Christmas War

This year's Christmas celebration was a war.....A marshmallow war!

To add to the festivities, I made everyone a PVC marshmallow shooter.

These little launchers can pack a punch with a mini marshmallow.

John was a little "ganged" up on. At one point he was even using Ollie as his shield.

Dad even got in on the action. We laughed so hard my stomach was aching.

Thats Mitch's head....he had 2 guns! Row walked around, oblivious to the war, picking up the marshmallows and eating them.

Looks like we have a new tradition!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer.....

Is by having a party and dressing up in your tackiest attire!

Last weekend was our 4th annual Tacky Christmas Sweater Party. It was a blast, as always!

This year it was held at the Power Plant in downtown Andalusia. We found this to be an awesome location (with the exception of a plumbing problem) and hope to have it here in the years to come.

Our wonderful friend, Will (pictured with his super sweet fiance', Julie) was the DJ for this year's event and did a fabulous job!



He even prompted a few "dance offs".

I will not list the names of these dancers......

you know who you are!

It's always fun to see the sweaters that are worn.

Our group has quite the collection of sweaters and swaps them out each year.

 

*If you have a Christmas sweater you would like to donate to our collection, please let me know.

 

Everyone Loves A Parade

A few weeks ago Andalusia High School celebrated Homecoming. This time of year is always exciting for me. I love fall! Football, cooler weather, leaves changing color (not to big on the falling part-mess!), fires, sweatshirts, chili, and the list goes on!

The best part about Homecoming is the parade, short as it may be, OP loves it!

This year Row joined us.

We loaded the kiddos up in the wagon and headed the long trek to E3N St (maybe 100 steps ;).

Baby sister, Lesley, celebrated her 10 year reunion. That's her cute self right above the "of ".

I believe they had a great time!!

Ollie wore her cheerleader outfit and cheered and waved to everyone that came by. To this day, she still talks about the band.

Bubs, aka Jeffery, joined us and helped out with our little big guy..Row. He's a hand full!

Me and Boogie, enjoying the day.

I am so happy to share these moments with Ollie.

Hopefully, she will be a 3rd generation AHS graduate.

Go Bulldogs!!

Little Big Girl

I recently looked at my baby and realized, she's not a baby anymore. It's like it happened overnight, seriously! Although at some times she drives me crazy with all the talking and questions, she is the most precious thing I have ever seen and I thank God for her everyday!

The other night, while laying in bed, she turned to me and said, "Mommy? I lub you." She does this often but it is usually only after I say it to her first. She is also quite capable of having complete conversations. It's surreal. She can tell me about her day and what she did and who she saw. Everyday I am blown away by what a little big girl she is.

Ollie recently began ballet lessons. She loves to dance. Just last week, as the other girls were entering the studio lobby, she would walk up to them and while doing a small jig would say, "Hey! Are you weady to dance? You wanna wok and woll?" So funny!

Ollie also began preschool. She is in a "Pre-three" class. It meets once a week for 3 hours. She has never been anywhere without a relative. In order to leave I had to sneak away and it broke my heart. Just to think about her turning around and her momma being gone, tore me apart. Apparently she cried quite a bit on her first day but I hoping she will adjust soon.

As of today Ollie can spell her name, count to 11 and sing the entire ABC song. She loves to dance and sing,  popsicles, her kitty, swimming with her swimmies (she's really good) and her mamma. Her favorite shows include Barney, Elmo and Spongebob. She copies EVERYTHING I do....even the bad stuff. Some favorite foods are boiled peanuts, goldfish, fruit loops and gushers. She wears a size 12-18 month in the waist (still a little big) but needs closer to a 3T for length. She is not pottytrained!! She knows what it is and has gone in the potty several times, she just refuses to do it on a normal basis. She says to me, while patting her diaper, "I no potty, I just tee tee in my biper." Duh, mommy!!

Either way, she is my favorite little person, my sunshine, my heart and soul and I cannot imagine life without her!

Lynsey

Making Deals = Home on Wheels

Let me elaborate....

