Nicole’s Blog

Well we finally did it.  After 15 months with our little stinker, Ray and I spent our first night away from him together!  I had left Brayden with Ray and he had left him with me, but we have never left him for a night alone together. Thus our 8 year anniversary made for perfect timing! 

We snuck away to "See Rock City" and spend the night in the Queen Anne Steamboat on the Chattanooga river!  We had a great time!

Rock City was fun.  It should be called Gnome City cause those little boogers are everywhere!  Lara would die.  She hates gnomes, they freak her out and evertime you turned a corner there was a new one staring up at you!  So of course i kept sending her pics of them the entire time!  

Uh oh…..looks like we stayed too long!!!

The Queen Anne is a beautiful old riverboat that has now been converted to a hotel and is docked in the beautiful park on the river in Chattanooga’s downtown.  We had a great day just being Ray and Nicole.  We laughed, hung out with the gnomes, ate at a new restaurant and went to see one of my favorite bands the Breakfast Club!  We had a great night away with just the two of us, but the next morning were we up and out of there anxious to return to our favorites jobs.. cleaner of poopie, boogie exterminators, rule enforcers, giver of hugs, stealer of kisses and chaser of a fast little stinker!  I didn’t want to scar B-Ray for life so we left the Gnomes in Rock City and instead brought him back some homemade fudge…which he LOVED (that kid can sniff out chocolate from a mile away!   

 Happy Mothers Day to my kind and beautiful momma.  I love you with my whole heart and am so very blessed to be your daughter! 

We had a great Mothers Day, but unfortunately we didn’t get to see our moms.  Ray had a stomach bug that weekend.   It seems like someone in my house always has the stomach flu.  Brayden kept it for a week before it finally hit Ray.  We didn’t get to see our mommas, but I did get to have a wonderful day with my boys.  That morning as I was reading my cards Brayden walked over to me with a Zales box in his hand!  It was a beautfiul mothers ring with all three of our birthstones in it!  Thanks Brayden.. i think he had lots of help from Dada.  Ah I love those fellas! 

For mothers day, we gave our moms a snapshot so they can remember just how little our little man was when he is all grown up. 

 It matches ones that Michelle did of Ko and Ty.  He’s even wearing the same shirt!  So Sandy now has a matching set of all her grandbabies and now my momma has one too.  Happy Mothers Day Moms!  We are so thankful to have you in our lives and Brayden loves his Nana and Mamaw. 

Happy Mothers Day to all the momma’s out there!  It’s the hardest and most rewarding job in the world and I wouldn’t have it any other way.. and I know all you other mommy’s wouldn’t either! 

Birthday Wishes to….. 

Sending big birthday hugs and kisses to our nephew Tylan who turned one last week.  We love you Ty Ty.  Here are the cousin’s enjoying a moment on the couch at Ty’s birthday party!  These three have a lot of fun ahead of them! 

Wishing a big happy 40th Birthday to Sheryl whom we kidnapped and took her on a funky fly girl night of fun a few weeks ago!   And finally happy birthday to my little Wendyl.. that’s all i can say about that right now or I will cry!  I love you homies!

 New pics are posted in Anniversary, Family Portraits, Momma Wanda, Daddy Doug and Mom and Dad Austin folders.

Gnomeo & Juliet

A few weeks ago I decided it was time to break down and take Brayden for his first haircut.  I adored his long baby locks, but even I had to admit he was starting to look like a tiny hippie.  For me it was more than just hair, cutting those beautifuly, golden curls symbolized the final goodbye to his babydom.  Once those were gone.. he would be a full fledged little boy!  However I had endured months of chasticing from family and friends that "that boy needs a hair cut". 

Rebecca at Salon Moxie did the honors.  He did really great and wasn’t freaked out by the scissors at all!  He smiled and laughed and kept trying to turn around to see what she was doing back there!  About half way through the cut a woman came in with her grandson AND some french fries!  Now Brayden wasn’t hungry and had just had lunch however I have a very nosey little boy.  He thinks if you are eating he should get a bite to see what it is.  Here is where i had my very first mommy embarassing moment.  I knew when I saw her come that we were in trouble.  Brayden’s attention immediately went to the stroller where the little boy was eating his fries.  He started pointing and whining toward him.  I didn’t know this woman at all, but thankfully she was kind and after a few moments of this said "would he like a fry?"  I said he would LOVE a fry thank you and she gave him one.  He was happy for a few moments then started pointing again and saying "MORE…. MORE…. MORE…." Then he would look at me "more… ma ma.. more".  That sweet lady walked over and gave him more.  After each fry he would point… say more and flash her a toothy grin!  And of course she fell for it so we were able to finish the haircut in peace!   Shew.. I felt like I should tip her for sharing her grandson’s fry’s with Brayden.  Thank goodness her grandson likes to share and wasn’t that hungry!!  So next time I will be prepared and bring fry’s for the haircut! 

Brayden had a great Easter visiting our family, flying kites and hunting eggs.  He did ok with the big easter egg hunt but once he found an egg he would just sit down and play with it or try to eat it.  He wasn’t at all interested in hurrying to find the rest of the eggs like his momma wanted him too!   We found out this year that Brayden is a cadbury egg fanatic!  He LOVES them.  You can’t let him see the box or he starts pointing and wanting some. 

Big bunny’s are awesome too!

Hitching a ride with Daddy.  He loved mowing the yard.. we both hope he doesn’t grow out of that ha!

New pics are posted in Easter, Spring and family portraits.  Here is one we took after church in the park a few weeks ago.  Such a cutie pie!  I hope all of you had a blessed and happy Easter.  I am reminded each and every day just how very blessed I am! 

Momma bunny

We recently celebrated Brayden’s first birthday.  What a wonderful, crazy and fast year this has been.  In some ways I can’t believe a year has flown by, but at the same time I feel like he has been part of our lives for so long I can’t remember what it was like without that beautiful baby in my life.
It is amazing how quickly he changes.. literally it happens by the day.  Every time he does something new my heart swells with pride over even the smallest things like waving bye bye and the newest and my personal favorite giving us wet and sloppy "sugars’.

He loves to talk and babbles constantly to whoever or whatever will listen.  At his one year check up the nurse was busy putting his info in the system so he got louder and louder and finally stood up on the table and talked in their direction with nothing but his diaper on!  He has a laugh that can make even the worst day better in an instant.  Sometimes when I get in the car in the evenings he will catch a glimpse of me in the rear view and give me the biggest, sweetest smile and it makes all the other unimportant, stressful things in my day just melt away.  He loves his froggy and likes to ride him around with him on his little car.  Just last night he put froggy in an empty diaper box and pushed him all over the house up and down the halls.  He does the funniest things and I am so very blessed and proud to be his momma.  I am thankful each and every day that God brought this beautiful little "Ray" of sunshine into our lives.
 

I just want to hit the pause button and savor every single second of his childhood because it is already happening so very fast.  We’ve celebrated each and every one of these tiny milestones that over the past year has turned my baby into a full fledged toddler with oodles of personality.  He went from this tiny little helpless person to rolling over, then holding his head up, sitting up, getting from a tummy to sitting position, saying his first words, to crawling, to playing peekaboo, to waving, riding froggy on his buggy and now walking, talking, starting to comprehend things we say, following directions and also ignoring instructions(even though he fully understands what no means) to being into absolutely everything!  His newest thing is watching to see if your looking before he touches the trashcan, pulls open drawers or anything else he isn’t supposed to be doing.  He will stand there really quiet and look over at you and just hold his hand up waiting for you to tell him no and watching to see if you are looking.

It’s all happening so fast.  So while I have haven’t found that magical pause button I am doing everything I can to capture and enjoy every minute I am blessed to be with my little sweetheart.
 
Here he is tackling the slide on his actual birthday.  It  was a gorgeous day so the three of us (me and my Valentines) celebrated with a picnic at Warriors.   Brayden had a blast and I even let him eat his very first happy meal!

Happy First Birthday my sweet, beautiful boy!  No matter how big you get you will always be my little baby.
Love,
Mama

New pics are posted in Brayden’s Birthday folder and winter.

This week my heart has been heavy.  Around Christmas we always hear the stories of families in need.   While the need is still present throughout the year it is during the sesaon of giving that most of us actually pay attention to the world around us.  I saw the need first hand when I would go out on food distributions when I worked at Second Harvest.  To watch people line up for food is a humbling experience and one that makes you count your blessings.  

Ray and I always enjoy buying our angel tree kids gifts, but this year feels different.  Becoming a mom has profoundly changed me and now I cannot help but think of everything in terms of "what if that were Brayden" etc.  A lady at a meeting was telling a story this morning of passing a man walking his 5 or 6 year old child to school in the 19 degree weather today.  She stopped to give him a ride.  His child had missed the bus and he had no car to drive his child to school.  He rides a bike to work each day.

We are doing a drive at work this week collecting socks and underwear for kids from 3 to 18.  It’s for an organization that buys news clothes for kids.  Socks and underwear are a huge need, but are rarely found on sale.   Some of these kids wear flip flops to school in the middle of winter.

An article over the weekend, read that the Salvation Army had 200 more children on their Angel Tree list this year than last.  As of Saturday, they still had 800 waiting to be adopted for Christmas.   These are 800 children in the Kingsport Area that if aren’t adopted will wake up Christmas morning as they do everyday without the things they need or want.  You can get an Angel at the Kingsport  Mall or go directly to www.jcpenny.com.  Click on Angel Tree, enter your zip code and no matter where you are you can adopt and angel in need in your area for the Christmas sesaon.  You can even order your stuff online and have it shipped directly to the Salvation Army.  Deadline to have your gift in is next Tuesday, December 14th.

All these stories are heart breaking, but that is reality for so many people.  Reality that they don’t have food to eat, adequate shoes, socks and coats on cold days and gifts to unwrap Christmas morning.  Every Christmas this comes to mind and I try to do my part to help out, but this year the "what if that were Brayden’ thought has really made me want to do more.  I am so fortunate to have the life I have. I have all the things I need and want and am so very blessed .   I think of all the money we spend on Christmas every year rushing out to buy this or that as a show of love.  What kind of difference could we make if one year we didn’t do that at all.  Instead we put that hard earned money  and love toward buying 20 or 30 children coats, shoes, toys etc and really made a difference in their lives.  Even if it was just for one day.  It’s definately food for thought. 

So for right now I will continue to do what I can and I hope that you will join me.  Give of your self or your time.  Let’s all do our part to help a child in need and give them a Merry Christmas.  Whether it’s Salvation Army, a local food drive, toys for tots of many of the other wonderful organizations that do great things for those in need.  And I challenge all of us, myself included, to be mindful of others and extend a helping hand throughout the year not just at Christmas.

May your days be merry and bright and may all your Christmas’ be white. 

New pics are posted in Thanksgiving and Winter.

Nicole

Santa Train is one of my favorite weekends of the year and this year we introduced Brayden to the tradition.  He had a great time sharing in the festivities and hung in there like a trooper! 

I usually coordinate the Kingsport stop and Ray shoots lots of great photos of the event.  However, this year I cohosted the Christmas Parade with Bob on WKPT.  So I missed seeing Bray’s first Santa Train experience, but I did get him on air for his television debut.

Here’s our little Elf posing with the Judds.  He was a crowd favorite in his cutsie costume (I know someday he will hate me for all these outfits but I cannot resist it is too much fun!) and when the Judds had him all the reporters and crowd were firing away shots.  Apparently Naomi and Wynonna both loved his costume.  They both commented seperately about how cute his outfit was and said he was adorable and wanted to know where we got it.  I’m glad I’m not the only one who appreciates a good costume.. ha!

After watching the toss, watching Dada shoot pics, meeting the Judds and of course spending the morning with his awesome babysitters Makayla, Makenzy & Megan, B-Ray made his way down to center street to watch Mama.  He joined us for the end of the broadcast and did oh so good.  Especially considering the poor little guy hadn’t had a nap all day and had just fallen asleep when they brought  him to the stage.  He napped for maybe 20 minutes before we woke him up to put him on air.  He did great and just sat there with a curious face watching me, the parade floats and my headset.  It could have went soooo differently.  Afterwards I was imagining all the things we didn’t even consider before we plopped him on the table on live tv.  I could just imagine him crying, trying to eat the paper, pulling at the cords or trying to crawl off the table.  But it went well and he was such a good little elf… Santa I hope you were watching! 

I’m so glad he got the full effect of the jam packed Santa Train experience.  I hope he will love this week as much as I do and as he gets bigger be able to join in with a giving heart and help spread some Christmas cheer! 

It’s officially here.. the start of the holiday sesaon.  As we get ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas I have so much to be thankful for.  My beautiful boy, my family and all the blessing God has placed in my life.  So Gobble Gobble and HO HO HO let the season of thanks and giving begin!

pics are posted in Santa Train folder

Mama elf

Brayden’s first Halloween was fun not only for Brayden, but for mama & dada too.  Ray and I have always loved dressing up for halloween and this year was no exception.  Of course we added trick or treating to our festivies this year and it was every bit as fun as I remember from my own childhood.   Brayden was the lion, I was Dorothy and Ray was the Tin Man.  Me, mom and Ray took him to the trunk or treat event downtown. 

Since I’m just now getting around to blogging I want to wish a special Happy Birthday to my momma.  We actually went trick or treating on her birthday so that was a special "treat" for her!  Happy birthday my sweet beautiful momma.  I’m so glad you could be with us on Brayden’s first Halloween.  We should have dressed you up as the good witch Wanda to go with the theme!  I love you!

  We met up with our superhero friends downtown for the festivities.  We also saw our spooktactular athlete pals who just ran the haunted half marathon! 

We even let him try a few of his treats!  And he LOVES candy.  Imagine that!

 Well we are off to see the Wizard.  Hope your Halloween was just as wonderful.  Watch out for those flying monkeys!

New pics are posted in Fall & Halloween folders.  Coming soon Santa Train shots!

Dorothy

Since we didn’t really get a vacation this year because of maternity leave we decided to combine business and pleasure and head to the ATL a few weeks ago.  Ray had to be down there for work and Brayden and I tagged along for the ride.  After a rough few months of bad luck, illness and hospital stays… a suite, time with my boys and rest sounded pretty good!  And it was!!!

Brayden took his first trip to the zoo.  I think he probably needs to be a little older before we try this again.  Forget the pandas, elephants, giraffes and zebras his favorite exibit was the parakeets.  You go into the open air room and they are crazy, frantic and zipping past your ears.  I was terrified one would peck my eyes out, but Brayden loved their shirll squeaks and bright colors!

On Sunday we went to the Falcon/Bengals game.  We had awesome seats 5th row behind the players bench right next to where all the players wives sit in their blinged out jerseys!   The guy who does the talent booking for Fun Fest gave us the tickets!  They are based out of ATL and these were his season tickets.  Amazing seats and they won!  Brayden slept throught the first half and flirted with the ladies behind us during the second. 

We also went to the Georgia Aquarium, which is the largest in the world and has more than eight million gallons of water!  Not bad for his first time.  He LOVED it so much more than the zoo.  Watching the fish swim, crawling through the tunnels to peep into the exhibits like the penguins and splashing around touching the star fish and sting ray water.  Ray and I loved it too.  If you ever have a chance to go we highly recommend it. 

We also met up with our friends in Atlanta and had a great dinner at a Hibachi grill.  Mmmm Japanese yummo. Brayden loved watching the flaming onion volcano!

It takes a lot to travel with a baby.. shew and this was only for 5 days.  I hate to see what it will look like if we go somewhere for a week! 

This pic looks innocent enough right.  He’s dressed so sweetly in his mommy’s little pumpkin shirt… ah the calm before the major blow out.  We were eating at a really nice mexican restaurant and I took Brayden to change his diaper.  However I made the mistake of only bringing a diaper and wipes with me instead of his entire bag.  I knew it was a bad situation when i pulled off his pants and there was poo on his sock!  I pulled off the pants and there was poopy everywhere.. in his pant legs, up his back, in his socks and here i am without my diaper bag, without his extra clothes and without the plastic baggy to put his dirty poopy clothes in AND Ray is across the restaurant and I can’t leave Brayden.  So I get him as cleaned up as you really can with baby wipes and put on his diaper.  I pick Brayden up and carry him outside the bathroom.  I look at Ray hoping to make eye contact so I don’t have to trapse my naked baby across the restaurant.  He of course is on the phone (no doubt to Tim.. hah sorry timmer but it’s always you!) and looks at me and smiles and looks away.  I mouth.. DIAPER BAG to him (as again im standing there holding a baby in only a diaper at this upscale eatery) he shrugs his shoulder like huh… I mouth again.. DIAPER BAG…again he doesn’t understand..  on the 3rd try i point and say in a more frantic slightly louder tone.. DIAPER BAG RAY DIAPER BAG..while pointing at it and making the motion to hang up the phone and help me… Shew finally he gets it and brings me the bag.  Here I stand with a naked and cold baby, outside the restroom while people are trying to eat and I’m trying not to draw too much attention to myself and my hubs is looking at me like i’m an alien!  I told him from then on if he ever sees me in public holding a naked baby it is code for we have had a blowout situation and he is to bring me the bag ASAP!

My mischiveous lil stinker!

Am I raising a puppy?

We had a great vacation full of family time, wonderful food, friends and lots of first for our little man.  First vacation, hotel stay, NFL game & football game, subway ride, trip to the zoo, trip to the aquarium, Japanese steak house, P.F. Changs (yum), Cheesecake factory oh and we can’t forget his first time streaking in a restaurant!! 

Pics are posted under Atlanta.. Halloween pics coming soon.

the relaxed momma

A few weeks ago Wendy & Gerb went with us to take Brayden to pick out his very first pumpkin!  We took him to Fenders Farm for the day and had a blast.  I love that place.  There is so much to do we ran out of time and didn’t get to do the corn maze. 

Two of my favorite fellas.  What cuties!

And so there it is, Brayden’s first pumpkin!  He likes it.. he likes it!  Notice the Carhart bib overalls making Uncle Bub so very proud! 

At least Brayden’s having a good time!  Those crazy goats looked like they wanted to eat my baby!  I thought I was going to have to kick some goat booty like a mama bear protecting her young!

Crazy Uncle Gerb!

Ninja warriors.. told ya we were Charlies Angels.. don’t mess with us! 

And yes at 32 there still lives a cheerleader within me somewhere..haha!

I have no idea why my baby looks so bow legged in this pic!  Maybe he had been riding a horse!

Got milk?   There’s so much that I could say about this pic, but i’ll just leave it at that..ha! 

After Brayden picked out his perfect pumpkin he carved it… well with a little help from dada.  mmmm pumpkin!

hrm maybe it didn’t taste as good as it looked ha!

All done!  Good job Dada & B-Ray!

I absolutely heart fall!  So get out there in your sweatshirt & shorts, pick a "punkin", get messy carving it up, throw on your knee high boots, warm up a bowl of chili while watching football, act silly with your besties and enjoy this beautiful, but short season!!!!

Children of the corn :) 

New pics are posted in the fall folder.  Ray got some really great fall shots of Brayden. 

What a whirlwind of a few months we’ve had!  In September, my cousin Stacy came in to stay with us and meet Brayden for the first time.  We headed up to New Castle for the annual Fleming Family Goat Roast.  Of course this was Brayden’s first Goat Roast and he had more fun than he could stand.  My little cousins kept him busy playing and feeding him and he enjoyed the music and family until he was too tuckered to party anymore. 

The next day Stacy and I saw a hay truck drive by and noticed one of the bales was smoking.  I ran to get my uncle and by the time they got down to the road the whole hay truck was on fire and the guy had drove into my uncles farm!  So the Fleming Family fire department went to work.  My brother drove the tractor and was pulling flaming bales off the truck and dumping them in the river, while my dad and cousins shoveled burning hay off the bridge into the creek below.  It took more than 15 minutes for the volunteer fire department to arrive and if it wasn’t for my family that guy would have probably lost his truck, flatbed and set my uncles farm on fire!  Pics are posted.  Shew never a dull moment with this crew.

