TEN YEARS!!!!

How could I have known you'd ever say goodbye

And now I'm glad I didn't know

The way it all would end the way it all would go

Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain

But I'd have to miss the.........

"Just because something wasn't meant to last forever, doesn't mean it wasn't meant to be......"

Christmas 2017

This girl right here, really is the source of..........

We had a wonderful Christmas and will be back to blog about it later, we have BIG plans for a BIG Anniversary!!!! #bigten #bigcelebration #packingourbags #notimetoblog

A week of...

Angels, Christmas sweaters, red and green and pajamas (only I forgot to take a pajama picture and made her put them back on for a picture) #ohyesidid

And on the 5th day, Delaney missed school due to a dental appointment. Her Santa wore scrubs this year :-)

She’s officially on Christmas Break! Our gifts are wrapped, our trees are trimmed and most importantly our alarm clocks are OFF! We can’t wait for the next two weeks! Bring on Christmas 🎄 

Our Best December Life

We’ve been doing December hard over here.....

We've been counting down the days until Ferdinand "I Love Love".....

At the last minute, I ditched our plans to head 2 hours south to look at lights and we headed 1 hour north. The lights in Frankfort do not disappoint! Our family owns Bookers restaurant in Kirklin, IN so we had dinner there first. The drive was sooo worth it (and the food of course -:)

When I told Delaney she looked hideous, she said "don't you mean hilarious"....."ya, that too kid"

Sneaky's been showing up in the strangest places....

Now this is my kind of gingerbread house (zero mess!)

Delaney is almost out of school and we’re ready for Christmas!! Delaney is 200% confident Santa is bringing her a Fur-Real Friends tiger but I have a sneaking feeling he's bringing her some unexpected year end dental treatment :-)

We have our annual Ugly Christmas Sweater party this weekend, Christmas at the Lake, Christmas Eve celebration with Framily and then the big day! We are hosting 20 people and can't wait to celebrate. Well, as soon as the cleaning elves show up and I START wrapping......

The End of an Era

Delaney is no longer the only granddaughter! Meet Nashville's newest Colts fan :-)

Annie Rose (born on Reggie Wayne's birthday) has removed Delaney's title....

He's Baaaaaacckkkkk!!

I don't think I have ever cried more than I did when Sneaky showed up a week early this year!!
That was NOT planned..........he's been up to his little antics (nothing Pinteresting though) and I think we can live together for another two weeks :-)

"Dear Santa"

We took advantage of a warm weather day and headed downtown to mail Delaney's letter to Santa.

Dear Santa,

I have been a good girl this year. Can I please have a "Fur-Real" friends tiger, dice (weird, right?), ornaments (I LOVE how she spelled this), Elf on the Shelf clothes, a pointer finger (for teaching) and gift cards (I LOVE this too).

On the way downtown, from the interstate, the lights looked like a totally different color. In fact, Delaney said "those lights look like they are a blush pink color". 

When we got there, they looked like this.

Delaney came out of her room wearing this.

Everything is On Point!

Man I love this kid.....

I just love this little FREE tradition we started. I love all of the Christmas traditions but I also love to try something new each year. "Stay tuned for this year's".......

Last week we had breakfast with Santa at school. All I am gonna say is "if Santa gets to make a Christmas List, I sure hope a new wing back chair is on it".......

Welcome Aboard the Proud Mom Train

Delaney was asked to speak in front of the school today to present their class service project (donated items to kids at Riley Hospital). Her teacher emailed me the day before telling me Delaney left her script on the floor at school. Delaney's response "I didn't know I was supposed to bring it home".

Oh, ok then, guess you don't plan on practicing!!

So, she didn't.....

(when I dropped her off this morning she said "can you come and video me").

I cutoff the first part to take her picture.

And she nailed it!!

 To say I was proud of her for standing in front of 500 people is an understatement. I was also proud of those 8th graders who got up and came over to her to tell her how well she did. I was also touched by two other parents who took her picture and sent it to me. And when I ran into her Kindergarten teacher she told me what a great job I was doing but no, I can't take the credit for today, in fact, I told her teacher it was because of her. And I can't forget the mom who I told at the last minute who came to see her! And when we got home from ice cream (because the girl knows how to work it), I got a text from one of the teachers telling me how proud she was of Delaney she wanted to stand up and give her a standing ovation! Delaney's teacher sent out an email to the parents telling us how nervous she was for the kids and how great they did and THAT SHE CRIED!!

(Oh shoot, was I suppose to be nervous and CRY?????)

Last month, I had to get up and speak in front of 900 people (only I didn't forget my script at school). I sure hope I was a good example for Delaney because learning by example is my favorite part of parenting!

Proud mom right here friends. My proudest moments are when other people (i.e. non relatives) compliment Delaney.

Thanks for riding the proud mom train!!!!

I think I"ll go back and watch the video again now :-)

My 2017 Little Turkey

The First Grade class at school has a Thanksgiving Feast where all the parents send in food to make Friendship Stew the kids won't eat :-)

There were Pilgrims and Native Americans

And Mother Earth (who of course wouldn't even try the stew)

We had an awesome Thanksgiving.....