At the beginning of Spring, John and I were having a conversation. I wanted a camper! We love camping, as seen in my last post, but I really wanted to be able to take Ollie. A tent in the middle of the woods won't quite cut it when trying to transport a little one, all her stuff and most importantly her medications. Not to mention we're getting a little old for the tent....me anyway! After much begging, John stated that if my parents sold their condo, one in which we visited often, we would get a camper. Well, low and behold, one month later, the condo sold. Sad. Very sad! On the up side, CAMPER!!! I really don't think John believed it would sale so quickly or that dad would really let it go. After much searching the world of campers, we came across one we just had to have.

We wanted to stay small so that it's easy to transport but wanted enough room for us as well as maybe some camping company. It's perfect!

We took our first trip to Navarre. John was working in Gulf Breeze so it was convenient for him and fun for me and O. We opted to spend a little extra and scored a spot right on the water. The weather was awesome and the view was even better. It was so nice to enjoy a vacation with all our belongings, linens, shower kitchen, beds and TV all packed in. Basically a home away from home!

We cannot wait for our next trip!

I Dream of Ginnie

We recently made our "annual" trip to Ginnie Springs. I use annual lightly because we were not able to make our trip the summer of 2010. This was, however, mine and John's 3rd visit and everyone agrees that once a year is a must!

Ginnie Springs is privately owned and is a world-renowned dive destination and campground located just outside of High Springs Florida.

The park consists of seven crystal-clear, freshwater springs within over 200 acres of woods all along the banks of the Santa Fe River.

Each day, the 7 separate springs discharge hundreds of millions of gallons of crystal-clear water that is a constant 72 degrees, year round.

Although this may sound like the perfect family vacation, let me remind you that this is a privately owned park, not state.  This means alcohol consumption is rampet and very few rules apply (great selling point for us ;). I wouldn't take kids unless you want them coming home with a new "French" vocabulary.....just saying.

This year our good friends Hal and Laura returned with us and new to the springs, Martin and Courtney also came along.

After 3 years at the springs, we have become accomplished campers! Our campsite was the envy of others.
Hal and Laura brought their pop up camper complete with a quite run generator and AC. John and myself "roughed" it in our tent, hopefully for the last time since we are currently in the market for a camper.

The nights by the river are nice and breezy and we actually got a little cold in the wee hours of the morning. Unlike our trip 2 summers ago, the weather was perfect! We endured a little sprinkle the last night we were there but other than that it was sunshine all day long.

The only bad part of our trip, besides LOUD neighbor campers, was the newest resident of Ginnie.

Upon check-in, we were notified of the presence of an 11 foot alligator that had taken up home in the Santa Fe river and supposedly lived very close to our favorite camp spot.

Just kidding!

There was an 11 footer somewhere around the property but luckily we never saw him.
The Florida Wildlife People came out on Friday and took care of him....*hint-I don't think he was relocated!

Woulda made a great purse....

All in all, the trip was awesome, the company was a blast and the weather was amazing!

Can't wait for next year!!

Upload

The past few times I have attempted to blog, I quit mid-post because the amount of time it takes to upload sends me over the edge. However, I am trying again….

First and foremost, I would like to introduce the newest addition to our family, Miss Lilah Belle DuBose.

My brother in law, Jep and his wife, my sis in law, Valerie, recently welcomed little Lilah into the world. Fortunately (due to a scheduled induction), John, Ollie and myself were able to make the trip to Birmingham to be there for the birth. I will not go into much detail, you can catch up on Jep, Val and Lilah here, but I will say that Val is my hero! ;)

Lilah Belle is the most beautiful little thing I have ever seen! She’s perfect and I cannot wait to visit and love on her again!

This past 4^th of July, we spent the weekend at the Gantt Lake. Our wonderful friends, Hal, Laura and their little one joined in on the fun. Unfortunately, I did not capture any pictures with the Lairds (Hal & Laura) but I did manage this picture of baby Murphy. I love this kid to pieces!!

Our days at the lake were spent swimming. The water has been super clear (for Gantt anyway). Lately Ollie has been swimming up a storm while wearing her swimmies! We do, however, have to keep a close eye on her because those skinny little arms can easily slip right out of her swimmies.

She has become a "river rat" and even tried out the slide (with daddy of course)

and rode the Polaris with me (John took this picture...terrible!)

Here are a few more from the holiday weekend...

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Floating with ShuShu.

Eating boiled peanuts with LeeLee.

Last I leave you with a few pictures taken by Leigh Ann O'Neal who owns Nanabell Art Photography.

Much love to all!