Brayden is growing like a tiny baby weed.  He says dada, mama, nana, ita (for kitty cat.. everytime he sees Phoebe he tries to say here kitty kitty phe phe.. but it comes out ita ita ita).  He has 2 teeth on the bottom, one that is poking through on top with another top toofer on the way!  He started crawling a few months ago and the very next day was pulling up.  He is starting to let go with one hand and find his balance.  I swear that little stinker will be walking before we know it.  He loves prunes ( i know right of all things.. strange), bananas, anything with apples, puffs of any kinds (but he only likes it if you let him feed himself…very independent little man), crumpled up wheat bread and every kind of fruit.  He isn’t big on any of the meats unless it’s paired with a fruit like apples and chicken, ham & pineapple etc.  He is a picky little eater and wont open his mouth to anything green.. (he must get that from dada).  He loves to play (let’s find mommy) and will crawl from room to room searching for me!  He is a little chatter box and will goo and gaaa on and on throwing in mama dada and nana into the mix and changing the inflection of his voice as if he really is telling you something very serious or funny that we have done..ha!  He has the sweetest giggle and an infectious laugh!  Strangers stop me all the time to tell me what a cutie he is cause my little social man will flash them his 3 tooth grin as we walk by.  He is definately a chamber baby and loves to go to work functions with mommy.  Lately I can’t show up without him even if it’s in the middle of the day because people ask me where B-Ray is!  Oh my am i going to have my hands full with this little booger! 

Bless his heart though he has had a rough few months.  By the time we got home from the Goat Roast we discovered he had a double ear infection from the cold he had just gotten over earlier that week.  He got better from the ear infections then got a horrible stomach flu.  By that weekend Ray and I had it too.  Thankfully Vanessa took pity on me and drove me to the ER and stayed there with me until 4 a.m even after my momma arrived.  You rock Vananna!!!  The next week my dad and in laws came over to help take care of Brayden and dad and Sandy ended up with the virus too.  It’s a mean one so watch out.  Everytime we would think Brayden was better he would throw up or have diarrhea again.  So by Thursday the following week he was admitted to the hospital.  He was absolutely pitiful and it broke my heart.  But finally after 12 days of the virus after lots of iv fluids, meds and a 2 night hospital stay he finally kicked it.  He went back to daycare last Wed and by Saturday woke up with a cold again which mommy has too.  Sigh… maybe our immunity will finally kick in and he and I will have that powerful immune system everyone keeps telling us will happen!  Fingers crossed!   Even when he felt horrible my little sweetie pie still managed to smile at the nurses… that is after he gave them a serious once over to make sure they weren’t going to poke him or take his blood!  Check out the pics from our hospital stay in the sickly folder.   A DB football player came by the hospital and gave him this football.  A sick but sweet smiley boy!

As everyone knows, I’m a breast feeding mother and by now everyone at work just jokes about it and moves on.  They know what’s happening twice a day when the doors is closed and the blinds are drawn.  Well we recently had our windows professionally cleaned so there  were people in our building and it threw my schedule off a little bit.  I had seen the guy working on my 2nd story window earlier in the day, but after a few hours and no more sightings i thought they were finished.  So I closed the blinds, shut my door and commenced to pumping.  I was in mid pump when i heard the wet, soggy, slop of a squeege hitting my window!  I  squealed, paniced, hunkered down in my chair and scrambled to find my top.. slop, slap, squeege, squeege!  Now given my blinds were drawn and the lights were off, but you know how sometimes you can see through mini blinds if you are looking down at them on a slant.. that’s what was running through my mind.  I disconnected and crawled across the floor to retreive my clothes.  When I flung open the door and yelled "are they seriously not done yet"…. Vanessa greated me with a giggle and said she was wondering what I squealed about!  Of course everyone here got a huge kick out of it… ah the life and times of Nicole Austin..haha! 

This past weekend Brayden and I spent the night at mom’s while Ray was away on his annual leaf trip with the boys.  We celebrated mom’s birthday early (since her actually birthday is the day kport celebrates halloween).  Dougie, Ambra, and Drake came over and we had a great weekend hanging out with family.  I have to say that Ambra and Drake’s gift to mom was the best.  "Crapping it Rich" a whole roll of money.. literally.  She wrote the funniest poem to go with it.  Check out the momma Wanda folder to see it and pics from our weekend.  Also my sweet mom woke up in the middle of the night with Brayden and held him from 4 in the morning until 8 so I could get some rest.  Since his double ear infection then followed by the stomach virus that just wouldn’t go away he has had a hard time sleeping.  He will wake up every hour and a half and scream unitl you hold him.  It’s been a long sleepless month and mom said I looked exhausted so she took care of him so I could catch up on some sleep.. now if she just lived in Kingsport we would be in business..haha!  Happy early Birthday momma.. i’ll save your real birthday wishes until the end of the month!

So there it is, a recap of our crazy, busy and ridiculously blessed life.  We are doing great, but I’m still trying to juggle being a working mommy with a constantly sick bambino and finding the balance in my life!  Thank goodness we have dedicated family who are willing to get up before the crack of dawn and drive to K-town to help us when we have needed sitters.  Ray and I have missed boocoos of work and without the help of our fam during the week I’m not sure either of us would have a job..ha!  So thanks Mom, Dad, Sandy & Gleason (aka Nana, Poppie, Mamaw & Papaw) for your help, love, support and weak immune systems haha.. we love you!

He likes to brush his teeth like a big boy.. tehe!

New pics are posted in fall, family pics, momma wanda, sickly & goat roast.  We took family pictures a few months ago but I just recently got them up on the website.  As you can see Brayden has grown quite a bit since them.  Coming soon fall pics and pics from our Fenders Farm fun!

the shy pumper

It is with great pride I annouce that Brayden said his first word this morning… DA DA!  Everyday I say Ma Ma and Da Da to him as well as incorporate his name into songs, sentences etc.  "Ma Ma loves Brayden" " Da Da will miss Brayden today" etc.  We talk in the car on the way to daycare, on the way home, while i’m cooking dinner in the evenings, before bed etc.  So this morning he was sitting in the floor and started exploring sounds different than he normally makes.  They had a d sound.  So I sat down in the floor and started saying Da Da.  He would watch my mouth and try it.  After a minute or so I knew he was getting close so I yelled for Ray and as he was coming up the steps he said Da Da for the very first time.  It absolutely melted our hearts.  We grabbed the flip (that my hubby got me for my bday cause I am a videoing machine) and recorded those sweet little sounds of his very first real word.  Although once when he was crying really hard Ray and I swear he said BAGEL..haha!  Maybe he’s trying to tell Da Da he would like a cinnamon crunch bagel from Panera!!  ha!   The da da video along with the many others are posted on Brayden TV.

Ray and Gleason installed our new child proof banisters this weekend and they look great.  I loved my cherry wood banisters however they weren’t up to code and a child could easily get his head stuck.  Last year Ray took out the old steps and installed beautfiul wooden ones with a partial new banister and this weekend they finished the rest.  It looks great!  Thanks guys for your hard work.  I love it and now I dont have to worry my soon to be crawler won’t get his head stuck in there!

By the time we get done with this house everything will be brand new!  Shew we have put more work into this place that we should probably never move!  It is really looking great!  Thanks guys!

New pics are posted in Brayden summer pics and home projects!

Wife of Da Da

I had a wonderful birthday with my peeps.  Ray and the gang threw me a surprise birthday party.  I truly had no clue what was happening.  I thought we were heading out for a low key dinner with my hubs when there was a knock and my angels were standing outside.  It took me a few minutes to realize what was happening.  Then the rest of my favs quickly arrived! 

Ray had apparently taken off early to prepare when Lara tipped him off that I left work early too and was heading home. Bless his heart he had to store everything and go drive around for a few hours until it was really time for him to come home!  I had a great night.  I love you kiddos.  Thanks for always making me feel loved you pulled that one off well!

We headed to Cwood for the 4th.  Unfortunately Ray didn’t really get to enjoy much of it.  He ended up with strep and a fever the entire weekend.  However Brayden and I had a great time with our families!  We went to Ray’s family reunion where he finally got to meet his Aunts from Florida Carolyn and Robin.  Here they are with Sandy holding Ty, Robin holding Margo’s boy Bryce and Carolyn with Brayden.  Babies, babies babies. 

Dad and the fam took Brayden to see his first fireworks.  He loved it and refused to go to sleep during the excitment even though he was exhausted.  He is such a social butterfly..wonder who he gets that from??!!

Brayden & his papaws

Cutie pie cousins.  Bray & Ty were taking a nap together and Ko wanted his picture taken with them.  He adores his new little bro and cousin and is so cute with them! 

Of course Ray and I are a Fun Fest family!!  Check out Bray’s personalized shirt.  They didn’t have baby Fun Fest onesies so we made our own.  He has two, this one has his name on it and the other is the original logo and says "i’m the funnest"!   I’m a chamber girl, my kiddo has to be sporting festive apparel!!  Brayden made the rounds this year.   He went to the sponsorship breakfast with me, Ray and I busted him out of daycare to attend the kick off mardi gras celebration and the crew went to breakfast with the balloons.  Ray was the event photographer, our friends balloon crewed and Brayden and I just enjoyed the show!  It was a great Fun Fest.  Dad even babysitted for us Sat night so we could enjoy dinner, Zac Brown and fireworks with our friends! 

Brayden getting beads from Sgt. Earls!

B-Ray’s first Festus pic.  I think he was excited cause he secretly knew it was Emily in there!  He feel asleep and drooled all over her nametag at the sponsor breakfast!

We had a BBQ at my moms a few weeks ago and if you don’t already know this NEVER fall asleep around my brother.    Yes he is painting Ray’s toenails and no my soundly sleeping husband never woke up.  When he did wake the first words out of his mouth were "why would you let him do that" directed of course as me!  Doesn’t he know that I have no power to stop him..haha!!! 

 New pics are posted in Bray summer, Momma Wanda, 4th of July and My Birthday folders.  Enjoy!

And last but not least.. we promised you pics from our favorite Kentucky girls fantastic wedding and they are finally here!  To view Lara and Marks wedding by the AMAZING photogs my hubby and brother in law click here.  She was a gorgeous bride with a fantastic new husband on a beautiful day and now has these awesome photos to forever enjoy! 

B-Ray’s mom

What a crazy few months it has been.  I think Brayden or I took turns trading sickness pretty much for the month of May and then once we were all better Ray had to have hernia surgery!  If you will remember a few years ago he took some not so flattering pics of me when i was in the hospital so I’m going to return the favor haha!  Here is my hubs on drugs right before surgery! 

We had a great Fathers Day weekend with our families!  Brayden got Daddy a mold to make his foot prints for his first Fathers Day to match the handprints he got me for mothers day.  He also wrote him a letter complete with pics of all the things he loves about his dad.  Happy Fathers Day to my Dad, Eddie, Gleason and of course my hubby Ray.  You are a wonderful father and Brayden and I love you. 

We spent Saturday of Fathers Day weekend celebrating Ko’s 2nd birthday!  Happy Birthday Ko!  Also happy Birthday to Sandy & Gleason in June. 

Introducing my newest nephew Tylan Brack!

Tylan was born May 20, 2010 at 1:51 p.m. at Johnston Memorial Hospital.
He weighed 8 lbs and was 21 inches long.  Mom, baby & Dad did great!  Congrats Powers family!

Here are all three of the boys together at Koen’s Birthday party.  You guys are in for a lifetime of fun together!  What a bunch of cuties!  I love you boys!

I don’t have any pics yet, but she’s HITCHED!  On June 5th, the Angels helped our Kentucky girl get married to her sweetheart Mark.  Congrats Lara & Mark!  It was a beautiful wedding on a beautiful day for our beautiful girl.  Thanks for letting me be part of your special day. 

Last week I was in Athens, GA completing my Third year of Institute.  It was a hard week mainly because I missed my sweet boy oh so much, but somehow I made it through with lots of pics from Dad & daycare of my little cutie.  Only one year left and I will graduate next June as an IOM.

Brayden is becomming a little boy much faster than mommy would like.  For a baby who hated tummy time I now cant keep him off of it!  He even ends up on his tummy during the night when he is rolling around in his crib.  He is becoming more mobile every day and I swear is trying to crawl.  He does this army crawl and scoots himself around the floor.  He is teething already and has a little white spot poking through on his bottom gums.  He laughs, coos and smiles all the time.  He started out hating rice cereal but in the past few weeks is like a little bird when you feed him.  You can’t get it in there fast enough.  Almost as soon as you take the spoon out of his mouth he poops it back open wanting more.  I"m cherishing each and every moment I get to spend with my baby who almost isn’t a baby anymore!   

It’s been a fun month celebrating births, birthdays, weddings, fathers and family.  I am truly blessed by wonderful friends, family and of course my little angel.  I hope all of you had a great May & June!

New pics are posted in Brayden Summer, Sickly, Ko & Ty and Fathers Day. 

The Momma, Wifey, Auntie, Daughter, Daugther in Law & Bridesmaid Niki

Happy Mothers Day to all the mommys out there.  I’ve always known I was blessed to have such a wonderful, caring mother.  I’ve only been a mom for 3 months now but it brings tears to my eyes to realize just how many sacrifices she has made for us and just how much she loves us.  It’s a hard job and I am so thankful God blessed me with her.  I am also blessed to have a wonderful mother-n-law who welcomed me into her family and is a blessing in our life.

We had plans to celebrate with both of them this weekend, however It’s only week one of daycare and Brayden has already caught his first daycare cold.  It struck Friday night when he ran a temp of 100.4, which isn’t too bad but he’s only 12 weeks old so it worried me.  I spent what i’m sure will be the first of many nights sleeping in his nursery floor to make sure he was ok through the night.   My sister-n-law will be giving birth pretty soon we didn’t want to expose her to his sickness and we really didnt want to get hiim outside so we stayed home for mothers day.  My mom decided to make the trip to our house on Saturday to celebrate.

On Sunday Ray and I celebrated my first mothers day.  He and Brayden gave me a purple rose for my flower garden and a handprint kit set so we can always remember just how sweet and tiny Braydens little hands are right now!  We spent the afternoon hanging out together.. ordering food in and taking our little mans hand prints to hang on his nursery wall.

B-Ray in his my mom is cooler than yours onesie!

My sweet smiley boy!

Tonight we are celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary.  In some ways it doesn’t feel like 7 years have come and gone so fast and in other ways it seems like we have always been together.  We were talking the other day about how we have been together for most of our adult lives.  It’s been 10 years since we started dating and in that decade we have been through a lot.  Not all good, but definately more good than bad.  We have managed to stay together and still love one another through it all.  This year has made me love you more than ever.  Thanks for loving me when I was fat, cranky, pregnant and difficult.  I love this new journey that we have just begun.  Seeing you fall into fatherhood and how much you love me and Brayden makes me love you even more.  I’m so proud of you.. you are a wonderful dad and husband and I can’t wait to see what the next 7 years brings to us both.  Thanks for being my boo.. you I love.

Poo

We finally got around to ordering Bray’s birth announcements.  Photography and design by my talented hubby Ray www.dragonflydigital.org

I think they look AWESOME… of course it helps that Brayden is absolutely adorable.. at least mommy thinks so anyway.  Hope you all enjoy!

Here’s the digital version:

 Have a great weekend,

Proud momma

Ok so we know it won’t be her last night out.. especially not with this crew, but when someone gets married you just have to call it that or it just isn’t as fun.

A couple weekends ago a few of the K-town girls met up with the Morehead ladies in Knoxville to celebrate Lara’s upcoming special day.  Her big day isn’t until June 5, but with all the wedding planning, parties and work trips this was the only weekend everyone could do it.  Lara’s best friend Destinee planned a fun weekend for our special Kentucky girl.  I ventured down on Saturday and we did it up right.  First with dinner at the Japanese steak house (where our Japanese chef ended up being a DB graduate small world) and then out for an interesting night of fun which if I revealed the details I would have to kill you..haha!  It was a fun filled night with men parking cars on horseback (reminds me of that old spice commercial..haha), a crazy cowboy, our fav Lara stories, our girl miss America and of course a momma who missed her baby so much she left the hotel and drove home at 2 a.m. so  she didn’t have to spend the night away from him..haha!    We love you Lara Belle and we aren’t through with you just yet.  Next it’s your angels aka me and Wendel turn to throw the "race to the alter" KY Derby couples shower to celebrete your big day with all your K-town peeps!

Of course I can’t leave the blog without giving you an update on what’s happening in my Bray days.  It is hard for me to believe that my little guy is 9 weeks old!  He is already growing up too fast.  We went for his two month check up last week and he’s a whopping 9.4 lbs!  I know some babies are born this size, but its hard to believe my tiny little booger is getting so big.  He got his first round of immunizations that day and I think it hurt me to watch him cry like that more than it actually hurt him to get the shots.  He cried, I cried and I spent the afternoon hugging and kissing his little face to make the boo boo’s feel better. 

He moved out of mommys room into his nursery a few weeks ago.  I did it because i know it’s what’s best for him, but I miss listening to him breath and snore at night.  I find myself getting up and going in his room to make sure he’s breathing even though I have the video monitor to reassure me.  When I lay him down to sleep I lay there and watch him drift off to and fight sleep every night before I can go to sleep myself.  I’m not sure I will be able to stop waking at night even when he no longer does!!  Ah maybe one of these days I will get more than 2 or 3 hours of consecutive sleep in a row.  It’s been so long since I’ve actually slept like that I’m used to the lack of sleep now!

He loves to watch the animals make circles on his swing mobile.  I love watching the wonder in his eyes as he stares at them like how are they doing that..haha!

Here are some recent pics of my smiley happy little boy.  He coos and talks to me, will smile back at you, sticks out his tongue and is mastering the art of holding his head up on his own.  Wow.. time is going so fast!!

Last weekend he got plenty of Nana time.  She has been sick and it’s was almost a month since she last saw him.  So she came over and spent Friday with us and on Saturday we made the trek for his first visit to Nana’s house.   His onesie says " that’s it, i’m going to grandmas house"

There he got to meet his cousins Yvette and his little cousin Aiden (remember the one who thought I ate my baby at my baby shower..haha) and of course his great Aunt Neda aka Aunt Ne Ne. 

I’m almost 32 years old and I still call my Aunt.. Aunt NeNe..some things never change!  He will have to endure the multitude of hold you down (when you get big enough to run away..haha) hugs and kisses Aunt NeNe gives.. it’s a right of passage.. we all went through it B-Ray.. hang in there buddy haha.   

As my maternity leave comes to a close (I have a week and a half left) say a prayer for me.  I’m not quite sure how i’m going to summon the strength to take him to daycare and leave him in someone elses care.  Ok that’s all i’m going to say about that for now other wise I’ll end up sitting here at my computer crying!!  But we shall enjoy our last two weeks of Bray Days as I lovingingly like to call them because thats what my days are filled with.  Laying in the floor showing him new things, reading him stories, bathtime fun, our morning stroller rides, kissing those chubby little cheeks, sticking my tongue out and watching him laugh and talking to him about all the great things his mom is going to teach him to do.  Prayers needed because to me those are the most important things on Earth right now. 

Happy Hump day!

momma

New pics are posted in Bray’s 1st weeks folder (i need to start a new one.. since he’s now months old.. not weeks.)

Well this has been an eventful week.  Last Friday we celebrated Ray’s birthday. Happy Birthday boo.  I love you and this wonderful life we have together with our new family.  Here’s Bray helping Daddy open his presents. 

Birthday napping with Dad!

We then headed to C-Wood for Braydens first Easter and sunrise service. 

Bray’s smiling for the camera and showing off his Easter outfit from Aunt Lara.

Brayden got several Easter baskets from us and his mamaws and papaws.  Here he is showing them off.  And no he wasn’t afraid of the big bunny.. just really exhausted after a full day of fun, food and family. 

