cleaned and vacumed out my car, Cameron cleaned the windows, then we drove it through the car wash and came home and Cameron cleaned the tires and wheels, it looks so nice, we are leaving for Dallas in the morning and don't need to be traveling in a dirty vehicle, it was nasty yall, I was so ashamed of my nasty self!!! haha!

I am happy to say my shopping is done, most of the gifts are wrapped and I am going to make a few goodies tonight and make the rest when we get home on Tuesday, my dad is coming over tonight and Jim is going to grill some pork chops, fry some potatoes, and make some baked beans, we really like it when Papa comes over, he brings his dog KC with him and she and Kirby beg for our food all night!! hah! Well, I better get the dryer just went off and so did the washer, so I need to make a switch out!!!

{more craftiness}

I must say, I have had alot of fun with all the crafts I've been doing for the holidays, my mother and I did these darling koozies, and we're going to give them as gifts for Christmas!!!

It's 1:00 and I am waiting on the cable guy to fix our cable box that decided to loose it's signal, ugh what a pain, this was not on my to do list today thankyouverymuch! I've already been to Walmart and bought everything under the sun, which also included all the ingredients for my holiday baking, and I do have some more things to do I just can't get motivated, I was motivated this morning, I was ready to rock n' roll out there today and now that I am sitting here with no tv and reading blogs I am getting very s l e e p y... seriously, I could lay on this couch and take a nap, I mean, I can, no one is here to disturb me or to question as to why I am sleeping, I mean the dog doesn't care, he's sleeping, and I am not in the house cleaning, clothes folding, bed making kinda mood, you know those moods, just kinda "bleh" not a bad mood, just "bleh". The cable guy said between 1-5, ha! what a waste of time for me though, I could be at TJ Max or Old Navy, which is where I need to be heading to, sooooooo, hopefully he'll call in a minute and he'll fix it super fast and I can run my last few errands before the kiddos get home, one can only hope that will happen!!!

{Pillow}

I just had to show you my pillow that I made and it was too easy, seriously easy, it's made from a placemat, I simply opened a seam, stuffed it with some poly-fil and sewed it back up and here it is looking all nice and festive in a chair that was just waiting for a Christmas pillow!!

{Please Vote}

My pretty little wire coat hanger wreath is in the finals on Eddie Ross website, I am way excited about this!!!! so go to eddieross.com and scroll down a few post and vote for my wreath!!! Thank you and Merry Merry Christmas to you!!!

{Christmas Tour}

Welcome to my Christmas home for the Nester Tour of Homes!

I love the words faith and Believe

Silver/Blue tree

gorgeous topper courtesy of my mom

fresh greenery adds a nice festive touch

Little trees on a tray

Santas and trees

and my wire coat hanger wreath, I am just a little

proud of this little guy!

Thanks for stopping by and have a Merry Christmas!!!!

{It's a Wrap}

This is my wrapping paper story, last year as I was looking for wrapping paper I saw alot of really pretty blue/white/silver combos and thought... next year those are the colors I shall use on my tree, soooooooo this year I did in deed decorate my tree with those colors and it is perty, but I still have not found the paper I am happy with, it has never been this hard to pick out wrapping paper, but this is getting ridiculous people, my kids want to see some wrapped presents under this tree and I am holding it up because I can't decide on some stinkin paper, I should have bought what I liked last year huh? anyway, I finally got some today, I started this post yesterday, anyway, I am really happy with it, do you like???

{Happy Birthday}

to my dad, the funniest, nicest, sweetest man I know, I love you so much! Happy Birthday!!

{Craftiness}

Have you seen these pretty coat hanger wreaths? well, they are all the rage and I just had to get in on it. You can find the tutorial on Eddie Ross blog, so easy to do! I am using lots of silver/blue this Christmas, I love the way it turned out!

And here is my cookie sheet advent calendar, it was so fun to make, just google it and it will pull up all kinds of tutorials on how to make these!