I think Delaney has figured out her cousin Jaden is too big to lug around....

I don't think I saw Delaney for three hours.....

What? Your family doesn't rent out a gym for Thanksgiving with a mile long dessert table?

That's weird :-)

Listen here, you know it's a big family when you "check in" at the front door and have to wear a name tag (and half the time you still have to say "now who's that") #purichiasknowhowtomultiply

Speaking of desserts, I thought this guy right here deserved his own close up (but before you scroll down, do you see those homemade apple dumplings?? Um, ya, yes ma'am, I thought it was rude not to try one and then I coerced uncle Mark into it too after a piece of pie). #purichiasknowtheirwayaroundakitchen #ibroughtapremadepumpkinroll #oops

Every stinkin' bite of that Taylor's cake was worth it. #noguilthere #taylorsbakeryforthewin #itwasheavenly #gobbletilyouwobble #ihopehecomesbacknextyear

There was a photographer.....(man I love this girl)

And then home to do the chicken turkey dance.....

And what's a Thanksgiving post without reminding this girl right here how much she means to me. "Thankful" doesn't even begin to come close.....

She's growing at lighting speed and I swear there are mornings I wake her up and she's grown overnight. I see it in her eyes, her chubby little cheeks are slowly going away, and this year of "7" has been the year I have seen her mature the most. She's helpful around the house, she's kicking First Grade's butt, and is still the sweetest thing I've ever laid eyes on....speaking of those round eyes of her daddy's, I couldn't let Thanksgiving go by without reminding ourselves how Thankful we are for daddy!! My Greatest Joy is this little turkey right here and I'm so Thankful for the man who gave her to me (and all of you).....

1st School Dance

Delaney recently went to her first school dance.

I repeat, Delaney recently went to her first school dance!!!!

"We" decided to do braids in her hair so she could wear her cowgirl hat (which didn't even make it out of the house). She told me that day "this is just like getting ready for a wedding". I told her I was pretty sure I won't be buying her wedding dress at JCP for $17 but we did have to buy an outfit, do her hair, paint her nails and add a little bit of lip gloss!

Oh, and order a corsage......flowers are like cakes, I NEVER get what I want so I knew I had to pull out my crazy when it came to Delaney's corsage. I looked on Pinterest to find what I wanted, SENT THE PICTURE TO THE FLORIST, yes, yes, we did, and my mom picked it up for me with strict instructions not to pay for it until she text me a picture :-) My reply was simple....

"PERFECT"

The grandparents came over and after taking a ridiculous amount of pictures (think Prom), this cowgirl was off !!

Just like that y'all, she was off to her first dance......
(And speaking of dance, I can't wait to share with you another first dance she recently had).

"One Day You'll Meet The Girl".................

You swore you'd never find.....start feeling things you never felt.......

Would you believe we are always arguing over who loves who more????

Halloween 2017

Here's the pumpkin Pinterest (and Delaney) told us to make.......

So Delaney got busy with a couple of cans of spray paint.....I mean it was her idea!

My little firefighter. I will always remember this Halloween as the "time I bought online at Walmart and picked up in the store" The.End.

Or maybe I'll remember it as the Halloween I dressed up like a DOG! If you know me, you see the irony of this picture. I am even wearing DOG EARS!!The things we do for our kids.

She got some Spooky books....and a whole lotta candy!!

And how did that pumpkin turn out???

We did Halloween Hard---a fun party with a pony ride, bonfire and hayride, trunk or treat and then trick or treating. When she went to a fireman's house he loved her costume and another house said "thank you for your service". She thought that was so funny! My favorite part of Halloween was when I asked Delaney what she was supposed to say after people gave her candy and she said "trick or treat"....I said "no, after that" and she said "SMELL MY FEET"??

And now we can get back to cheering for the Dodgers.....

If You Can't Beat'em....................

Join 'em

My Little Pumpkin

Isn't so little anymore.....Delaney's grandma sent me the picture on the left. Coincidentally, we attempted to go there today but when we drove through and couldn't find a parking spot, we left! I hurried and came up with Plan B which was another place (not near as fun) but for the sake of my sanity, we made it work! (Plan C was of course Kroger)......And in the end, we still came home with an overpriced pumpkin (or two) Now onto how to turn it into a fireman pumpkin (my kid dreams big).....

T minus 2!

We are in full wedding mode around here....My hunt for the perfect shoes ended when I found these (after 5 straight days at the mall). Or should I say, they would have been the perfect shoes if I had two right feet! I am happy to report I now have one left and one right shoe! I spent as much time stressing over finding Delaney's shoes as I did mine. We both have dresses that are were shoe problems  #lifeproblems ##theweddingcangoon

We have been busy with field trips to the apple orchard.....

Fall Program at school (I stuck that huge bow in her head so she would be easy to spot)

And this happened......we weren't even out of the parking lot at school when she said "my tooth just fell out"! Bless the awkward tooth phase..............

And now onto Fall Break!!!!