Someday he will hate us for this pic, but Ray and I couldn’t resist putting him in his basket from us, slapping on the bunny ears and taking his pic!  As you can see he didn’t find it so amusing!  But if that’s not cute i’m not sure what is!!!

Monday after a LONG wait Les finally arrived.. both momma and B-Ray have been anxiously awaiting her visit.  As always we had a blast and racked up some fun Aunt Yessie time.  She taught Brayden to stick out his tonight and he is trying his hardest to blow his lips like she does.  It’s so very cute.  It was nice to relax all week, have my best friend with me to help me do everything from cook dinner, go shopping, change diapers, do laundry, give Bray baths and just hold him when he was fussy.  She woke up early in the mornings to take him so I could sleep a little longer, was there to make me laugh constantly and reassure & answer any of my mommy questions. 

 Today we headed to Bristol to pick up Aiden and do some shopping before they headed back to NC.  Aiden loved meeting Bray.  He was so helpful when we were out.. carrying the diaper bag, opening the car for me and of course amusing me with his wit. 

  After shopping we said goodbye.  Les headed back to NC and Brayden and his momma cried the whole way home.  It’s just really hard to say goodbye to Lou Lou.  She’s more than a best friend.. we’ve been friends our whole lives..she is my family.  A guy in Walmart asked Les how old her baby was.  She said he was mine, but she would totally claim him if I wasn’t standing there..ha!  He then asked if we were sisters.. we both smiled and said.. well kinda!   The good news is the tears are only temporary.. hopefully her and the boys will be moving here sometime in the next year.  When Les asked Aiden if he was excited to move here where Aunt Nicole and Brayden are he said "oh yes.. i can’t wait.. and i’m going to teach Brayden things and pull him in the wagon!"   Gotta love an 8 year olds perspective!

We drove around town while she was here looking at housing, showing her k-town and searching job listings.  I cannot wait to have her, Aiden and Hyland just a short drive away instead of 5 hours!!

New pics are posted in the Ray bday, Easter, Brayden and Les visit folders.  I’ll leave you with some pics of my happy boy, who now coos, smiles, sticks out his tongue and is getting good at holding his head up and grabbing things!  He’s definately captured my heart and soul and makes my life worth living!

I hope you had a blessed Easter.

Momma bunny

He is not here:for he is risen, as he said.   Come see the place where the Lord lay.

~Matthew 28:6~

Ray bought me an Ipod nano for our anniversary 5 years ago when I was running all the time.  Since then it’s been my workout companion, my partner on long and short trips and the place to store my crazy mix of music from Johnny Cash to Tupac, from bluegrass to heavy metal it’s all on there.  A few weeks ago when I started working out again I realized something had happened to my battery.  I could only get about 20 mins of music into my workout before it would die and I would have to finish with no music which isn’t very motivating!

(yes I know I’m not supposed to workout until 6 weeks after childbirth and I started back before 3 weeks.. i’ve been lectured by Les, aerobics instructors, the owner of our gym and a lots of people I workout with .. but I’ve got baby weight to lose and a bridesmaid dress to fit into and i’ve carried around extra weight since this pregnancy began.. i’m ready for it to come off so save your lectures!  I’ve had a few problems, but overall nothing has fallen out yet so I figure its ok to keep going ha!)

I had complained a few times that I needed a battery for mine and wala… he bought me this one for no reason.  And it’s purple so he gets extra bonus points for that.  It does video & pics and he’s already loaded several of Bray on there so not only can I listen to music I can see my favorite little guy anytime I want.  It has lots of cool features that my other nano didn’t like a radio, pedometer and will hold up to 2,000 songs!  Ray’s birthday is coming up next week not mine and our anniversary is still a month away.  So I asked him why I was the one getting a present and he said because he loves me and I’m a great mom!   Wow.. now the pressure is on.. must come up with a great birthday and anniversary present for my wonderful hubs! 

He also knows that I want to start running again.  I hurt my knee is 06 after doing a 10k.  I saw a physical therapist, an orothopedic surgeon and endured months of massage therapy and no one could get my IT band to let me run more than 20 mins without pain.  However I started seeing a deep tissue massage therapist a few weeks ago when my back locked up as I was feeding Brayden.  He was the one who actually brought up my knee and hip problems.  He could feel it just from working on my back.  The good news is he thinks he can fix it.. so once again I have hope and we will see what happens.  Keep those fingers crossed.  I miss running so much.  It was my escape and I LOVED doing it.  I was training for a 1/2 marathon when I injured it.  My dreams of doing that are gone, but if I could just run without pain a few days a week I would be a happy girl and now I have my awesome Ipod to go with me!

Brayden meets baby Cara.  Amber and I were the two Chamber preggo chicks and her little girl Cara was born exactly a month before Brayden.  We were both at the Chamber yesterday and they finally had a chance to meet. 

Brayden Ray & Cara Nicole… friends from the womb and beyond..ha!  We traded in this pic.. she’s holding Bray and I’ve got Cara.

On a side note here is Bray watching his first General Assembly session via live streaming video.  We were watching because my good friend Jason announced today that after 14 years he won’t be seeking re-election.  Good luck J, I know you will continue to do great things!  Thanks for showing me the ropes when I first took this job 6 years ago. 

I love this pic.  We were out for a stroll around the neighborhood and Brayden kept looking at me and smiling and waving his fingers at me.  So cute!

Pod

This past weekend mom & dad (aka Nic & Ray) busted out of the house and went racin with our peeps.  I’m thankful for my awesome big brother who LOVES his nephew.  Brayden spent the day with Uncle Bub & Aunt Ambra.  I think they had as much fun hanging with Bray as Ray and I did getting out of the house and spending some much needed quality time together. 

Nicka got FREE tickets in great seats on the opposite side of the track from the start/finish line for all of us and we met Nick, Chels, Luke and Stu at the track for a day of fun in the sun.  The weather was awesome and even though I missed Brayden like crazy and hounded my brother with multiple text messages it was a nice break for me.  Dougie sent me pics of Bray throughout the 6 hours I was gone.  I left him plenty of bottled breast milk and it was nice for a little while to not be a milk maid ha! 

We also got free parking directly across from the track because we were driving a Toyota ( I guess this is their way of trying to keep some of their loyal customers).  I even broke my diet and had a hot dog at the track!  Which was basically my first real food since Bray was born with the exception of the day we busted out and went to my fav the Mellow Mushroom. 

Luka and I trying to do a crazy eyes McGee pic in the sun..it didn’t work and we look like freaks!

 Lets see.. FREE tickets, great seats, FREE parking, a hot dog, sunny & gorgeous weather, hanging with my peeps and a day out with my hubby.. that my friends is racin the way it ought to be!! 

I posted two new pics to the Brayden folder.  We are working on some family photos and pics for B-Rays birth annoucement.  Here is our first family pic.  Trust me it took a long time to take.  Bray was originally naked until he literally pooped into my hand and all down my jeans..haha!  Don’t try to take a 5 week olds pic naked until you are sure he has recently pooped…that’s my advice..ha!  Daddy just stood there and laughed at us.  Anyway we will eventually get his birth announcement done before he is a year old! 

Meet the Austins Ray, B-Ray & Nic!

Lil Racin Momma

In case you were flipping through the Sunday the 7th Progress Edition and wondered who took the incredible photo shown in the full page Wellmont ad.. well wonder no more.. it was my amazing photog Ray Ray.  For more of Ray’s photos visit www.dragonflydigital.org

As always I’m proud of you boo!

This has been a week of fun firsts for Brayden.  On Monday I took him into the chamber to finally meet my chamber family since he will definately be a chamber kiddo.  He was passed around more times than I can count.. but the little man stayed asleep the entire time. 

I left him with Aunt Lara so I could go to a doctors appointment.  She said her office was packed the entire time he was there.  When I came to pick him up he decided to go ahead and drop the bomb on Aunt Lara before we left.  She started changing him however he wasn’t quite finished.  There on her desk he finished pooping (keep in mind his diaper was off) as I walked away to get paper towels because it was soaking through his changing pad he started peeing!  Lara now with poop on her hands starts shielding the pee from getting everywhere.. haha!  It was quite the hot mess and Lara and I laughed until our stomachs hurt!  Way to go Aunt Lara.. I love that he is breaking you in.  He only does that to people he loves!  You need to go ahead now and start writing your "Aunt Lara & Brayden’s adventures in babysitting memoirs" because I have a feeling there will be more funny stories ahead!

Vinay was in town for another visit to the Austin Inn, so last night we all took Mr. B-Ray out to dinner for the first time.  Isn’t he just the cutest in his St. Patty’s get up!

It went really well and he soundly slept until we finished eating.  I really am blessed!  From the time he was born I made sure I had him around noise.. vacuums etc.  Actually I’m sure he is used to noise even from being in my belly and all the noise from the gym etc.  I just didn’t want everyone to have to tiptoe around the house when he is resting and it worked because just like his daddy I think he could sleep through almost anything! 

I did think I was going to have to tackle the waitress for passing drinks and food over top of him.  I was just waiting for her to drop something on him and make me have to drop her right there in the middle of Chilis..haha!  I kept putting my hands under whatever she was passing over his carrier and Lara gave her the stink eye.. Geez lady go around the other side of the table.. there is an infant laying here!

I hope you all had a fun St. Patty’s!  Mine was very different, but much better this year.  We were out just long enough to eat and go home in time to get my little guy fed.  Nothing like our St. Patty’s at Beef O Brady’s last year, but probably the best one ive had yet! 

I’m not sure if he is trying to give mommy a kiss or what in this pic!

Have a great week!

Little leprechaun’s momma

I just cannot believe it’s been a month since my little Ray of sunshine arrived.  He has changed me and my outlook on life in wonderful ways that I have no words to describe. I thought I would take a few moments in this blog to share with you some photos of the past month.

Poppie taking him on his first stroller ride.

After being sick for what felt like forever, he FINALLY got to meet his crazy aunt Lara.. aka the one who "soothes" him.  Hahah.. that’s what she said because everytime she went to feel my belly Brayden would stop moving!  She only got to feel him a few times while I was preggo even though we probably spent more time together than anyone.  but he’s here now and will see his Aunt Lara ALL the time.. yay! 

The house rule is that whoever is holding him when he drops the bomb gets to do diaper changing honors.. thus far he’s given Auntie Lara the bomb everytime she comes over..haha you bring out the best in him Lara Belle!

His first crazy eyes pic with Unc Luka.. the boy is a natural..haha.. seriously only my child would appropriately give the crazy eyes look on cue. 

His first meeting with Auntie Emmeline.  She’s telling him about all her bridesmaid duties when she was the Matron of Honor in my wedding and how much fun we used to have.. oh how i miss you Emmie.. move to Kingsport so it can be like the old days..ha!  BTW he is yawning not yelling.. he is actually pretty good.. hardly ever cries.. shew let’s hope it stays that way. 

  I like to call this one.. three men and a baby!  Need I say more.  How many grown men does it take to change a diaper anyway!  He already has these three wrapped completely around his tiny little fingers!

Kicking it with dad & smo

 A frequent guest at the Austin Inn here is his first meeting with the loud and loveable Unc Nay Nay.  It may take B-Ray a few times to get used to the noise!

You can really see his blonde hair in this pic.   Most people say he looks like me (although there are some that say he looks more like Ray) but he definately has Ray’s long and thin body, his beautiful big blue eyes, his crooked pinky toe and blondish hair like Ray Ray had when he was a baby.   

  Brayden has a very strong suck instinct and will latch on to almost anything.  He had this toy from Aunt Sheryl in the swing with him ..he gave it an odd look, turned and opened his mouth and latched on.  I laughed out loud watching this it was like.. hrm.. hello friend.. let me see if i can eat you hahaha!

Look he has crazy hair like Aunt Wendy..well most likely more like my dad but this pic is funny either way!

Speaking of Aunt Wendy.. she got him some awesome fuzzy dice for his car seat to match the ones she bought a long time ago to go in my, lara’s and her cars. 

Auntie Sheryl.. telling him about "dance to live" and all the fun times she’s had with his momma.

Sister, why are you yelling at my baby?  Haha.. just kidding.. she was actually singing to him or talking one, but it looks like a full on yell!

Big cousins are the best.. here is Ko and Bray!  And in a few short months Brayden will become a big cousin himself!  Michelles baby boy will be here in May… babies babies and more babies.  What will Sandy and Gleason do with all these little boys?

Whatchu talkin bout Uncle Tim???  I love that Brayden often gives people the stink eye.. i think he takes this after his momma!

Since I’m breastfeeding I was the only one for the first few weeks that could feed him.  We are slowly introducing him to a bottle of my milk to get him ready for daycare and for when I just need a break.  This was his very first bottle and the first time his daddy got to feed him.  He took right to it, my boy is an eater!

 He loves to stare at PaPaw Eddies orange hat.  Of course mom and Eddie continously fight over who gets to hold him while he is awake.  It’s turned into a competition.  Eddie tries to put him to sleep before handing him over to nana!

Brayden taking a nap in his nursery under surveillance!  You know Ray would have to have this.. within a week of his birth it was delivered to our door.  It’s a video montior.  Forget the simple ones that have sound… Bray’s crib is wired with a camera so we can watch his every move!  It’s portable and has sound so you can take it from room to room and at night we simply leave it plugged into the tv and see if he really needs me or if he is just fussing himself back to sleep.  Pretty awesome huh.. yeah I know my husband is pretty amazing!

All the way in from Charlotte, NC here is Bray hanging out with Aligator!  Of course this pic made another special person in NC jealous because she hasn’t made her trip in to see him yet.. that would be Aunt Yessie (aka Les Lou).  No worries though Les has patiently waited until things calmed down so she could come in and spend and entire week with us.. yay!  I can’t wait until you get here in a few weeks Les!

All the kiddos love their new playmate Brayden.  Nick & Chels brought Harper by to see him and she would just smile and touch him.  Dave and Carrie also brought Mr. Wesley up to meet his new buddy and neighbor. 

Speaking of Auntie Carrie.. she knitted him the cutest hat to wear when it’s cold!  He loves it and your chicken spagetti (ok so maybe it’s me that loves the spagetti.. but I bet he will too!)

As most of you know my best friend Linsey  & I were pregnant at the same time, but she was 3 weeks behind me.  However in typical Linsey & Nicole fashion we ended up having our little boys on the same day.  Ray sent Jeremy a message that morning to let Linz know I was in labor and delivery.  A few hours later Jeremy sent one back that said Linz was headed to L & D.  Jeremy sent Ray a message that said linz was dialated to 5 and Ray sent back a picture of our little Brayden.  A few hours later Ashton arrived.  Our boys are going to be lifelong friends anyway.. but now they will have another bond and share a birthday.  Welcome to the world Ashton William Allenbaugh.  

At his one month checkup on Friday he now weighs a whopping 7.4 lbs! Which is up a lot from the 5.13 when he was born.  He’s still my tiny little man, but he is definately making progress and has almost moved out of his preemie clothes into the newborn sizes!

New pics are posted under Brayden 1st weeks, Koen & Kiddos folders on the website.

Happy one month birthday Brayden & Ashton. 

Love,

Momma & Aunt Nicole

Brayden Ray Austin was born at noon on Valentines Day and it’s the best Valentine I’ve ever received.. he came straight from God to bless my life forever.  He weighed 5.13 ounces and is the sweetest face I’ve ever seen.  I get it now mommies.  I never understood what all of you meant before when you said its something you have to experience to understand.  The moment I saw his little face I knew that I would do anything to protect him, fight a grizzly bear or give my own life to make sure that he is safe.  I never knew that I could love someone so much until now.  Its a beautiful and terrifying experience.  I worry about the craziest things.. like my newborn will somehow figure out how to roll over and tumble off his boppy to the floor or that he will suffocate in his sleep because his pacifer is too big for his tiny face.  His first night home I found myself standing over his bassinet watching him sleep making sure that he was breathing. 

His arrival into the world was a little rough and I had a somewhat difficult labor (12 hours with about 10 without pain meds).  On cue my little boy waited until mom & dad finished watching Pretty Woman at 11:30 Sat night.  As the credits were rolling my back (which has hurt throughout my preg) started hurting really bad.  Shortly after came my first contraction.  After a few of those, Ray and I knew it was the real deal.  So what did we do you might ask?  Well Ray vacuumed while I did the dishes and we straightened our house..haha we both then took showers.  When the pain became too much to deal with and when they were coming 6 mins apart we headed for the hospital at 3 in the morning. 

Upon arrival they checked me and since I had been in labor for 4 hours I should have been dialated.. but I wasn’t.  Which meant they couldnt give me any pain meds.  My doctor had said when I went to the hospital he wanted to be paged even if he wasn’t the one on call.  Natually the nurses didn’t want to do this but we insisted.  I wasn’t following the typical labor (of course not.. it’s me we are talking about).  I still hadn’t dialated and finally at 7 in the morning they called my doctor in.  At this point i had been in active labor for 7 and 1/2 hours without pain meds.  When my amazing doctor arrived he realized that because of some previous surgeries (one of the things that made me high risk and what they were watching me for the entire time) had formed scar tissue over the opening of my cervix and it wasn’t allowing me to dialate no matter how hard my body was trying.  It was like a rubber band holding it closed.   So (and yes this is a BIG OUCH) he had to break through the tissue to allow me to dialate and then break my water.  Once he did I immediatly dialated to 4.  

They gave me an epidural around 8 a.m (8 and 1/2 hours after my labor started) however it only took on the right side and i continued to feel everything on my left.  The anesthesiologist kept telling me that it would eventually kick in on my left side.  It didn’t.  So finally after an hour I looked at Ray and said whatever he had to do he was to find that man and make him come back and fix it.  They pulled it out some and finally my left side was starting to ease but I could still feel it in my left leg and bottom half.  In the mean time the babys heart rate kept dropping along with my blood pressure so they would put oxygen on me and turn me upside down in the bed.  I was told that if he didn’t perk back up we would have to do a csection.  About 30 mins before i started pushing the drugs finally kicked in fully.  So for 10 and a half hours i felt part or all of my labor!  UGH.. advice.. pay attention to the breathing exercises…it  may be a while before you get good drugs!  I will spare you from here.. a few times we were told if he didn’t progress he would have to come out surgically.  He was face up which isn’t a good thing so it was harder for him to make his exit.  I pushed for an hour and a half and he finally arrived at noon on the dot.  It truly is like running a marathon.  You dont really get a lot of rests in between and hands down was the hardest thing ive ever done.  However thankfully all the aerobics paid off.  At one point the labor nurse asked Ray if i was an athlete because my blood pressure was lower after all that than most peoples is on a regualar basis!  So all you future mommy’s workout.. you will need it!  it was an exhausting night.. Ray and I were up for over 40 consecutive hours and since haven’t had a whole lot of sleep.

He was welcomed into the world 30 mins after arrival by our family who unbeknownst to us were right outside the door the whole time.  Since i was the only woman in labor they let our fam stand outside.  Mom and Ray were in the room with me to see his birth, but the rest of the fam got to hear his first cries too as he made his big debut.  It takes a little while to do all the stuff after he is born.  So about 30 mins after the birth we heard my brothers voice say "Ray Austin.. all i know is someone better produce that baby or a pic of that baby or we are coming in!" So they got us ready and opened the door and my dad, Kitty, Dougie, Ambra, Eddie, Sandy, Gleason, Michelle, Tim & Koen all joined me, mom and Ray in the delivery room to meet our little joy for the first time. 

I have never seen my family be so over the moon for someone as they are for Brayden.  

I would like to take a minute to brag on Ray.  He truly is an amazing daddy.  He gets up with me in the middle of the night to do diaper changes and burping after I feed him and he was absolutely wonderful during labor and delivery.  I was no picnic during my preganacy but luckily i have a wonderful husband who overlooks my flaws and loves me anyway.  He has loved me when I was a hormonal crazy pregnant lady who cried at the drop of a hat, he loved me and told me I was beautiful even when I knew it wasn’t true especially in those final weeks when my face, neck, hands, legs and ankles became a swollen mess and I was so huge I had to roll out of bed and he gave me comfort, stood by my bedside and looked at me like there wasn’t another woman in this world the night I went into labor when I was worried, scared and in terrible pain.  He is an amazing dad and husband and I am so very blessed to be his wife. 