{Hives Smives)

Geez I'm tired, I really hate taking Benadryl in the middle of the day, but when the big bad hives come to visit I have no choice, or else I may scratch myself to shreds. It's an MS thing, these dang hives of mine, and I get them almost daily and have for almost a year now, usually they happen in the evening and I take it then and then go to bed, but during the day is the pits, I am soooo tired of them, my back and stomach look like a nightmare when I am all good and broken out, it is the most attractive thing EVAH! I spent the day over at my mom's house, we just lounged around, and finished some really cute Christmas crafts, (I'll show the pics later) we were pretty proud of ourselves. I took Kirby with me, he likes to run free in her backyard, he gets really tired of always being on a leash when he goes out, so he roamed and sniffed and checked every inch of her backyard out, visited with the dog next door, barked, and got really dirty, he came in and we're like what in the world has he been into, he had been underneath the deck, sooo we gave him a nice bath, and when he got out he ran all around the house like crazy, he always does that after baths because he feels so good and clean, and then he barked at us like crazy, his way of telling us thank you for making him feel better, ha! darn dog, such a cute little toot!!!

{Just asking}

This morning at 7:00 a.m. Cameron brings me a pair of dirty jeans and says "how fast can you have these washed and ready for me to wear today"??? we leave at 7:35 a.m. I know I brag about my new front loader w/d set and how it performs at great speed, bless his sweet little heart for asking though.

{Thanksgiving & Black Friday}

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas at Coffee With Me huh? I really like it!! Okay, so how was your Thanksgiving? Ours was fantastic, for lunch we ate at my Aunt Pam's and Uncle Jerry's house and had so much fun and alot of food, we were stuffed, then we had dinner at Papa and Honey's house ( my sis's inlaws) and again, sooo much good food, I honestly didn't think I could ever eat again! My brother's daughter Natalie spent that night with us and she and Hannah had alot of fun, while I went to bed around 8:30 so I could be up at 3:30, yes, I am insane. I was at Kohl's at 3:40, I live about 2 miles from the shopping center, they opened at 4 this year and had somethings I really needed, and... I got it, I was so happy! I saved $50 on a Barbie Glamour Jet for Hannah, and Terri got one for her girls, she also got alot more stuff for her little guy, such good deals. Then we walked over and joined the line at Target with mom, the line was wrapped around the building, and once the doors opened at 5 we got in and got everything we had hoped to get, no problems! It was busy but we had really good luck, no one was going crazy or anything like that it went very smooth at both places, we did have to wait in line for over an hour at Target but it was fun, we would take turns watching the buggies and stroll around for more deals, and then mom went and got us coffee and muffins at the deli area, we had the best time! Between the 3 of us we had 2 full buggies full of awesome deals, we were really proud of ourselves!!!

The rest of the weekend was full of spending time with our family, more eating, laughing, playing, sleeping in, and just being thankful for each other and what we have. Now it's time to kick it into Christmas mode, I'll start getting some decor from the storage tomorrow, we lost some Christmas stuff in the flood, so I don't remember what all I have left. We'll get the tree next weekend since we get a real one and don't want it to dry out too quick. My brother took our family pictures this weekend for our cards this year so I will be working on getting that done also. Hope everyone is resting from your Thanksgiving fun!

I was looking back at my post a year ago today and I am going to write about the same thing, because I hope I always feel the same way and have that Thanksgiving spirit. I love the week of Thanksgiving, it's so exciting to anticipate all the fun! We are not traveling this holiday, we're staying right here with our family and my brother and his family are coming in from Austin, I can hardly wait!! I have done my shopping, so all I have to do is make and bake, I am taking green bean casserole, love the smell of french fried onions, it says Thanksgiving to me, also corn casserole and a pecan pie, we are going to have so much food, and I love the leftovers :)
Cameron, Hannah and I all got haircuts yesterday, so we're ready for out Christmas pictures this weekend, the kids have a 2 day week, so they are ready for their break, lots of cousins to play with!

On another note, I am so sad that Jon & Kate are over.. what are your feelings?

{Turkey lunch at school}

Jim and I are going to have Thanksgiving lunch with Hannah at school today, good ol' cafeteria food!! it will be fun though, she is very excited, when I asked Cameron if they were having one he got very appalled, "no mom, we're in middle school we don't have our mommies and daddies come have lunch with us" I was like well sorry!!! ha! I don't like this growing up business, it's not working for me! :) It's raining today and cold, feels good though, not much going on this weekend, Hannah and her cousins are spending night with mimi tonight, and so far that's all that's planned, I like it when we just go with the flow! I am so excited about Thanksgiving, and then Black Friday, (that's a whole other post)

I better get back to cleaning, breaks over!
Stacy

{Basking in the coziness}

Such cool, cozy weather this is, it's about time it felt like fall and Thanksgiving for that matter! I love the cooler weather, such a nice break from the warm weather. As I have said a few posts before about Thanksgiving not getting it's glory, I am making sure to voice what I am thankful for everyday, and you know, that's not hard to do, I feel very blessed in my life and am thankful for it. But today I want to say how thankful I am for my family, truly the best!!!