And we are both very blessed with Brayden who is a great baby.  He smiles all the time.. and its so cute because it’s all gums!    He hardly ever cries and will sleep through most of the night if i let him.  Most of the time I have to wake him and when he wakes me he doesn’t cry.. he just coos and sings his little hunger song. 

After months of waiting he is here and my life is VERY different.  Who knew I would use my hands to catch pee when my little boy peed across the room onto the wall while taking a bath.. or when he peed on his own face and hat during a diaper change.  And I wouldn’t give that up for anything in the world.. my new role as pee catcher and feeding machine is just fine with me as long as it keeps my sweet boy heatlhy and happy.

What I do know is that he is VERY VERY loved.  He has a long line of mamaws, papaws, great grandma, aunts, uncles and of course all our friends who are his adoptive aunts and uncles who already love him and us like we are family.  Thanks to everyone for your best wishes, flowers, texts, phone calls and friendship.  Big thanks to my friends and family for the food & supplies.  My amazing friends worked out a food schedule and because of you (Wendy & Gerb, Lara & Mark, Amy, Sheryl, Carrie, Chelsea, Neil & Emmeline, Alex, Dad & Dougie, Michelle & Tim, Mom, Sandy & Gleason)  I haven’t cooked since we’ve been home.  We’ve tried to limit his visitors for the first few weeks to just immediate family and a small group of friends because his immune system isn’t yet developed and im terrified of him catching something.  And it wears him and me out when he has too many visitors at once.  So if you haven’t had a chance to snuggle that cute little face yet be patient with me and I promise you will get to soon.  We have had a revolving door of people in the past two weeks and i’m trying to space it out some.  But rest assured I love and miss you and you will get to see him soon. 

I am blessed and while I have a feeling motherhood will be the hardest, yet most important thing I will ever do i’m up for the challenge and looking forward to my new role as Brayden’s mom. 

So thanks for the love from me, Ray and Brayden who already has a host of fun nicknames..

B-Ray (which will be his basketball or baseball nickname..when he becomes a player like his daddy.. i can hear them chanting it now)
Bray Ray - his thug name
Brady - as my dad aka poppy calls him
B-dawg - which is what his daddy likes to call him
Nana’s lil boy - as my mom so lovingly refers to him..ha
Peanut- what his momma calls him as he snuggles into her chest and smiles

I’ve posted lots of pics in the Brayden’s 1st weeks folder on the website.  We hope to do his birth announcement pics soon.

love,
Brayden’s mom

Other than baby brain its been a busy few weeks.  We finished our childbirthing class in which Ray fell asleep during one of the relaxation exercises.  Let’s hope as my coach he doesn’t pull that one out in a few weeks.  To his credit it was during a cd that asked us to close our eyes and took us through guided relaxation exercises as we imagined we were walking toward the beach.  At least he didn’t pass out like one of the guys did.  This poor kid who couldn’t have been more than 16 if he was that old passed out during the epidural video and they didnt even show the needle going in!  Whats even worse is that his 16 year old baby momma stood up and left him in the room before he even came to. I mean she got the heck out of there and left the class to take care of him and call the ambulance.   We didnt see her again until right before they came in to take him away!!  Poor kid was out cold for at least 30 seconds!  Thank goodness he didn’t see the actual birthing videos!

During the breathing exercises they asked our partners to look at us and say comforting and soothing words of encouragement he might say when I’m having contracations.  Ray said "you’re beautiful, you’re going to be a wonderful mother, I love you so much… please don’t hit me.." HA!  Wow.. let’s hope I’m really not that terrible right now. 

 After a full day of child birthing classes, we went to unwind with our favorite peeps for our 4th and final baby shower.  Of course like all the ones we’ve had it was awesome.  We had the entire 3rd floor at KGC.  Much like anything this crew does it wasn’t your typical baby shower.  Everything had a peanut theme from the decorations to the cake to the games to the party favors and the awesome Sheryl even made us an adorable & useful diaper cake! 

Apparently we made it look so fun that a random guy crashed the shower. I looked up and asked "uh.. whos’ that guy?"  He was just hanging out with us watching the guys relay!  You know you are a fun group of people when a random stranger crashes your baby shower to hang out for a few! 

 Here’s me and peanut getting some love from my five amazing shower hosts, party planners and some of the best friends a girl could ask for.  I love you chickens and peanut can’t wait to meet all his crazy aunts!!!  Thanks so much for the shower. 

The girls made Ray wear a preggo belly all evening so he could get a taste of what it’s like for me.  Though I would like to point out that balloons are NOWHERE near what it’s like to haul a baby around in your tummy!  So i’m thinking he got off pretty easy, but we had fun with it anyway!

A few weeks ago we elected to have a 4D ultrasound, which is an optional procedure that you pay for yourself.   It makes everything solid and gives you a better picture so that you can in theory see what your baby looks like.  That is IF he cooperates.  Unlike a regular ultrasound if something is in the way you can’t see through it and it blocks your picture.  Sandy, Gleason, Michelle, Tim, Koen and Dad all went with us for what we thought would be peanuts big debut.  When we got there he was head down (which is the way he is supposed to be), but was facing my spine (again which is perfect for birthing but not for looking at my little man).  He of course still has one foot up by his face and was covering his face with his hands. The doctor tried for an hour, but my little stubborn boy refused to show momma his face.   He did however show us a cute image of him playing with his toes!  Self entertaining… that’s my kind of baby!  He would shift around but not long enough to get a good image.  Thankfully the doctor was really nice and told us we could come back the next morning and try again.  After doing everything I could to shake him out of that spot we returned the next morning.  It worked he was on his side with his foot still up by his head, but we could only see part of his face.  The umbilical cord was across his mouth for most of the visit so we could mostly only see his eyes and nose.  However a few times he did turn and this pic is the best one we have.  Ray actually merged two pics together to create this one.  I can’t really see much about him other than he has big beautiful eyes & lips and I think he may have my nose!  All I know is that even in this kind of scary pic he is the most handsome little man i’ve ever laid eyes on and I’m so ready to meet him. 

At the last regular ultrasound a few weeks ago he weighed 4lbs 14 ounces and is on the smaller side of normal in growth. So he may be little like his momma at first.. which is just fine with me!! 

He also has HAIR!  A full head of it.  Check out this pic from his last ultrasound.  it’s sticking out all over the back side of his head!!  Oh my he has hair like my dad.. hahaha!

On Friday I finished what was likely my final legislative event for a while with my regional legislative breakfast.  There will be others that I have advanced planned and someone else with see them through.  Several people teased me that they’ve never seen a 9 month pregnant lady run around a room with heels on like that before..ha!  Anyway I felt like it was a baby shower all over again.  Three people brought baby gifts to the event for me inlcuding one of the wait staff from MeadowView!  They took up so much room I had to store them under the registraion table.  They are all so sweet.  I hope peanut knows just how loved he already is!!!   Then during the legislators remarks they started talking about me.  The Sullivan County delegation went in together and got me a gift card(even though each of them had already individually bought me a gift) .  They gave a little speech that said these events and all the legislative things that our chamber is involved with doesn’t just happen and that the lady who makes them happen is getting ready to be a mother for the first time and they publically wanted to thank me and congratulate me.  It was really sweet of them to do that. 

Peanut has already received his first TN Blue Book and had several fun pictures taken for his baby book of things we did together including photo ops with politicians.  Thus far he has had his picture taken with:

Senator Corker at 15 weeks

Governor Bredesen 34 weeks

and now the Northeast TN legislative delegation (37 weeks) minus Ron who couldn’t be there. 

I’m in my final few weeks and it has been very hard (2 weeks and counting).  I am beyond uncomfortable and peanut is too.  I’m not sleeping well, I have trouble breathing and my feet, hands and sometimes face continue to swell.   I’m so nervous about all that’s going to happen in the next two weeks or maybe less.  It’s a lot to take in.   Our bag is packed; his room is finished (and it’s ooooo sooooo adorable); we’ve read books to prepare us for labor, breastfeeding, heathly sleep habits and developing a routine; I have instructions from my doctor about what to do where to go when I go into labor; my girls have their phone/texts lists ready of who to keep informed when they get the word we are headed for the hospital; we have a labor plan of how we want things done (drugs, procedures we want, handling of baby after the birth etc); the car has been cleaned and the car seat installed; I have weekly visits with my doctor to montior our progress (so far we are right on target) and finally thanks to Aunt Lesley and Aunt Lara he has two adorable going home from the hospital outfits to choose from.  He has a ton of family and friends who love him and me and can’t wait for his arrival.   So I guess you could say I’m as ready as i’m ever going to be!   It’s almost here… the day I’ve been anxiously awaiting since I first found out I was preggo.  

He could come at any moment.. and so now we wait.  My mom was 2 weeks early with both of us and all the women of my family have had VERY fast labors. The doctors say that it’s hereditary so I’m hoping that i’m lucky like that too.  So wish me luck and continue to remember my family (me, Ray and peanut) in your prayers.  I know that he is going to be the biggest blessing I have ever received in my life. 

In the mean time though I have my new guilty pleasure to keep my mind off of all the fears and nervousness i’m experiencing.. GLEE!  I love this show.  The singing, the dancing it’s o so good…AND if that isn’t enough there’s the hottie Mark Salling who plays Puck… WOW!!!  Who knew a mohawk could be so HOT!  So if you aren’t watching.. get on it.. its AWESOME!

New pics are posted to the preggo and baby shower folder.   I  will warn you these maternity pics are artistic belly and body shots so if you are grossed out by the pregnant form I dont recommend you view!   We wanted to capture the beauty of pregnancy and have plenty of shots to remember just what this little joy did to my figure. 

the nervous mother nut (ready or not he’s coming soon!!!)

Well it appears I have a severe case of baby brain.  Last night we drove to Cwood for Ray’s papaws funeral (please remember our family in your prayers it’s been a tough week).  Because I am so very preg it’s not really ideal for me to be too far away from the hospital this late in the game (36 weeks and counting.. we have less than a month now..wow).  So we drove over and back and it was VERY late.  I finally got in bed about 1:30 last night and did my usual up and down all night not really sleeping routine.  I was exhausted when I got to work this morning. 

Christmas is almost here and we did our Christmas decorating a few weeks ago.   I love to put stuff all over the house not just on my tree.  

One of my favoritve of our Christmas traditions is something we started doing the very first christmas we dated.  We always get two special ornaments each year.  One represents something we did that year and the other we have engraved with the year and our names.  We have ornaments going back to Dec of 2000 when we traveled to Knoxville to cut down our very first Christmas tree together.   We have a chili pepper from the year we went to Cancun, a mouse holding house keys from the year we purchased our home and one year we made our own from baked stained glass ones etc.  Typically the picking of the ornaments is something that falls to me or something we do when we are both together.  However this year Ray surprised me with the perfect one.  It’s a teddy bear riding a rubber ducky that says "parents to be 09".   And yes I cried like a silly girl when he showed it to me hanging on the tree! 

I love setting my Christmas table!  No we don’t eat off of and its just for show, but it makes me happy!   

Of course Ray and I have been enjoying our big Christmas present to each other the Wii.  The two times Vinay has been in since we got it the boys have stayed up late and boxed and golfed and Ski Jumped until they could do no more.  Last time was no exception we had the gang over and had a Wii off with the Bishops!  Vinay has a wii too, but i think the boys like having another male to Wii with.  Although I must say I do play a mean game of boxing and have taken out several of the boys…who will remain nameless.  Seriously how are you going to let a 7 month preggo beat you.. man up fellas!!  And if i’m not mistaken I am the reigning ski jump and bowling champion..what what!  HA!

We were supposed to have our annual friends Christmas chili cook off party at the Bishops last Friday however because of the weather we had to cancel.. boo hoo

I’m just thankful I made it home.  Ray kept messaging me Friday afternoon telling me to come home.  I was at our Staff Christmas party in Church Hill and it really wasn’t doing anything there.  Finally I listened to him and made it home just in time to avoid all the craziness that happened on I26 where people were stranded for 5 to 8 hours.  As i got off my exit it was just starting to back up and get bad.  I slid a couple times coming down our road, but made it home just in time! I mean I am a SWVA girl who is used to driving in the snow, but having my baby with me in the car makes me MUCH more cautious!!!

Friday night much like most of NE TN and SWVA our power went down about 7 and didn’t come back until Sunday night around 9.  Thankfully we have a kerosene heater.  We blocked off the bedrooms and camped out in the living room.  We made instant coffee on my s’more maker and once we finally got some of the trees out of the road went out for our lunches and dinner.  It was actually a really fun weekend!  I haven’t been snowed in since we lived in SWVA where we used to get snow ALL the time!

We had 8 trees down in our yard and 3 down blocking the road at the bottom of our hill, which was pretty scary to hear them falling.  Ray wouldn’t even let me go toward the back end of the house because we have 3 huge trees that would come right through our bedroom and back bathroom if they fell.  He went out Saturday morning to get food and helped our neighbors remove several trees blocking the road with a chain saw.  Once he saw the roads were safe for me to travel on he came back to get me and we drove around looking at the snow. 

I wanted to go sleigh riding so bad, but being 32 weeks full with baby.. it just isn’t a good idea.  So on Sunday we built a snow woman instead and made her preggo just like me.

Of course Ray couldn’t just let her be preggo he had to give her boobs too!  I think we have the only x-rated snowwoman on the block! 

On a serious note though we are so fortunate to have power.  Our families in SWVA still don’t and as of today don’t have any water either.  It is harder over there to get to power lines.  There are still trees down everywhere.  The National Guard is giving out water and helping clear the roads. They aren’t expecting it will be back on before Christmas.  The town of Clintwood just got power back today. 

Rays parents have power, but no water.  My mom and my dad are both without power and water.  Mom has a gas fireplace and Dad has a wood burning stove heating the house.  Both mom and dad have generators to keep their deep freezers from losing all the food.  My step dad broke the axel on his 4 wheel drive just trying to get out of his driveway.  Today was the first day my brother and sister in law were able to get out of the holler they live in.  There were nearly 20 tress in the road blocking them in.  Tim and the neighbors finally cleared them enough for people to get in and out and they still ended up driving under two trees to get out.  If my dad and brother hadn’t scraped our holler with their back hoe and tractor no one would have been able to get out of our road either.  It’s a complete and total mess over there.  We are still going over for Christmas, but its going to be crazy this year!  We are grilling steaks on the gas grill at dads and will use the generator to cook at moms.  We will have power at the Austins however like both my mom and dads we wont have running water!  Woohoo..Christmas campout!  Clark Griswald where you be!! 

So please remember our families and all those who aren’t fortunate enough to have heaters and things to get them through this in your prayers. 

Over all peanut and I are doing good.  I’ve started having Braxton Hicks and the leg swelling continues on and off.  My back is still killing me, but thanks to Jud at my Chamber shower I now have a spa day pregnancy massage to look forward to! I love that everyone has given us so many wonderful things for the baby, but i’m not going to lie I was secretly jumping for joy when I saw that massage for mommy!  Thanks JT! 

New pics are posted in the Christmas Folder.

Wendy I just realized you didn’t do your 12 days of xmas song on here this year.. so sad a tradition is broken 1st the chili party and now this.  We aren’t with it this year at all are we??!!  I will at least close with my traditional Griswald Christmas song!

It’s that time, Christmas time is here
Everybody knows there’s not a better time of year
Hear that sleigh, Santa’s on his way
Hip, hip hooray for Christmas vacation

Gotta a ton of stuff to celebrate
(jing-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-ling)
Now it’s getting closer I can’t wait
(jang-a-lang-a-lang-a-lang-lang)
gonna make this holiday as pefect as can be
just wait and see this Christmas vacation

This old house, sure is looking good
Got ourselves the finest snowman in the neighborhood
Ain’t it fun always on the run?
That’s how it’s done on Christmas vacation

Let’s all deck the halls and light the lights
(jing-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-ling)
Get a toasty fire burning bright
(jang-a-lang-a-lang-a-lang-lang)
Give St. Nick the warmest welcome that he’s ever had
We’re so glad it’s Christmas vacation 

Merry Christmas,

Snow momma

Over the past few weeks we have been pushing hard to get the house ready for peanut.  Ray has been slowly working on refinishing our basement for a while.   With peanuts upcoming arrival we needed the den and office finished so we could move the office upstairs to downstairs, move the guest bedroom into what was formerly the office and the guest bedroom (the room beside us) would become peanuts nursery.  And of course we needed to clean the house from top to bottom.

Well with the help of wonderful family and friends we are almost there! 

Ray Blair has been helping Ray on and off with the sheet rock, electrical work, ripping out and installing of new steps over the last few months.  But we were really in a push to get the rest of this done in a hurry.  So over the past two weeks it’s been a marathon of cleaning, finishing rooms and moving furniture.

Gleason spent the night with us a month ago and helped Ray cut all the crown molding & basboards for the den.

Gerb helped Ray finish painting the den. 

Mom was here last weekend and we shampooed all the carpets as well as the furniture and washed down the walls & baseboards in the rooms we shampooed.  LIterally every piece of furniture in my home has been moved into another room over the past few weeks as well as everything taken off all the walls in my house.  It looked like we were either moving out or moving in. 

Sheryl, Ray and I painted the nursery last Sunday.

 Dad & Ray painted the windows & trim in the nursery and scrapped the concrete in the den to get it ready for the flooring.

Kitty & I finished washing down the rest of the walls in the bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, halls and forier as well as deep cleaned the tile in the kitchen, dining room and bathrooms.

Here’s me sorting through all the shower gifts and clothes we have received thurs far! 

Today Mark & Ray put the flooring down in the den.

Lara & I shampooed all the furniture that will go in the den and de tagged and sorted by size all the baby clothes to prepare for washing. 

 As of last night all the nursery furnture is actually in the nursery and no longer living in my garage.  The only other piece to go in there is the rocking chair/glider that Dad ordered for me yesterday. 

Because Im preggo I can’t really lift things, I tire easily, I can paint only in short spurts because of the fumes (no worries everyone it is the paint that you can use when you are preggo), I can do cleaning if i’m wearing gloves but again the fumes get to me, vacuuming and shampooing I can do but I have to be careful not to do too much at one time because of the back pain.  Soooooo BIG thanks Gleason, Ray B, Gerb, Mom, Sheryl, Dad, Kitty, Lara and Mark for helping us get ready for the little bundle of joy that will be here in a few short months.  It would have been a huge load for us to carry without your help especially for Ray and I was really starting to feel overwhelmed with all the things we had left to do.

Of course big thanks to Ray.  He has done sooo much of this by himself and unlike normally I haven’t been able to help him as much.  So thanks Ray as always you have done an excellent job!

We are by no means done, but we are leaps and bounds further than we were a few weeks ago.  Still on the to do list for the next month deep clean the fire place, rip up and lay the new flooring in the forier, put railing up on the steps, stain the bottom steps going into the den and paint the back of the new steps, finish the baseboards in the den, paint the nursery closet doors and frame, sort through all the extra stuff that came out of the office, decorate the den & nursery and of course after our final shower finish purchasing the rest of the items we need for baby peanut. 

I’ll get Ray to take some finished pics of the office, den and nursery and post them on here.  It all looks really good.  We haven’t cleaned it this thoroughly since we moved in!  Ahhh nothing like a clean house.. you could eat off my carpets, walls and floors right now… although please don’t with all this work we are a shoe free party zone from now on!!!

Pics are posted in the Home Projects folder on the website.  I also uploaded my pics from New York.  I have been waiting on Ray to give me a few more of the ones he took of the city and some of all of us in front of the Brookyln bridge, but he’s been a little busy so I went ahead and posted.  The trip was fun we went to Gettysburg, Mystic Conneticut, Catskills NY and of course NYC.  While in NYC we saw Shrek on Broadway, went to Central Park, FAO Schwartz, Statue of Liberty etc.  Of course notice the various places Ray caught me sitting down.  I was soooo worn out with all the walking. 

I also posted in the Lara’s bday folder a few pics from Larasgiving.. the thanksgiving meal we do to celebrate lara’s birthday!  This started out as a pic of Mark & Lara.. they had no idea we were photo bombing their pic.  Sorry lady.. you guys look great in it..ha.  Wendy’s throwing the peace signs and i’ve got crazy arms.. unfortuantely we are too short to get our faces in there..ha! 

the exausted momma

Let me preface this blog by saying Les I love you, but this story is too crazy not to share and since all I have blogged about since August is being preg I think the readers deserve a new topic.. even if just for today. And I promise you as it was happening it was not at all funny to me or to Les.  She has had a really hard week and this was the LAST thing that she needed on top of everything else. 

Wed night I answered the phone to a very distraught Lesley.  She was crying and the only words I could make out were deer, the van, glass everywhere… might be in my eye.  I had talked to her earlier in the night so I knew she had dropped the boys at her grandmas and was making the hour long journey back to her house on a very lonley strech of two lane road.

So back to the story.  I then hear her say hold on a man is coming up to the van let me call you back.  I said OH NO YOU DON’T stay on the phone with me.  So the man asks if she is alright and then says they heard the accident all the way in the house.  She asks him if anyone else is home.  He says yes his daughter and wife.  She said Nicole there are other people in there with him let me call you back.  I refuse.  I told her she is taking me with her no matter what and that I want the address of where she is just in the event he tried to cut my bf up in tiny pieces and lock her up in a trash can (yeah yeah i know ive watched one too many forensic files episodes).  She goes into their bathroom and from what i gather is covered in glass, its in her clothes, hair, underwear pretty much everywhere.  It’s here that I start to get what happened at this point all I knew was she hit a deer.  I didn’t know how bad or if she was ok.. I just knew we were on the phone and she wasn’t getting off.

Apparently she was just driving along minding her own business in the dark and fog when out of nowhere a deer jumps from the woods and flings himself into her front windshield, the impact totally shatters her front window.  The deer then richocets back and breaks out her drivers side window with its head and is now partially in the car with her.  She said "Nicole I looked him in the eye" and he apparently hit her as he came through her window  Can you imagine driving along and all the sudden a deer is IN the car with you, looks you in the eye and smacks you with its body??!!  She’s telling me the story then asks for a broom so she can sweep up the glass in their bathroom… even in distress my bff is thoughtful.ha. 

We hung up the phone for her to call 911 and for me to look up the Allstate number.   She calls back and tells me that she is going to ask the police when they get finished to take her back to her grandmas.  We get off the phone and I wait for her to call me back.  No answer. She hasn’t returned any of my texts to let me know how its going.  I’m starting to freak out then i get a missed call from a strange number.  I call back… no answer.  An hour passes before she finally calls me back. She is in the airport.  The police wouldn’t take her to her grandmas so she had to go all the way into Lynchburg with the tow truck driver and on top of that her cell phone died, but thankfully he was really nice and let her borrow his.  At this point it’s 10 at night.  She is sitting in the lynchburg airport getting ready to pick up her rental, but first she plugs her phone in a wall so she could call me back and it’s a good thing because I was about to send out a search party!

She is banged up, her face and arms have some cuts, she’s sore and her van front and drivers side windows were busted out, but thanks be to God that SHE is alright.  After I knew she was safely back at her grandmas I thought about it and had to laugh.  I told her that only one of the two of us would have such a crazy story.   What a terrible, awful and ridiculous thing to happen.  Wow when it rains it really pours.  I love you Les Lou.  I’m so thankful you are ok and that the boys weren’t with you.  I love being your in case of emergency or in case a deer decides to go all Tommy Boy and hurl itself through the window at you, onstar bff representative.  Big hugs to NC.  I wish I could have hopped in the car and came to see you this weekend.  The non preggo me would have been in the car wed night. 

In other news, Ray and I have talked about getting a Wii for a while now.  We had fun this summer playing with Linz & Jer while we were in Hilton Head and over Thanksgiving  mom, Eddie, Dougie, Ambra, Ray and I had a marathon of Wii!   So we finally decided to get one for each other for Christmas this year so we are getting rid of the xbox and all the games that go with it.

When we first got engaged Ray bribed me into getting an Xbox.  He said since I got that shiney new rock I should get him an one so I did. I think he figured since he had to spend forever with me he should at least get an xbox out of the deal.  We would spend hours after work laying around, ordering pizza and playing xbox.  One of our favorite games was Blinx.  This silly game where you suck up trash to shoot at monsters, run through hearts, triangles and gold to get tools you need to get through stages etc.  It’s sooooo much fun.  Earlier this week I came home and he had set up the xbox and Blinx for us to play before we send it off to ebay land.  We hadn’t done this in years.. probably since we lived in Abingdon and that was a LOONG time ago.  Since then I have been catapulted back to those old days.  Every evening when I get home we pile up, order food and play Blinx until we are too exhaused to play anymore (which is a lot faster for me than it used to be).  I forgot just how fun that game was and how nice it is to have those low key evenings together again.  So here’s to finding your Blinx moment.  Do something that reminds you of being young and fun again.. it’s refreshing!

the deer slayers bff and wifey of a blinx champion 

A few weeks ago, the girls had a chance to see our little peanut in action for the first time.  Ray gave up this visit so that Wendy and Lara could go with me for my 26 week check up.  Typically everytime I see my high risk doctor they do an ultrasound however when we got there they said they weren’t doing one.  I said "oh no are you sure because I brought my friends and they really want to see him" and while I was in the room getting ready the girls layed on the charm and our tech said "well we have a few minutes before the doctor gets here I guess i could do a really quick one!" 

Of course when we peeked in on him he wasn’t laying how he is supposed to (he never is…) He was on his tummy with his butt in the air.  He had one foot and entire leg up behind his head, one of his hands was on his head and he was patting himself on his little noggin (hahahah sooooo cute!  Or maybe its just that we make his head hurt..haha!)  The tech wanted to see if we could make him look around so she tapped on my tummy with the wand, the girls were laughing and he started shifting his eyes back and forth like "who are these crazy women I always hear giggling?"   This was the first ultrasound since his eyes have been open and it was so cute to see them for the first time. So there it is the day Charlies Angels met our little peanut.  Like everyone else they are anxiously awaiting his arrival.  Peanut you have no clue how loved and adoraded you already are!

I turned this pic upright so you can tell what you are looking at.  To the right you can see one of his eyes open, in the middle is his nose and chubby little cheeks.

Here he is again at 26 weeks.  His mouth is open because he is yawning, but you can’t see the right side of his jaw in the pic.   

Here is one from our visit yesterday.  His eyes are closed and to the left you can see his face, eye, nose and mouth.  I think his hand is on his face to the right. 

Ray and I went back yesterday for another ultrasound and measurements on our little guy.  I’ll be 29 weeks tomorrow.  Sunday night peanut was squirming around on the left side of my tummy then all the sudden my left rib started hurting.  It hurt for the rest of the evening.   I told Ray I thought he was doing something to my rib.  When we peaked in on him yesterday I was right.  He was actually laying in the correct positon head down.  He was laying on his right side with his entire body to the left of my belly button and one leg up by my left ribs.  He was holding the other leg up by his head and stroking his face with his other hand..haha.. again i’m so going to have my hands full with this funny funny little guy!  He looked so cute just rubbing one side of his little face.  At first he had his eyes closed, but he soon opened them so Ray could see him with his eyes open for the first time.  He has big beautiful eyes and chubby little cheeks that just started filling out in the last few weeks.  They did his measurements, rated his movements and watched him practice his breathing.  All of which he passed with flying colors.  He is doing great.  He once again kept opening and closing his mouth drinking, which looks so funny.  He’s like a little fish in there.  He weighs approximately 2 lbs and 10 ounces!  My little guy is growing growing growing.  He isn’t a little man anymore which is going to make the next 11 weeks really interesting..ha!  They said he is measuring about 2 days ahead of schedule as far as growth goes. 

Here he is again at 29 weeks with his eyes open.  On the left you can see the open eye, chubby cheek, part of his nose and a little of his mouth.  That little hand is still on the other side of his face. 

So there you have it the latest adventures of my little peanut. 

Everytime I go to the doctor they ask if my feet, legs and face have been swelling and of course I love saying no!  Well the past few weeks my fingers have started swelling at night and yesterday for the first time my legs were really swollen. 

I was in a meeting seated for about an hour and a half.  When I stood up to leave my legs felt really tight and I had trouble walking. I got back to my office and pulled up my pants to see what the problem was and wow.  My feet all the way up to my calves were hard as a rock… really tight and swollen.  I have no clue why.  I’ve had a lot of issues with my legs falling asleep or waking up in the middle of the night with leg cramps, but this was the first time for swelling.  I’m not sure if it was just that I had  been sitting too long in the same position or what, but i’m going to call the doctor to let them know.  Since they always ask me about it I figure it must be important or could be an indicator of something else.  Ah the joys of pregnancy.  So last night I was stationed in the recliner (yes Ray actually gave me his chair) with my feet up and my awesome hubby took care of me.  My dinner, water, chap stick and even warm cookies were delivered to my chair throughout the evening so I didnt have to get up.  Thanks boo you are the best and I love you so much.

the swollen and uncomfy momma! 

I always do a blog on what i’m thankful for each thanksgiving and this year shall be no exception.  It’s been kind of a tough year and i’m a little frightened about becoming a parent, but I have so much to be thankful for.

First and foremost I am so very thankful for this little gift from God who is living in my tummy right now.  He makes me laugh when I’m sad… truly he already does with his kicks and the funny stuff he does during our ultrasounds.  Last night he had the hiccups for the first time.  I kept feeling these little tiny rhythymic spasms that would make my belly jump every few seconds.  Several people had told me that the hiccups are cute and they are soooo right.  I sat there for 30 minutes totally entertained feeling my belly and watching it jump up and down all the while telling him to hold his breath..so cute!  He isn’t even here yet, but I already know I would give up my own life to protect him.  I can’t wait to meet you peanut.  Mommy loves you so much.  And you have aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and friends who absolutely cannot wait for you to arrive.  You are going to be so loved and spoiled we wont know what to do with you!

I’m thankful for my husband.  We have had our ups and downs, but he has loved me through them all.  He loves me when i’m thin and when i’m huge and preggo (especially now that i have trouble getting up off the couch or out of bed, bending over and doing simple things like breathing..hahaha).  He’s loved me when we are poor (and trust me we have had quite a few of those times) and when we are doing great.  He loves me when i’m difficult (me difficult…never) and when i’m fun loving and easy.  He loves me happy but most importantly when i’m sad.  Hes loved me through sickness and in health (we’ve had quite a bit of of the sickness).  When push comes to shove he’s always there.  We are two total opposites with completely different personalities and we have been through a lot together.  So on our 10th thanksgiving i’m thankful for him and I hope that we have a lifetime of getting through the easy & the hard, the good & the bad, the happy and the sad … together.

My family.  I dont have the type of family where everything is perfect.  We are a very opinioned group of people, but we stick together.  We disagree, but at the end of the day they love me without condition and would do absolutely anything for me.  I love you guys. 

I’m thankful for my friends.  I have the most ridiculous, funny, crazy, opinionated people around me.  Who love me for me, make me laugh and are there for me whether my basement is flooding, we need help moving or painting or if i just want someone to hang out and be silly with.  They are AMAZING.  They not only get my sense of humor but feed it.  You guys are awesome.  We are so lucky to have each of you!

Lately I’m thankful for:

Parking spots that aren’t too far away.

Bathrooms that are clean and close (especially when you have a little boy who finds it amusing to kick you in the bladder ALL the time!)

Friends that help you fill out a registry and sort through the things you need verses the stuff stores just want to sell you.

Other mommies that offer helpful tips and let me borrow their maternity clothes (we have spent a fortune already so without you guys it would have been much worse)

My mother and Les who have been my best friends and biggest supporters throughout my life and my pregnancy.  I love you guys. (here’s me & les a couple weeks after i started to show.  she wanted a pic with the belly..ha.. you need to come back and get another Les we have much more to work with now!)

People who help me carry things.

My fetal monitor that allows me to hear peanut sloshing around in there and makes me laugh when he kicks directly where i’m listening.  He doesn’t like to be poked or pushed on and just like i would expect any little boy of mine to do.. he WILL kick you back..ha!

Lots of Ultrasounds that allow me to see my little boy, make sure that he is healthy and make me laugh at all the funny stuff he is doing in there.  I’ve had 6 thus far and am going back for my 7th on Monday. 

Shirts that don’t make me look like a moo moo (ok this is becoming more rare)

People who have tact and dont feel the need to say things to me like… "wow you are HUGE and you aren’t due until Feb??"   "Are you sure there aren’t two in there?"  "You are the most pregnant person i’ve ever seen".  My fav which I heard today from a perfect stranger as i was getting a salad "wow you must be really uncomfortable".  Thanks lady.. can you just refill the lettuce and leave me alone..hahah!  She then wanted to touch my belly!!  Are you kidding me.. no you may not touch me!  Little hint people no pregnant woman wants to hear these things.  There is a baby in there and we cannot help it, we are going to grow.. it happens!

Coco butter.. thus far no stretch marks and keeping my fingers crossed!

Tums & antacid meds!  I thought my acid reflux was bad before.. oh my!  Thank goodness they finally have me on stuff that works… those first 5 months were awful!

My cats who like to curl up on my belly.  It’s cute and cozy and makes for some sweet pics.  (i think they can feel him moving around in there)

All the people who have loved us enough to throw us a shower and give us baby stuff they are no longer using (cribs, changing tables, high chairs, clothes.. you name it we have friends who have given us theirs)  This stuff is crazy expensive, but through the generosity of friends and family we are well on our way to having the things we need.

Hand held massagers.  I have one I keep at work.  I turn it on and stick it between my back and the chair.  With all the back pain i’ve had these things are a life saver!

So on Thanksgiving remember to be thankful for the things you have… big and small.  God gives us so many blessings.. it is up to us to recognize those things and be thankful for them. 

I hope you enjoy a wonderful day with your families.  Get your tummys full and fill your heart with love.  Life is short.  Don’t take the gifts you’ve been given for granted.

the preggosaurus

These and other maternity pics are posted in the preggo folder.  All photos taken by my very talented hubby Ray courtesy of www.dragonflydigital.org

Last weekend Ray and I headed to Clintwood and Castlewood for our first round of baby showers!  Two down…. two to go!   All I have to say is peanut is one loved and lucky little boy.  Seeing all the tiny, adorable things makes me want him here even more than I already do!  February are you ever going to get here?  Besides wanting control of my body again I am sooooo ready to meet my little man! 

Saturday Sandy & Michelle threw a shower with Ray’s family.  Here is the AWESOME cake Aunt Carolyn made for us.  Seriously Carolyn you should make cakes on the side.  It was creative and YUMMY!!

Of course my warped hubby with his silly sense of humor cut the cake and took off the preggo’s belly button and boob!   

Look at the adorable party favors Shell made!  Its peanuts with a note that says "We are happy to say a little peanut is on his way!  Thanks for coming!  Nicole & Ray."  I loved them! 

Look at peanuts cute little Columbia hat.  It will go well with Ray’s Columbia daddy diaper bag (yes he wanted one of his own because he refused to carry the feminine one I bought for me)!   Let’s hope it fits our little nut better than it fits the big nut shown here!

Even Koen had a good time.  He going to have a busy year.  He met his 1st cousin baby Kaleigh a few months ago, next is his other 1st cousin peanut in Feb, then in May he will get a new baby brother or sister!  Here he is showing us his belly button!  That night when I would leave to go to the bathroom he would stand out side and say "cole" when I would open the door he did a little dance that resembled the hokie pokie!  ha!  He plays a name game where he tells you who goes with who.  If you say Ray he says Nicole, Mamaw he says papaw, sissy he says d (tims sister & husband).  It’s so cute.  He’s growing up! 

The preggos!  Here we were 13 (i think) and 26 weeks. 

 Sunday we were off to Castlewood for a shower with some of my mom’s side of the family.

Peanut & I getting some love from the girls!

Here’s the yumalicious cake my mom had made for me.  It has baby booties on it and says "Welcome baby Peanut".  

This adorable hooded towel was one of my gifts from my brother & Ambra.  My brother doesn’t usually get into this kind of thing.  However Ambra said that he got really excited shopping for the baby.   I think my growing bump (he’s not a bump anymore he’s approx 15 inches long and weighs over 2 lbs!) in combination with buying shower gifts made it all starting to seem more real.  She said he barely let her pick out anything and was saying stuff like "no my nephew isn’t going to wear that"!  Unfortunately he couldn’t be there, but he called me from work and sang "happy baby shower to you"!  I love it.. peanut everyone is anxiously awaiting your arrival!  You are going to be soooo spoiled! 

Diane came up with the idea that the party favors & prizes should be stuff that when you win you give it back to the baby!  So I ended up with animal snack cups & toys for peanut!

Speaking of games… lets just say that momma Nicole needs to brush up on her nursery rhymes before he gets here or I will have one really confused little boy!  I was terrible at that game.  For some reason I thought that old mother hubbard lived in the shoe with so many kids she didn’t know what to do and that when the clock stickes one (as in hickory dickory dock) that Cinderella lost her slipper!

One of the funniest moments of the day came from my little cousin Aiden who is almost 3.  His mother (my cousin Yvette) told him that soon he was going to get a new baby cousin.  After a few minutes he asked where my little boy was.  Yvette said "well he’s not here yet, he is in her belly and will be here in a few months."  Aiden thought about this for about 5 minutes and turned to his grandma with the most serious look on his face and stated "mamaw she ate her baby!  She ate her baby!!"  We all burst out laughing and Diane and Yvette explained to him that mommas don’t eat their babies and that he is safe and sound in my belly… ha.  You have got to love his logic though.  I mean he sat there contemplating just how in the world this little boy might have gotten in my BIG belly and it was a pretty logical conclusion he came up with.  So funny.  Ah.. so now in his eyes i’m a baby eater!

Thanks for a wonderful weekend!  You girls did a great job.  We ate too much, got a ton of stuff and most importantly got to see our family.  Thanks for the love you’ve shown to us and to peanut. 

 After a busy busy weekend of food, fun, family and tons of unwrapping we were a very tired Mr & Mrs Austin! 

Baby shower pics are posted.  Also posted are maternity pics from this month in the preggo folder.  They were taken in various places NY, Central Park, our yard, mom’s house & Kingsport. 

This weekend we celebrated Lara’s birthday with our 2nd annual "larasgiving" feast.  Those pics and New York coming soon!

Happy almost thanksgiving.. just a reminder don’t eat your babies!  HA!

The Hungry Mother (thanks for suggesting my sign off Vet..ha)

As you saw in my blog a few weeks ago the Army Corps of Engineers is proposing to suspend a mining permit (NWP-21) which would drastically effect coal mining in 6 Appalachian States.  My brother has been heavily involved in the fight against this.  Below is my letter to the Corps expressing my opposition to this action.  If you would like to write an opposition letter the address is listed below.

Also to the 6 country music stars who banded together against coal mining today to form "Music Saves Mountains" to "protect" the mountains where country music was born and is celebrated:  Would you please tell me where the land you own here is located (oh right you don’t own any land here) and what exactly you know about this subject and the people here you want to "protect"?  You may want to jump off the bandwagon as it’s getting a little crowded.

Headquarters, US Army Corps of Engineers

Attn: NWP-21
441 G. Street, NW
Washington, DC 20314-1000

To whom it may concern:

I am writing to express my opposition to the proposed suspension of Nationwide Permit -21.  I grew up in the beautiful mountains of Southwest Virginia and want nothing more than to protect the area I love.