I just compiled a list of what I am going to bake for the holidays, I have 6 goodies, and they are sounding mighty yummy!!! I try to pick up a few items everytime I go to the store, so it won't be so expensive doing it all at one time. I love to bake goodies for neighbors, teachers, my own family (can't give it all away) :) and for Thanksgiving I love making casseroles and baking pies, can't wait!!! love it!!

[Football}

Saturday was Cameron's last football game of the season, wow it went by fast, but he had alot of fun. They had the milk bowl which was played at the high school stadium, which is brand new and of so nice, they felt real special on the new turf! the weather was fantastic! love this picture of my guys...

waiting to get his trophy...

random field pics!!

{Todays Funny}

{Sneezy}

I am suffering with allergies or a cold, I never know the difference, ha! I am stopped up one minute, nose running the next, and sneezing like crazy, this is not fun, Jim is doing the same thing and the kiddos are kinda snorty too. Maybe because it's Nov. and it's too warm for this time of year, I am ready for ccccold weather, bring it on!!! Cameron's team won their game last night 24-0, what a game, they did great, Go Raiders!!! and Hannah almost has her backhand spring down perfect, I am so proud of my kiddos for achieving in what they do! I have a few things to take care of around the house including getting my beef stew ready for the crockpot, I love the smell of that cooking! and I am going to go over to mom's house and take Kirby so he can run around her backyard, being in an apartment he doesn't get to run free outside, (he would run off) so he needs some exercise, he told me the other day he missed having his own backyard, I told him he would have another one one day, haha! Well, that's about it for now, have a great day my friends!!!

{Thanksgiving}

Somtimes I think that poor Thanksgiving gets a bum deal, it seems we go from Halloween to Christmas, my husband has always been bothered by that too, he said let's enjoy Thanksgiving and then we'll dive into Christmas. We should really be thankful for Thanksgiving because it's a no gifts and no pressure holiday, just a day to eat and be with your loved ones. My sister and I were talking yesterday about this and how we have always loved Thanksgiving, the parades, cooking delicious casseroles and pies, it's a very warm and cozy day to me. I am going to do a thankful jar for our family to put what we are thankful for and discuss them at dinner time, I think the kids will really enjoy this activity. I love this plaque that sits on my bar and it's there all the time not just for Thanksgiving, I am also loving my turkey, love turkeys!!!

{What we need is more child labor...]

that's an attention getter huh? I was reading another blog about some kids who were learing a lesson in helping their parents chop and haul wood, they would put it in wheel barrels and haul it to it's destination, and so forth, the mom thought this was a good lesson in teaching "survival" or rather just some good hard work. Another blog I read or several that is, have gardens and the kids help pick, wash, sort the goods. And it really reminded me of my kids... NOT hahahahaha!
Yesterday evening my kids were playing on the playground and it was getting dark, so I yelled for them get their bikes and come home, my sweet Hannah responded "NO"!!!! really loud and clear for the whole apartment complex to hear, and I stood looking like an idiot, that is so Hannah, such a rude little toot. And when I ask Cameron to vacum the stairs he says "no, it really hurts my back" me and my MS, lower back problem self says "oh really???? get busy bud!
And he does, but not without complaining the entire time. Let's see, can I come up with another one, oh sure I can, but we don't have that long do we???? Oh, I adore my babies, they just need to get to work, earn their keep!!!!

I am so in awe of what God has done in my life in the past week or so, I can finally live in the present and look forward and not behind, I can feel happy and really be happy, I feel free to be, with no barrier in my way. I learned a few years ago in a wonderful bible study to be specific in my prayers, tell him what you need, I never thought of it that way and ever since my way of praying has been totally different, I really wanted God to tell me what I needed to do to to feel better again, to get out of my funk that I had been in, and when we set a definite date as to when we were going back to Corinth, it was his way of saying "quit putting this trip off, make a decision, just go, visit your friends and family and soak them in, and know that it will then be alright", and wow, was it ever!!! I could just sing his praises for holding my hand through this, he knows, that's the bottom line, he knows...

{Our Halloween}

Our Halloween was full of fun, all day long! Hannah won a costume contest at our apartment festival and then we went to my sisters house for a super fun party, lots of fun food and snacks, trick or treating, and old fashioned bobbing for apples, and roasting marshmellows in the firepit! the kids loved it!