However I am also the granddaughter, daughter, sister, step-daughter and daughter-in-law of Virginia coal miners.  More than 80,000 jobs in the greater Appalachian region depend on coal mining to sustain its livelihood and the suspension of NWP-21 would devastate not only the area I’m from, but the entire region.  It will also affect mining in West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Pennsylvania. 

There are currently more than 250 permits backlogged for the past two years at the Army Corps of Engineers and the Corps has not stated how it plans to deal with the more than 80 permits this suspension would affect. 

There has been no evidence presented of environmental damage to justify such drastic action.  Working in politics myself, I easily recognize this as nothing more than political bantering by an anti-coal Obama administration and environmentalists who want to see the coal industry destroyed.  This is an attempt to force legislation by the suspension of this permit.  What will take the place of coal and who will keep our electricity on if you cripple the industry to the point mines are forced to shut down? 

These coal miners and companies are not ignorant, money hungry scoundrels, who want to destroy the beauty of the Appalachian region, pollute the streams and kill the wildlife as the environmentalists would have you believe.  They are hard working men and women who fish in these streams, drink and bathe in the water, raise their children, make their homes and live their lives nestled in these beautiful mountains. 

This decision will affect more than just those who work in the coal industry.  In many of these regions, coal and the coal companies who give back in these communities are the primary economic engine.  These are the people that shop in the stores, take vacations, spend their money and buy homes throughout these six states.  Through suspension of this permit you will bring the coal mining industry to a standstill affecting tourism and the overall economy of those who depend on coal money to run their businesses.  You will not only shut down the mines, but will cripple and bankrupt entire regions in these six states.

Most proponents don’t fully understand the issue or the regulations that accompany NWP-21 that make coal mining a reliable, affordable and secure source of energy.    NWP-21 is the only nationwide permit, designed with another fully developed federal regulatory program under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), to ensure mining impacts are minimized.  Jobs and communities depend on this permit without causing unnecessary delays and complications.  I urge you to gather the facts and reconsider the proposal to suspend NWP-21 rather than relying on the emotional “save our mountains” message that proponents are sending. 

Thank you for your consideration,

Nicole Austin

Coal miner’s daughter, lover of the mountains, concerned citizen & educated supporter of coal

My heart is filled with sadness today as the world said goodbye to a wonderful person. 

Eli Sutherland passed away this morning. 

Please remember the Sutherland family in your prayers.

 Eli was a Pharmacist at Holston Valley, loved the lake, loved to laugh, loved music and always had a positive outlook on life. 

The last time I talked to Eli he was that upbeat, fun loving guy I remembered.  He said life was good and he "couldn’t complain."  He was doing well working in Kingsport, spending time on the lake and that he had met my husband and thought I had married a nice guy.  He never once mentioned that he had cancer.   

 Eli you were light in this world and we will miss your smiling face. 

Eli Sutherland

August 1979 - November 2009

I hear you… I hear you… I hear you and the Halloween pics are up.  We have been so busy working on the downstairs (which is really looking great btw.. atta boy Boo) that we haven’t had time to get to some of this stuff.  However I promise the NYC pics & the latest maternity pics are coming soon. 

In the mean time here are some Halloween pics for your entertainment.. I know momma Sandy and sister Shell have been asking for them. 

Wow what a difference a year makes!  Look at me then.. and now!  And you know what I wouldn’t change a thing. Yes my little peanut has pushed my tummy out there to a place I never imagined it could go, but I already know he will be well worth it!  I have gotten used to my tummy and love to watch it move when he kicks me and trust me my little man carries a punch.  He kicks it so hard it actually moves!  Now thats not to say I am not looking forward to when my tum tum goes back to its normal size and I actually feel in control of things again, but for now it’s really amazing to have a little life growing in there. 

Unfortunately not all of our gang was able to make it out for Halloween with unexpected out of town trips, illness etc, but for those of us that were there we had a blast.

We hit up KGC like last year then headed down to the Bus Pit to hear Spank or as Joleen calls them Stank.  They were an awesome 80’s band.  Of course our 80’s lady Wendel was LOVING it!  Speaking of  Wendy here is me and Miss Betty Boop now!

As you know, Mr Austin is always a great sport at Halloween and has endured my crazy costume ideas through out the years.   He’s been the Raggedy Andy to my Raggedy Ann, the Johnny Cash to my June, the coyboy to my cowgirl, the K-Fed to my preggo Britney, the german boy to my wench and the list goes on and on.  This year he was supposed to be the other half of my m&m duo.. plain without nut however after a crazy costume situation that involves last minute spray paint and a failed iron on attempt.. lets just say it didn’t work out this year.  So for the first time ever he was just Ray Austin.. photog extraodinaire and hubby to a purple pnut m&m. 

So here we are..mmmmmmm doesn’t everyone love a peanut m&m??  Well maybe not everyone, but Ray Ray does!!!!

I got to see one of my favs the lovely Dawn.  Who wasn’t in costume unless you count the foxy momma who just ran the Haunted Half Marathon look she was sporting.. and yes she actually did run the 1/2 marathon we did in K-town that day.  Love love love this girl!  We had sooo much fun back in our CVC days!  Miss you girlie!

Of course this blog wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention Ben’s costume for this year.  For weeks he’s been saying he had the best halloween costume ever, but wouldn’t tell any of us what it was.  He said it was going to be expensive to pull off, but in the end it was soooo worth it.  I knew immediately when I saw him who he was. 

Ben came as… well a local car dealer who resides with his bride in a castle in JC.. or at least he used to.   "Who beats a _______ deal…. NOBODY and that’s coming straight from the boss!"  Oh Benjamin how you make us laugh. ha!  Complete with gold chains, a pimpin white suit, fake stache and all!  I must say I thought he was going to have trouble beating his SNLTimberlake character from last year.. I was wrong.

I hope you all had a happy and safe halloween.  Please remember us in your prayers including Eli from my last blog.

 The rest of the halloween pics are posted.

"Nicole Austin loves to laugh and is going to wear a smile all day today no matter what life throws my way!"  That’s my new quote for each day!  You should try it.. it actually works!

the purple pnut

I found out today that a friend Eli Sutherland has been battling cancer for the past two years.  I had noticed a few people had changed their facebook profile pictures to pics of  them and Eli and others were writing prayers and words of encouragement on his wall.  A mutual friend filled me in on what is going on. 

Eli is 30 years old and has been fighting a battle with liver cancer for a little over two years.  Lately the treatments haven’t been working and he isn’t a candidate for a transplant.  He was determined to stay home, but Sunday it became too much and he was admitted to the hospital.  From what I understand he is in a lot of pain, his kidneys are failing and his lung function isn’t good.  The outlook isn’t good.

It’s been a really long time since I’ve seen him.  Actually since all of us used to hang out waaaaay back in the summer of 2000 when we were all young and fresh out of college.  But I’m certain he still is that funny, full of life guy that everyone loves.  He has a smile that lights up a room and a personality that goes right along with that.  When I talked to him back in May he didnt even mention that he had cancer. 

So please remember Eli and his family in your prayers.  I pray that they will find peace and comfort and Eli will be eased from the pain he is in.

Thanks

Everyday I thank God for giving me to you. 

Happy Birthday to my best friend, my biggest fan and the one person who loves me without condition. 

You truly are the kindest person that I know.  Someone who has never met a stray animal that you didn’t help.  Even if you couldn’t give it a home you found it one or took it food and worried about it’s safety. 

You are so much like grandma.  I only wish I could be more like the two of you.  Kind, selfless, giving and the most wonderful mothers God graced this earth.

I don’t know what I would do without you especially these past few months.  As I’m about to become a mommy myself, I only hope that I can be half the mom that you’ve been to me.  If so peanut will be one lucky little boy. 

Speaking of peanut.  He woke me up at 3 a.m. this morning kicking out a special message for you.

Dear Nana,

Mommy told me its your birthday and I wanted to let you know how much I love you already.  I love hearing your voice when you talk to moms belly and I like it when you rub her tummy that’s why I kick  you so hard. 

Ive been hollering & kicking hello in here for months!  I’m glad i’m finally big enough that someone other than mommy can feel my special kicks and punches. 

Mom told me about all the fun stuff you did for her when she was a kid and I can’t wait.  I’m looking forward to face pancakes at my sleepovers, special bath time & teeth brushing songs (even if you can’t be there i’m hoping you will teach mommy), steam rollers, fun birthday cakes, nose squishes (maybe not quite so hard as you do mom’s and uncle bubs) bed time stories and of course all the love that I know you can’t wait to give me.

Im so excited to finally meet you.  I know you are getting excited too.  Can you believe I’ll be here in 3 months?  Anyway I’m sending you special birthday hugs, love, yawns and kicks.. trust me I’ve been giving them to momma since 3 this morning!

These are a few of the latest pics of me from yesterday.  Im 24 weeks old and I now weigh 1lb and 8 ounces!  I wasn’t really in the mood to have my pic taken yesterday as everytime they tried to find me I curled up in a ball and put my butt in the air!  I even yawned at them to express my boredom with their silly pics! 

Love,
Nana’s little pnut

Happy Birthday momma.  You are beautiful on the inside and out. We love you. 

Nic & Nut

This week I have been extremely proud of my boys. 

My brother is quoted in todays front page article in the Kingsport Times News.  Click here to read the article "Surface mine foes, supporters jam MECC".  The article is about an Obama administraion (big surprise) proposal to suspend a mining permit that would affect nearly 80 mining permits in SWVA not to mention affect coal mining in 5 other states.  Those of you reading this from SWVA know exactly what this would do to these towns and the people that live in them.  Dougie has been active in the fight with the Friends of Coal group in trying to fight this legislation (hrm.. sound like someone else you know.. tehe.. like sister like brother I suppose). 

His two paragraphs in the Kingsport Times News reads "Douglas Fleming a third-generation coal miner, challenged enviornmentlaists to stop using electricity and if they don’t, said they are hypocrites.  He said he found it ironic that while the nation battles terrorism around the world, coal miners and their families are fending off an assault against their livelihoods, homes and families. "These so-called environmentalists have launched a terrorist war against us in Appalachia"  Fleming said eliciting a huge roar of approval.

He is also quoted in the Coalfield Progress article on that event as well.  Anyway I’m very proud of him.  Us Fleming kiddos have always been known to speak our minds!  To get more information on this subject visit www.friendsofcoal.org. 

I’m also very proud of Ray.  Along with his Dragonfly Digital photography business, Ray is also a MaxPreps photographer and shoots various sporting events etc for that organization.  Which in and of itself isn’t an easy thing to get your certification to be a MapPreps photographer.  And this week one of Ray’s photos from the DB/South football game was featured in their national gallery sponsored by Snickers.  To check out Rays photo click here www.maxpreps.com/photo/themed_gallery.aspx. 

We got back from NY late Tuesday night.  I will try to post pics soon.  The trip was good.  It was nice to get away…I really needed that. This pregnancy has not been easy for me.   I could use your prayers for my family (me, Ray and peanut).  I appreciate all of your love and support.

nic&nut

We went today and Peanut is a HE-Nut and he was all too proud to show off his stuff.  There is no doubt he is a little boy!  They did all the scans and thus far the baby is healthy and great. 

(someday he will kill me for posting this shot.. sorry p-nut.. mommy’s already ruining your life and you aren’t even here yet!)

More ultrasound pics are posted in the preggo folder.

He is quite the active little boy (of course he is have you met his momma..ha).  In 3 of the last 4 ultrasounds he has been kicking up a storm.  The ultrasound tech and the doctor both commented on his crazy movements.  At one point he was even standing on his head.  When we first peaked in on him he was on his belly with his butt up in the air.  This ultrasound lasted about an hour and a half and the little guy moved the entire time.  They had trouble getting all the measurements they needed because he is so active!  Oh my will I have my hands full. 

Momma (nana)  got to go with us and was ooooo sooo excited to see her first glimpse of her 1st grandbaby.  The ultrasound tech had to hand her some kleenex’s when she heard his heartbeat for the first time! 

I have posted new pics to the goat roast, preggo, birthday, koen and daddy doug folders.  Hope all of you are doing great.  Here are a few pics to enjoy.

Me & Ray at the Goat Roast

Who’s preggo here??  BTW Dougie is so sucking it in!!!  Cheater!!

 I started this pregnancy (of course not knowing that i was preggo) doing the biggest loser with the kiddos at work.  Which when I told everyone we switched mine to biggest gainer!  So I continue to weigh in with them to see how much I’m gaining.  Count thus far.. 6 lbs! 

Me & Momma took peanut to his first concert a few weeks ago.  Percy Sledge!

  Here are a few pics of some getting the news for the first time.     

  Gleason got it in a "grandpa" fathers day card with a pic of "baby ray" in it.

 I showed Vinay a preg test when he came in for my birthday. 

 The girls heard the news at the gym the first time the three of us were together. 

Peanut likes to bump out to his playlist while we are at work.  One speaker for me and one for him!

   Blast from the past.. who is that girl?  This is me 7 weeks preggo and noticing my tummy getting thicker.. wow and i thought I was getting big then.. look at me now.. YIKES!

So there you go an update on me and my little boy.. the acrobat!! HA! 

Please continue to pray for my family (me, Ray & the nut).  We need & appreciate your love, support & prayers.

mother-nut

Most of you already know this by now, but for the off chance you don’t i’m 15 weeks pregnant! 

With the exception of some nausea & a few other annoying things I have been feeling pretty good.  No we don’t know what we are having yet, but hope to find out in the next few weeks.  For the time being we are calling the baby peanut..because the baby was smaller than one when I found out I had a bun in the oven.  FYI peanut has now graduated to the isze of an apple and my belly is getting bigger by the day!  I started showing around 12 weeks and since then it has been a belly explosion.  In good news I’ve only gained 4 pounds even though it looks like 15!

Anyway I’m excited, but also a little scared and we could use your prayers for me, Ray & peanut.

Here are a few pics of my peanut & my growing bump.  I have other pictures, but my computer has been down for a few months so i’m working off the laptop. Ray has to get my other one back up before I will have all the stuff i need to pull off pics from my birthday, hilton head and our friends & family stuff.

my peanut

It almost looks like peanut is trying to smile at  us!

4 weeks.   

12 weeks

Now.. 15 weeks.

I hope all of you are doing well. Please remember me, peanut & ray in your prayers.

momma to be

Saturday went to both C-woods in one day to celebrate mothers day with our mommas.

Happy Mothers day Mom and Sandy.  We love you both very much!

We celebrated on Saturday because our anniversary fell on Mothers Day this year.  Six years ago today Ray and I were married on the day before Mothers Day (who plans their wedding on a holiday weekend anyway..ha.. oh wait we did!)

Both our mommas were very understanding and for the 3rd time since we have been married gave up their day with us to give us time to celebrate together.

Typically Ray and I go out of town on our anniversary however since he leaves next week for his Yellowstone adventure we decided to stay here this weekend. 

One of my favorite things to do on vacation is crawl out of bed, throw on some clothes and go eat a big breakfast …so this morning that is exactly what we did.  We rolled up at IHOP around 10:30.  And no I didn’t eat all of this.. I made it about 1/2 way through before I was too stuffed to continue, but it sure was fun trying and yes that is strawberry stuffed french toast.. yum!  However true to form Mr. Austin ate every last bite of his and my sausage too! 

After stuffing ourselves, we worked it off by walking 9 holes of golf.   Ray and I both love to golf (although as with anything he is so much better at it than I am), it was a gorgeous day and neither one of us have dragged our clubs out of storage in about 2 years so we decided to go. 

And after 6 years of marriage, he will still do sweet things for me like carry my bag.. even if it was just for one hole! 

 I decided to take a little break and soak up some sunshine!

After golfing, and after showers of course we had a delicious dinner at Chop House and went for a stroll on the green belt. 

Ray saw some rare bird there a few weeks ago.  So we stood below the birds nest for about 15 minutes waiting to see if I could catch a glimpse of it too.  Of course since I wanted to see it the darn bird never stood up out of the nest.  However it was funny to watch people try to figure out what we were looking at.  One group of ladies even stopped and asked us what we were waiting on..ha!  

On the way home we stopped to get some ice cream.. which was a great ending to a great day.  I’m not sure if it was just because today was the first day without rain in a while or because it was mothers day, but every other person in town had the same idea we did and there were lines out the door for ice cream.  Marble Slab even had their mascot "slabby" outside the store greating people as they came in.  We decided not to wait and went to TCBY where it was also craziness and lines.  Apparently they were running some type of special because the girl who rang us up ask if we were there for mothers day while at the same time nodded her head to tell us that we were.  We both smiled and said sure we are and got our ice creams 1/2 off! 

It’s hard to believe six years have passed since that sunny, crazy, hectic day (see May 10,07 post).  With each year we have faced challenges, hardships, blessings and surprises and we have made it through them all by enjoying the good times and working through the bad.  Thanks for loving me because of my shortcomings not in spite of them.  Happy Anniversary Mr. Austin.

Pics from mothers day & anniversary are posted.

Mrs. Austin

What a busy, crazy weekend we’ve had.  Thankfully everything has turned out ok, but we had quite a scare in my family this weekend. 

Saturday morning while Michelle was showering  her face starting tingling and feeling numb.  She thought it was odd, but continued getting ready.  A few minutes later she came into the living room to tell Tim something, but couldn’t seem to get the words out.  She tried for a few mintues, but it kept sounding garbled.  Then her arm and her leg went numb and that’s when they took her to the ER. 

She endured a ct scan, spinal tap and a barrage of other tests Saturday.  She was transported by ambulance that  afternoon to JCMC stroke unit.  No worries though I talked to her during her ride and she was texting and making friends with the little guy riding in the back of the ambulance with her.  She even managed to get him to take a pic of himself so she could send to her friends.  She tried to take it a few times and he finally said "do you just want me to snap it".. ha!  They did an MRI on her yesterday.  They were looking to make sure she hadn’t had a stroke, internal bleeding or anything else that might have caused her body to act that way and fortunately she passed all with flying colors.  It appears this was a complex migraine which is odd because she has never had one of these before.  However it may start happening more often now.  She is on some meds to help her symptoms when it happens.

So after giving all of us a good scare she is doing good.  Ray and I made our way to JC yesterday to see her and she was ready to go.  Apparently a nurse that morning told her she might be able to go home by lunch.  So the whole Austin clan was hungry and ready to head for Olive Garden… especially sister!  However her attending doctor came by before we got there and told her that he would not release her until he heard from the radiologist reading her MRI even though they had already been told it was fine.  She was antsy and asked the nurse if she could go ahead and put her clothes on.. the answer.. a definate NO!  Apparently putting your clothes on is a big deal when they don’t want you to leave.  I’m not sure if they thought she was going to bust out of there or what, but they would only allow her to wear pjs or the hospital gown!  Finally around 1, Shell gave up her Olive Garden plans and Ray, Tim, Gleason and myself went to get everyone something to eat.  This was the first time (we are talking 9 years here) that Gleason had ever let me drive him anywhere and i’m guessing it will be the last..ha!   He claims I almost killed him when I turned into Zaxby’s and was succesfully able to dodge two cars that almost hit me!  Tim praised my defensive driving, Gleason hollered like a girl and Ray just sat there shaking his head (he claims he is used to my terrible driving)!  It was in Zaxby’s that I discovered something I have never considered.. chickens can fly!!!! 

Seriously I never knew that and of course my father-in-law quite enjoyed that conversation.  I’m telling you I’ve only ever seen some seriously strutting walking chickens but have NEVER EVER seen one take flight.  Gleason says that’s because most of the time people clip their wings to keep them from "flying the coop".. huh.. that kinda makes sense.

Anyway back to the sister story.  She was finally released around two yesterday afternoon.  This was after all 6 of us were pilled up in her room for hours sitting on every available perch.  Of course at one point Ray got bored and raised her bed as high as it would go which was about 7 ft in the air! 

Finally she got the all clear to put her clothes on and an orderly arrived with a wheel chair big enough for two!  Shell told me to hop in and he pushed both of us out of there.  It wasn’t until we cleared the elevators that we asked if this would get him in trouble.. he said "i dont know i’ve never done it before.. but i hope not" ha! 

So thanks for your prayers this weekend for my family.  Sister we love you and are so thankful that you are ok.

I hope your weekend was less exciting than mine. 

Ok on to happy birthdays:

Happy beleated to miss Sheryl Lou who’s bday was last Wed.  I love you my little creative, bead making, cross stitching, buffy watching friend.  We need to celebrate soon.

Happy belated to Wendelina who’s bday was Saturday.  Much love to my 80’s rocking, fleetwood mac loving, shoe trading, poofy haired partner in crime.  Our Charlies Angels trio just wouldn’t be complete without you!  

And last but not least, HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY TODAY to Luke.  My SATC watching, crazy eyes mcee who is my meantarded brother from another mother and loves me because of and in spite of all my flaws and quirks. Welcome to the old folks club Luka!

Happy Monday,

the sister formerly known as worried!

Tonight I was reminded of a funny story from a long time ago and it made me want to share it with all of you.

It’s a stream of conscious kinda thing so follow along with me here.  One Wednesday night a month is BUNCO with my girlies (its a dice game.. look it up if you dont know what i’m talking about… it’s actually lot of fun).  It’s basically an excuse for the 12 of us to get together..eat, laugh and have a really ridiculous time.  Tonight at BUNCO I was eating cheetos and for some reason I started thinking about the old cheeto commercials.  You know the ones where Chester Cheeta would say…aye yae yae at the end?  However I couldn’t quite remember the punch line that came before the aye yae yae.  So I just kept saying aye yae yae in my Chester Cheeta voice until it finally came to me.  Wendy had no clue what I was doing and thought I was about to have a seizure. 

Chester Cheeta use to say "it ain’t easy being chessy aye yae yae" and yes I can do that noise so well you would think you were chillin with the cheeta himself!  I was so proud that I finally remember it that I posted that phrase as my status on facebook. 

Now this where the story from the past comes into play.  When I was 16 my cousin Kent took me to see Hootie and the Blowfish in concert.  We were both huge Hootie fans at the time and jammed out to the cd’s the entire drive up to Roanoke all the while eating cheetos!  Of course in my excitement I was flipping through to my fav songs on the cd.  However it didn’t take too long before Kent noticed the tiny cheesy fingerprints I had left all over the buttons of his stereo.. in his NEW JEEP!  Yes that’s right.. chester cheeta and her blowfish left my own brand of paw prints all up on his stereo.  And guess what… THEY WOULDN’T WIPE OFF!  Literally those cheesy fingerprints are still riding around somewhere in a tan jeep wrangler.  So if your ever need my finger prints look up the new owner!

Ok flash back to facebook now.  Tonight when I left "nicole says it ain’t easy being cheesy aye yae yae" as my facebook status Kacy (my cousin Kent’s wife) left me a comment that said "yeah well Kent says it aint easy getting cheeto stains off your stereo either".  Now you guys might not think that is funny, but I laughed out loud HARD at that one… not just a slight chuckle..i gave a full force belly laugh on that one for about 2 minutes.  Such a funny story.   I guess it’s good that my family loves me even if I am a huge goof and stained his stereo with my cheesy fingers.  I do love me some cheetos though!

Ok so there.  I have officially blogged twice this week.  Your welcome Sheryl..ha!  She told me tonight at BUNCO that my once a month blogging just wasn’t going to cut it! 

Hope you had a happy hump day!

cheesy poof

As usual, Easter was a whirlwind of food, family and lots of fun.  Three houses in 3 days always keeps us in a rush and we feel like we don’t really get to spend a whole lot of time with anyone!

Here are some pics from our weekend.

Friday night was fun at the Fleming household!

Here’s two of my favorite cowboys/men of the wilderness.. yes check out my grizzly bear hubby.  It appears he’s growing some facial hair in preparation for his upcoming yellowstone adventure.

Poppie and I spent most of Saturday watching a marathon of 3rd Rock from the Sun episodes (I forgot just how funny that show actually was) while I "experimented’ with his hair.  He had quite the interesting do when i was done!

Saturday night and early Sunday we spent with the Austin crew and of course our adorable nephew Koen! 

Here’s Uncle Ray channeling Koens mood.  You don’t mess with the Austin-Powers boys!

Koen was such a trooper this morning.  He was up bright and early for sunrise service and didn’t cry at all!  The entire fam was there so of course Koen did lots of lap surfing and he clapped and smiled his way through most of the service!

 After stuffing ourselves with a wonderful breakfast at church this morning we were off to the other cwood to hang with mom, Eddie, Dougie, Ambra, my step-sister Trista and her husband.  And you guessed it we had more yummalicous vittles from my mommy. 

We all know I’m a BIG kid at heart and STILL LOVE to color and hide eggs.  We actually hid Koen’s plastic ones for Shell and Tim to find when they got home Saturday night!  While shopping with my dad on Friday he asked if I wanted to get some coloring to do eggs with him.  I declined.. I figured until I have some kids of my own I probably should stop coloring eggs for my own benefit…I mean I am 30 now!  But it did make me a little sad.  Last year was the first time I haven’t colored eggs and it’s a hard tradition to break.  However.. da da daaaaaaaaaaamm.. Mommasone to the rescue.  When I got to her house today.. guess what.. yuppers.. SHE colored eggs FOR ME!  Am I spoiled you may ask.. nope.. just LOVED!  Thanks momma!  Although I will say we didn’t hide them.. so there.. I have grown up slightly!

Since I was a kid I have bought her a corsage to wear on Easter.  However the ones they had today didn’t look so great so I broke tradition slightly and bought her some beautiful purple tulips. 

Here’s her "favorite" son-in-law posing with her as if he bought her the flowers.

 New pics are posted in the Easter folder.  I hope your Easter was a blessed and joyful as ours was. 

 He is not here: for he is risen as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

~Matthew 28.7

 bunny

On September 11 a group of the Chamber kiddos decided to give blood.  It was our way to commerate that tragic day and give something back.  As much as I HATE needles I was going to do it.  However once I got there they wouldn’t let me because I had been to Mexico in the past year.  They said I would be eligable to give in October.  However October came and went and I have been meaning to go ever since. 

This was the first time I have ever voluntarily gave blood and WOW was I scared.  Luckily Lara and some other Chamber peeps went with me.  Of course as with anywhere this crew travels we were laughing, cutting up and making a scene.  I’m not sure if they loved us or not, but we certainly had them entertained!   I have a hunch they found us fun because when I got back to the office I had a message from one of the staff calling to make sure I was ok!  How nice was that!  It took me 30 minutes (apparently I have tiny veins and low blood pressure) to give.  Which is really slow.  They even made me chug a bottle of water trying to speed up the process!  Finally after a LONG 30 minutes i was done! 

And I was oh so proud.  It felt nice to do something good for someone else even if it hurt me a little to do it.  I can’t promise I will go back, but I’m not closing my mind to it.  As long as I have Lara belle there to hold my hand I might try it again.  And yes she said I about broke her fingers when they stuck me! 

So even if it terrifies you (and believe me I was petrified) everyone should try it once… because you could save a life!

And truthfully the idea of it is much worse that the actual pain. 

 I have been out of town with work a lot lately so my office has been empty and I work with a bunch of pranksters.  Friday was my first day in the office this week.  I was sitting at my desk Friday morning talking to a coworker when she looked up and said "did you know there is a rotten banana hanging from your ceiling tile?" 

I looked up and indeed hoovering above my desk was the real life nanerpuss!  HA!  How funny is that?!  I have no idea who put it there or how long it would have taken me to discover it’s presence, but that my friends is FUNNY! 

Oh how I love the silly people in my life.  You kids are too much!

Speaking of kids.. here is my BIG one.  Ray Ray is taking his trip of a lifetime in a few months.  He, Tim and Blair will be backpacking across yellowstone and he couldn’t be more excited.  This is something he has always wanted to do and is a photographers dream.  However to do such a trip you need lots of supplies.  So over the past few weeks a variety of camping tools, equimpment, boots, clothes and other items have shown up on my door. 

This though is already one of his favs and trust me he will need it.  Weather in Yellowstone can be hot during the day, but dip down into the 20’s and 30’s at night.  Hopefully this sleeping bag will keep my boo snug as a bug on those cold yellowstone nights.. and darn it if he won’t be cute as a button doing it too!

The funny thing is this bag can accommodate all 6.1 feet of him, but compresses into this teeny tiny little sack perfect for a backpack.  Ah its the little things in life right. 

Hope you kiddos are doing good!

the blood donor!

I just got back from Nashville and what a fun trip it was.  Of course Nashvegas is my second home and I always have a great time when I go, but this trip by far ranks as one of my favs. 

Last night while walking to dinner with some collegues, I noticed John playing as we passed Tootsies.  Well we all know what a huge John Stone fan I am so I just had to come back.  He usually doesn’t play on Wednesday nights and doesnt go on usually before 10 p.m. and here it was like 7:30 and he was on stage.  So after dinner I walked back up to see the show, but he had just finished his set.  He had picked up an early shift because someone had cancelled.  So for the first time he actually had some time to hang out and chat with me instead of between songs or late night after a show.

Ok let me preface the rest of this by explaining that this is CRS- week in Nashville which stands for Country Radio Seminar.  CRS week basically brings radio execs, artists and employees from all across the country to town.  While we were still at Tootsies the guitar player from Lynard Skynard got up on stage.  Toby Keith was playing two places down from us.  The stars were definately out in Nashville last night boys and girls!  John asked if i wanted to go do something fun so we headed out to the Renaissance where a CRS after party was in full swing!

There I met Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish who has a country album out.  I also met Trent Tomlinson, Trent Willmon and saw Lady Antebellum!  What could be better than hanging out with John while cruising around a fun event with all these country music performers!  It was such a fun night!

Needless to say this trip will definately go down as one of my favorite memories from all my nights in Nashville!

country girl

Hey kiddos!  Here’s your slacker blogger friend.

Things have been pretty busy in my neck of the woods.  But I wanted to take a moment to ask you to send up a few prayers for me.

My mom is having some tests done tomorrow.  She is ok, but I’m never comfortable when it comes to someone that I love especially when its my MOMMA!  She has to have an ultrasound, colonoscopy and endoscopy tomorrow.  She has been sick on and off the past few months and i’m hoping that these tests will bring us the answers as to why.  So send a few prayers up for her that all goes ok.  The only good thing about it she got to spend the night with me tonight.  Nurse Nicola will take care of the mommasone!

Also on another note my mother in law has to have a procedure done in the morning as well.  Again nothing too serious, but when it comes to my friends and family I always worry.

I hope all of you are doing good out there in the blogosphere.. actually i’m doubting anyone out there besides my momma probably even reads this anymore since I have become a complete and total slacker!  I guess when you go hard at it for 3 years you get burned out.  Maybe one of these days my life will calm down a little and I will revert back to my focus on the blog.  For now though you may have to settle for weekly snippets!

the concerned daughter

I was buzzing through the commercials tonight while watching Idol and caught a glimpse of this.  It looked so strange I had to rewind and I’m glad I did because this is hilarious!

Check out this commercial for Denny’s.  There are also all kinds of funny spoofs of it on YouTube.  It’s so crazy it’s funny.  My favorite part is when its eye pops off and I love the name… nanerpuss.  Now that’s ingenious & cheap marketing.  Denny’s I give you two thumbs up for this one!

Nanerpuss Commercial click here to view.

Naner

Yesterday  on the way home from Nashville I encountered the funniest convience store clerk.  He made my experience actually fun.  We stopped at a Pilot outside of Knoxville.  Pilot stations are really great gas stations.. almost as good as Sheetz.. if they only had made to order food they would tie! 

Anyway I was attempting to get a milkshake from the machine and it said "see attendant".  So I walked over to one of the many clerks and said "the milkshake machine isn’t working and it’s saying I should see you!"  He looked at me very serious and said.. "WHAATTT.. oh no we gotta get on this right away".  He then picked up the speaker and announced "Emily please go to the milkshake station.. we have a machine down and a customer in dire need of a milkshake.  We can’t deny her this simple pleasure.. get on it STAT!"  I burst out laughing as he smiled back at me and said "we are on it maam.. you’ll have you shake within minutes!"

He then came over to make sure that Emily was taking care of my milky needs.  It was hilarious.  After a quick cleaning of the machine I was in business and it was yummy!  Made from real ice cream not the powder stuff.  As I was checking out he was ringing up this young boy.  He looked at the kid and said "did you find all the refreshments you needed there little guy?  Would you like to add a hubcap or maybe a screw driver to your order?"  He was absolutely hilarious and it made my stop there worthwhile!

Now that’s enjoying your job and making it fun for others.. oh how I love the simple things in life.

Speaking of simplicity.  I came home tonight after the storm to find our power was out.  Ray and I were hungry and decided to do it up pioneer style.  We lit a ton of candles and Ray fired up the grill.  I REALLY wanted mac and cheese so we put a pot of water on the grill and waited for it to boil.  I must tell you it takes a lot longer than you think to boil water this way, but after some time it finally worked.  We had mac and cheese, grilled chicken and baked beans.. all courtesy of grill master Ray Ray’s griling wizardry.  I also fired up the ole fondu pot, cut up some fresh strawberries and made choc covered strawberries for desert.  It was o so yummy and Ray and I enjoyed our impromtu candle lit dinner.  The power came back on right as Ray turned off the grill to bring in the food.  Of course immediately our candle lit haven was transformed to gadgets coming back on and lights blaring that we had unconsciously flipped on muliple times out of habit.  However Ray walked over, flipped them back off and I enjoyed a fabulous dinner with my fabulous hubby. 

Our power was probably out for a little over two hours and it was really nice to hang out in the silence without all the everyday distractions that fill our evenings.  However powers back on now and I have reconnected with the rest of the world and thought I would share these two simple occurances with you.

Hope you find a power outage or a happy convenience store clerk to remind you of the simple pleasures that are out there to make you smile!  Happy hump day peeps

candlelina

Yes it is two blogs in one day!  Friday night was our Annual Dinner and I have to say this year was by far my favorite entertainment. 

The FabFour a Beatles cover band performed and were a huge hit with the crowd.  While our Annual Dinner is an amazing event each year and everyone throughly enjoys it you typically don’t see dancing at the event.  Well this year the area in front of the stage was so crowded with people dancing to songs of the Beatles you couldnt even squeeze in there.  At one point there was even a congo line!  We had a record attendance with over 1400 people in attendance this year! 

Here are a few pics from the night.  Of course Ray and Tim shot the event again this year and he will post the rest soon on www.dragonflydigital.org.

Me and my super handsome Dragonfly guy!  Step away ladies he’s mine!

 Charlies Angels and the FabFour!

Me & my hair bump.  Ray and Tim weren’t crazy about my retro hair style of the night, but I did get a lot of compliments from others on it.  Oh well it never hurts to try something different every once in a while so just Let It Be baby!

Check out a few more under Annual Dinner.

Little Beatle

Thanks for your patience guys.  I have posted pics from our New York trip.  Ray has a ton more of the City that he will post on Dragonfly Digital when he gets them finished. 

I have also posted pics from the Annual Dinner, Dad’s birthday and Tim’s birthday so check them out.

Ok here’s a brief recap of our trip.  It was an absolutely amazing time.  Everyone should do New Years in NYC at least once.  We were fortuante to have reservations at a restaurant in Times Square.  So for most of the night with the exception of the walk there and 20 minutes before midnight we were toasty and warm inside.  The restaurant’s walls were glass so we could look outside and see all the people in the streets.  Our package came with appetizers, dinner, a dj and dancing and it was a blast!  However getting there was interesting.  New Years there is organized chaos!  The streets and subways into that area close at like 4 that day and every block has a baracade with police officers.  So after walking about 30 blocks and showing our passes to officers on every block we finally made it to the restaurant in about an hour and a half after we got off the subway!  It was SOOOOOO cold and the 7 of us pretty much had to lock arms and bust our way through people.

Once inside we danced, ate and laughed the night away.  About 20 minutes til midnight the DJ announced that it was time to go outside.  The police opened up the barracade and we stood with thousands of others and watched the ball drop with a perfect view while we listened to Elton John singing LIVE!  It was soooo much fun.  Confetti reigns down and it was just really cool to be part of that moment with all my friends!  From India to NYC we are quite a close crew!

The Playright Tavern was our restaurant.  This is it in relation to the ball.  You can see it in the background.  Ps.. the ball is sooooo much smaller in person than you think itwould be.  I guess when you are looking at it in comparison to the huge buildings all around it it seems so tiny!

Here we are playing in the confetti..i mean trash..haha.  This was on our way home.  The streets are covered in confetti and trash.  Well we thought we would be cute and throw some of it on ourselves.. that’s when we realized that mixed in with it were coke bottles and other left over items from the crowd!  Oh well we didnt care!

The next day we went to Sleepy Hollow cemetary (yes its the same sleepy hollow from the lengend of the headless horseman).  That night we went into the city has some New York style pizza, saw the tree at Rockefeller Center and visited the Merrill Lynch bull on Wall street.

How can anyone not love the view of the NYC sky line.  It is just gorgeous at night.  Ray has a breath taking panarama of it I can’t wait for all of you to see.  And yes it will soon be available for purchase at Dragonflydigital.org.  He’s so talented!

Here’s Ray shooting a light house on a frozen lake outside of White Plains and yes it was THAT cold there!  BRRRRRR.

We were back in the City bright and early the next day for a trip to China town and Canal Street where Charlies Angels set their sights on some new hand bags!  I love love love walking the streets and listening for the tell tell whisper.. Gucci, Prada, Coach.. you want hand bag… follow me.  Oh yes the Angels were on a mission.  After some serious haggling and about 5 visits to various back rooms of a back room of a another back room and one trip inside a garage we walked away satisfied with our new Coach bags!  Yay!

Saturday it was off to Hersey, PA where we all about sent ourselves into a sugar coma with all that chocolate!  But it was oh so good.  We did the tour at Chocolate World, ate sundae’s in the food court and saw a 3-D movie with dancing hersey bars!  It was fantastic!  We also did a trolly tour of the town and yes it is true the street lights really are shaped like Hersey Kisses!  I was on cloud 9. 

I hope all of you had a wonderful New Year.  Dont forget to check out the pics under New York, Annual Dinner, Daddy Doug and Mom and Dad Austin.  I have really been cropping and posting this weekend! 

I’ll leave you with this pic.. the good old fashioned pillow fight that broke out the last night of our trip in PA.  This is what happens when 7 friends have adjoining rooms.. and they stop being polite and start getting real.. oh wait we did that a long time ago.. anyway.. yay… pillow fight!!!!!

NYC Niki

Hi guys!  Yes I know I have dropped off the face of the planet and am a terrible blogger because I STILL haven’t cropped and uploaded the bagillion pics we took in New York.. New York you say.. yes I know you’ve already lost interest it’s been so long ha!

So I will spare you the how busy I have been personally and professionally mumbo jumbo and just give you something to read.  How about that?

Today I had the Governor in town to do a luncheon with our Chamber membership.  They day started out crazy because for only the 2nd time since I have worked there our Chamber was closed due to weather.  Literally it’s only happened twice in 5 years because we NEVER get any substantial amount of snow. 

Well last night we did and it was slick, icy and snowy mess at my house.  Thankfully I parked at the bottom of my hill and after some serious warm up time and de-icing I finally made it to my event.  One of my legislators even offered to come pick me up in a 4 wheel drive so I could get there!  Thankfully I didn’t have to go that drastic and we were able to get me on the road.  However my morning was spent making sure the Gov could still make the trip in, coordinating phone calls on my cell from the house, sending out mass emails letting everyone know the event was still on etc.

I finally got there by 10 and the event went off without at hitch at 11:30.  I did an interview with the Governor for the City’s cable channel.  It’s on YouTube if you are interested in watching.  And yes I know i’m a head nodder.. it’s what I do on camera and when i’m talking to someone..ha!  The spot was filmed by Elixir Group. 

Click this link to view the YouTube video with Governor Bredesen. 

Later taters.

snow princess

ps.. Happy 30th Birthday Tim!  Welcome to the old folks club!!! 

Ok I know this isn’t a blog about our New York trip or the pictures from that fabulous good time (although you have probably already lost interest) however I did this survey the other day and thought it would make a good blog.

I do promise to post a blog and pics soon about that adventure.  I haven’t yet because I have a million pics to sort, crop, upload etc and I honestly just haven’t had the time.  Work is REALLY busy right now to say the least and I’ve been gone a lot.  I will do it soon!

In the meantime enjoy learning some odd things about your pal Nicole.

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.

1. I have a serious and bonafied addiction to chap stick.  Literally I have them in my car, my nightstand, my desk at work and the list goes on and on.   I once left a concert Kenny Chesney concert because i left it in the car. I wake up in the middle of the night and put it on. I can whip it out of my pocket, pop the cap off with one hand and apply it in the blink of an eye!  However this isn’t news to any of my friends so I will move on.

2. I love the smell of gasoline. No this isn’t weird lots of people do… RIGHT?? Just call me a huffer!

3. I love to laugh and surround myself with fun people who will laugh with me. I snort when something is REALLY funny. So if i’m snorting you are doing something right!

4. I have this odd tendency to arch my left eyebrow when taking a picture… just the left eyebrow. I have no idea how it happens and I can’t seem to do it when i’m trying, but put a camera in front of me and there it goes! Sometimes I think to myself… am I arching my eyebrow right now??

5. Cooking is a stress reliever for me. I love to pull out random ingredients and see what i can come up with.

6. I once won a radio contest by calling in with the correct answer. I was so excited that I actually won something I blurted out YAAAAAAAY several times in the voice of the character that wears the football helmet on crank yankers! They put sound effects behind it and I sounded so goofy and the dj was laughing at me. My cell phone rang off the hook for an hour after that. Who knew all my friends would be listening on their drive home too!!

7. I have two cats that I adore! I talk to them like they are people and reason with them when they do something wrong. This either makes me crazy or is preparing me for motherhood!

8. I hate animated movies because they make me sad. There is always a part where someones feelings are hurt, someone dies…etc. I know they work it all out in the end but getting there makes me sad and I end up crying my eyes out! I will say that Shrek is the exception. I LOVED all three of those!

9. I’m an optimist and always searching for that silver lining… (although I do give myself proper wallowing time..ha). I’m inspired by anyone who can overcome adversity and find something positive in their lives.

10. I’m morbidly facinated with crime shows. I’m a forensic files, dominick dunne, case files of dayle hinman junkie. I love to curl up on the couch and see how they solve a crime when all the criminal left behind was a fiber from a rug or bacteria from pond water..ha! However watching these scare me and I then have trouble sleeping!

11. I LOVE to travel and am always up for a road trip. I have been to 7 different countries and 26 states. My goal is to see as much of this world as I can while I’m here.

12. I will try almost anything once even if it petrifies me actually especially if it petrifies me. It’s like a game I have to play with myself.. you can do this Nicole..haha. Did I mention I’m a tad bit stubborn!

13. I’ve always secretly wanted to be an actress! I think it would be so much fun and would definately suite my taste for travel, meeting new people and doing new things.

14. I’m a firm believe in the power of prayer and trusting your troubles to God.

15. Some days I seriously considering running as fast and as hard as I can away from adulthood. I imagine myself escaping to a beach somewhere and opening up a shiver shack selling more shaved ice flavors than one can imagine!  I mean why not.. oh wait there I go day dreaming again!

16. I am a terrible singer, but I love to sing. When i’m not singing out loud I usually have something stuck in my head. I rock out in the car frequently and I know people are passing me thinking what is that crazy girl doing???!! Karaoke.. oh yeah I’m so in.. especially if I have my girls with me.. angels where you be!?

17. One of my favorite foods is a fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich although I hardly ever eat them anymore. My mom used to make them for me when I was a kid. And no its not really fried, but made in a pan like a grilled cheese. The peanut butter gets all goey and the bread crispy..yum!

18. I’m a messy/clusty girl. If there is something to be spilled or a way for me to fall or run into something i’m all over it!

19. I think dancing is food for your soul. Nothing helps you just let go of your troubles like an evening of shaking it with your homies!

20. I am self aware and full of flaws, but I pride myself in finding fabulous friends who love me in spite of and because of my quirks.

21. My friends and I are always texting/emailing random, ridiculous and seriously funny things we see, think of or do. I feel compelled to reach for my phone when I see something I know they will think is hilarious. I love getting these perfect little interruptions in my day and often laugh out loud alone in my office when I get their random notes & pics.

22. I’m the girl that will say.. ugh this is awful… taste this. And I will spend the next 10 mintues trying to convince you to do it. I’m not sure why I want you to do it too, but I just do so eat it already!  I recently ate a mini pig in the blanket dipped in chocolate at a party because I wanted someone to do it!  Thanks for not making me go that one alone Sheryl!

23. My favorite color is purple. Sometimes I buy things just because they are purple.. even if I dont really need it.

24. I’m a talker and will talk to just about anybody about just about anything. I say hi to random strangers in lines and love meeting new people. As you can imagine this was a nightmare for my mom when I was a kid!

25. I like reading stuff like this and finding out little things you wouldn’t necessarily learn in a conversation. And most of the time I will respond because I think it’s funny to remind myself of what an odd cookie I am ha!

26. Oh and I love to read facebook status updates to find out random things about my friends.. did I mention i’m a rule breaker and I just did 26!

the oddball

Well after a fantastic week in the Big Apple and Hersey, PA we are back home.  I promise to post a full update and pics soon.  Right now we are exhausted from an incredibly long drive in a mini van and a busy but fun week! 

I hope all of you had a wonderful new year. 

Remember to count your blessings and make each day of 2009 count!

roap tripper

Greetings from New York!  After a LONG trip we are FINALLY here.  You know you love your friends when you can spend 13 hours in a mini van together!!!

The trip up with our crew of course was a good time, but after hour 10 we all started to get a little restless and ready to be out of that van.  As you can imagine, Charlies Angels had to stop and make multiple bathroom trips which was gave us all a chance to get out and stretch.  We tried to match our music to the state we were traveling through.  On our bathroom break in West Virginia we gave tribute to John Denver and sang a few verses of Country Roads "West Virginia Mountain Momma take me home country roads"!  R.I.P - JD!!  We also listened to Billy Joel’s Allantown as we were passing through Allantown, PA.

It is coming a cold, but beautiful snow right now.  We are in for a CHILLY night  year in NYC.  The wind chill tonight is supposed to be between 0 - 10 degrees.. BUUUUURRRR!   However I’m sure we won’t care once we are bundled up with a million of our closest friends in Times Square tonight!!!!

Our K-Town crew wishes you the happiest of New Years from NYC. 

I’ll post pics from our SATC New Years soon. 

Love,

Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte

This is a face pie!  As a kid my biscuits, pancakes and just about anything else that can have a face made on it.. looked like this.  As you can imagine this was a BIG hit at my slumber parties.  It’s pretty great to have the parents that all the other kids love to hang out with!  I hope someday that I can be half the mom that she was and is!  I laughed out loud when I came in and saw it sitting on the counter.. some things never change… nor do I ever want them to.

Thanks for being so awesome momma and so darn funny!

As always Christmas was a whirlwind, but it was nice to spend some time with our families even if it was in a rush. 

Ah the joy of quality time with my brother!  Yes we are wrestling and yes I am losing.   I mean come on I’m 30 years old you would think he would get tired of beating up on me by now.. guess not!  And you kids wonder why i’m such a tough little redneck.. well here’s your answer.. I HAD to be!!!!  If I were a few inches bigger he would be in a world of trouble!

This was of course Koen’s first Christmas.  It seems he is already taking after uncle Ray Ray’s tradition of Christmas in a Santa hat!  What a cute duo they are!  Look out Santa the Austin-Powers boys are after your job!

Michelle made sure that Koen got off on the right foot with the guy in red and left cookies and milk for Santa!  MMMM.. oreo’s!  I bet Santa LOVED those!

Of course no Christmas would be complete without Ray’s tradition of shooting down mistletoe. 

I tried again this year, but Ray is the mistletoe shooter in the family. 

Ah but it was fun.. oh Ralphie now I see why you wanted that red ryder bb gun! 

 Dad those are supposed to go in your mouth not all over the floor.  Guess that’s what you get for kidding Dougie about not getting any of them!  Oh well don’t cry over spilled cookies.

Here’s hoping you had as wonderful of a pie faced, sibling wrestling, cookie spilling, gun shooting, cookies for Santa, rushed and overstuffed Christmas as we did. 

From my family to yours….

Merry Christmas

the sharpshooting mistle-toers!

Until next year… i’ll leave you with one of my favorite songs of the season! 

It’s that time, Christmas time is here
Everybody knows there’s not a better time of year
Hear that sleigh, Santa’s on his way
Hip, hip hooray for Christmas vacation

Let’s all deck the halls and light the lights
(jing-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-ling)
Get a toasty fire burning bright
(jang-a-lang-a-lang-a-lang-lang)
Give St. Nick the warmest welcome that he’s ever had
We’re so glad it’s Christmas vacation 

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
With the kids jingle belling,
and everyone telling you,
"Be of good cheer,"
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

On this joyus day, don’t get too wrapped up in your presents and full on your feast… remember Jesus is the reason for the season! 

Come they told me
Pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see,
Pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring
Pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King
Pa rum pum pum pum
Rum pum pum pum
Rum pum pum pum
So to honor Him
Pa rum pum pum pum,
When we come.
 

Be thankful for the many blessings you receive on this day and throughout the year, remember to tell those dear to your heart that you love them and be joyful because on this day Christ was born to save us all.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Let your heart be light
From now on,
our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Make the Yule-tide gay,
From now on,
our troubles will be miles away.

Be kind, be thoughtful, be light in your heart..
Be jolly, be joyful & be of good cheer
enough for this Christmas to last until next year!

Merry Ho Ho,

Ray & Nic
 

Carrie & Dave asked if we could play Santa.. or at least Santa’s storage so Wesley wouldn’t see his Santa present until Christmas morning.  Of course we said it was ok and this is what we are storing in our garage.  Please excuse the mess you see in the background it is a messy garage!

Anyway last night they arrived with this John Deere Tractor complete with a hauling bucket on the back!  I felt like a kid at Christmas myself.. I can’t imagine how excited Wesley will be when he sees it!

It was soooo cute I just had to give it a try…(well I did have some urging from Ray to get on it so he could take my picture). 

Merry Christmas eve peeps.. I’ve gotta run.  It’s off to see my mom and let our Christmas merry go round begin.  As always 3 houses in two days and LOTS and LOTS of FOOD! 

tractor momma

Up on the housetop
reindeer pause,
Out jumps good old Santa Claus.
Down thru’ the chimney
with lots of toys,
All for the little ones,
Christmas joys.
Ho, ho, ho!
Who wouldn’t go!
Ho, ho, ho!
Who wouldn’t go!
Up on the housetop,
click, click, click,
Down thru’ the chimney
with good Saint Nick.
 

Ah Christmas is a joy no matter how old the BOY!  When we were home for Thanksgiving Ray discovered something fun.. Koen’s toy hammer!  Ray absolutely loved that hammer and I have to admit i did too.  When you move it, it makes fun cartoonish noises.  We had so much fun with it I decided my hubby should have his very own.  It’s such a fun stress reliever.   Since it was his stocking stuffer and since I wanted to  play with it I let him open it last night.  All afternoon we have walked around slapping each other randomly with the funky sounding hammer.  See those toys are good for the young and the YOUNG at heart!  You guys have GOT to get one of these!

Today I got an awesome gift of my own… chap sticks.. in BULK.  A friend brought them by the office for me today.  Ya know I just love having friends that think of me whey they see economy sized chapsticks while walking the aisles of Sams Club!  Thanks so much we all know how much I LOVE my chap stick brand chapsticks!
 

Twinkies! - We all know Lara and I are kinda similar.  We are both silly girls and often me, Wendy and Lara will say the same thing at the same time.  Guess that’s the price you pay for being a Charlies Angel.  The other day though we both had to stop and laugh.  We stepped out of the car and were both wearing scarves tied the same way and hats.  It was so random, unplanned and funny.  So here it is my twin.. Lara pants and our cute scarves and hats!  Although you can barely see my scarf.. it has disappeared into my hair!

And finally on today’s blog I would like to wish the happiest of birthdays to my little rugrat Aiden who is seven years old today.  I’m going to channel every old person I have ever met just now and say.. wow.. i can’t believe he is that old.  It seems like only yesterday he was born!  Mr. Aiden celebrated his birthday with his first sleep over last night.  Poor Les Lou had 7 kiddos running around her house for his star wars themed party.  Where she served Darth Tater Chips, French toast light sabers and a slew of other fun star wars themed foods.. (we know I can’t name them since Ray and I are the only people on the planet to have never seen any of those movies!).  Job well done Les!  Aiden, Aunt Macole loves you very much and can’t wait for you to call and sing to her the songs on your new karaoke game!  Even Mississippi Queen!

Now before I go I must acknowledge that I have just written three seperate blogs in one day!  Our internet has been out (another blog for another day.. ugh poor ray ray) and I CANNOT let miss Wendy down on her 12 days of Christmas song.  So there you go Wendy.  With these three and the two blogs I will do between here and Christmas we can fully finish our singing rounds! 

3 days and counting until Christmas!

elfy

Every body stops
and stares at me
These two teeth are
gone as you can see
I don’t know just who
to blame for this catastrophe!
But my one wish on Christmas Eve
is as plain as it can be!

All I want for Christmas
is my two front teeth,
my two front teeth,
see my two front teeth!

Saturday night was our little crews annual Christmas party at Wendy & Gerb’s.  We had such a good time that I did something completely unusual for me.. i didn’t take any pics.. well only 3 pics the entire night! 

So all I have to show you is me and the beautiful Miss Harper Nicole hanging out on the couch.  Isn’t she just a living doll.. and i’m loving that she is already sporting my favorite color.. PURPLE!

As always we had a gift exchange.. this year’s theme was to bring a gift from your  favorite holiday movie.  Ray and I brought A Christmas Story ornament which apparently was a great gift considering 3 other people did the same..haha!  Allison actually brought the movie itself complete with bar of soap for her gift along with National Lampoons Christmas Vacation to give away. 

As for the rest of the evening, it consisted of the girls hovering in the kitchen and  laughing until our stomachs hurt over our former hair styles, insane ex boyfriends, puffy prom dresses, hair picks with crazy sayings on them (Cindy swears hair picks used to have expressions on them) and old year book photos.  Sheryl and I even ended the evening by eating one of Wendy’s famous minuature pigs in the blankets.. however we added our own special touch and dipped them in chocolate fondu.  Disgusting.. yes, childish maybe (we did it kind of on a dare)… funny.. OH YEAH DEFINATELY!  There is a picture of this.. calling Wendel.. you must forward to me!

Not only did we celebrate Christmas homie style with the fellowship of best friends we also celebrated Chels birthday.  Notice anything familar… oh yes the ginormous and obxniously large candle is back baby!  We have got to get Wendel a back up supply of birthday candles!  However the big candle is kinda fun.  Maybe we should bring it to all our birthday parties from now on!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend.  Let the countdown to Christmas begin.. and no we STILL aren’t finished with all of our shopping.  Momma came over on Saturday and helped me do some.. but I still have 2 more left to buy.  Wow I am procrastinating in my old age..ha!

party peeps

 Dashing through the snow
On a one-horse open sleigh,
Over the fields we go,
Laughing all the way;
Bells on bob-tail ring,
making spirits bright,
What fun it is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
jingle all the way!
O what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh

Vinay was in town last week and while he was here I put the almighty lover of chocolate himself to work on my homemade Christmas care packages!

Instead of Christmas gifts to my friends this year I thought I would put the personal touch on it and make them all santa bags filled with candy! 

I made more peanut butter balls and pine bark (with the help of miss Lesley Danielle’s recipe) than you could shake a stick of butter at!  It looked like a full fledged workshop in my kitchen.

After all the candy was properly cooled I put my my houseguest to work filling those Santa bags.  We stuffed more than 20 bags of candy for my friends (if I left you out forgive me.. you either live too far away or i was in such a sugar coma I over looked you and i’m sorry).

We had a blast!  No worries our product was randomly taste tested to ensure good quality control. 

Ah if every season were Christmas I would be as big as a house! 

Merry almost Christmas peeps!

nutter butter!

Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Let your heart be light
From now on,
our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Make the Yule-tide gay,
From now on,
our troubles will be miles away.

Here we are as in olden days,
happy golden days of yore.
Faithful friends who are dear to us
gather near to us once more.
 

Tonight while channel surfing, since none of my shows are new until after the new year, I came across Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.. the original version with Gene Wilder.  I used to love this movie as a kid.  I mean what’s not to love.  It’s a movie about a magical chocolate factory complete with oompa loompas, lickable wall paper, spoiled brats who turn into giant blueberrys and a poor kid who finally gets a break in life!!!  I have to admit though i’m always grossed out by the four old people in night shirts sleeping in the same bed.. but other than that its great!  So if your in the mood for some mindless entertaiment turn on some Willy Wonka and get into the Christmas spirit! 

It’s also is getting me pumped up for our trip.  As you know, me and the homies are making the trek to NYC to spend New Years with Vinay, Anna and TIMES SQUARE! 

I have always wanted to go to Hersey, Penslyvania and we are planning to stop there on our way back.  So look out Pennsylvania it will be the Kingsport crews version of Willy Wonka goes wild in HERSEY!  Maybe I will see a chocolate river while i’m there!

On another NYC note miss Wendel made a fun discovery the other day.  You can go online and submit your wish for 2009 and it will be part of the confetti that reigns down on the crowd at the clock strikes 12!   So if you want to send your wishes our way we might just catch one for you.  Just go to www.timessquarenyc.org click on New Years Eve, then wishing well to submit your wish!

TGIF,

Wonka WonkaSleigh bells ring, are you listening,
in the lane, snow is glistening
A beautiful sight,
we’re happy tonight,
walking in a winter wonderland.
Gone away is the bluebird,
here to stay is a new bird
He sings a love song,
as we go along,
walking in a winter wonderland.
 

I think I’ve lost my Christmas MoJo!  I’ve yet to buy the first present.. YIKES!  Typically I LOVE Christmas shopping and have some sort of idea what I will get everyone.  I usually shop for hours and pick out that perfect personal gift, but for some reason I’m just not with it this year.

I tried to go on both Saturday and Sunday and nothing was jumping out at me.  I just walked around aimlessly at the mall like a woman without a purpose.  And the people in the stores this time of year just make me batty.  It’s like they’ve all lost their minds and their manners!  I walked into dollar tree to get a pack of gum and turned around and walked right back out because the line was halfway down the aisle. 

I have several on my list too that are really tough to shop for.  What do you get those that don’t need or want anything???  Any creative ideas?  My mom is coming over on Saturday and hopefully together we can get some of this stuff done.  The good thing is Ray and I aren’t really shopping for each other this year.  We are going to NYC for New Years with our friends and like India was last year that is our Christmas to each other.  

Ray and I always do an angel tree kid or a toy for tot.  And those my friends are the only presents I have purchased thus far.  Right now the economy is so tough I can’t help but think about all those that are truly struggling this Christmas.  I would love one year for my family not to buy each other presents, but instead to adopt a struggling family for the holidays.  Those are the ones that need things while times may not tight for the rest of us we are making it ok and have no idea what some people are going through right now.  So think about that this Christmas as you fill your cart don’t forget to help someone in need.  There are plenty of places to give your support.  Give something to a child who without you may not have a Christmas at all. 

Now..enough sad stuff.. can someone PLEASE send some elves to my house quickly to help me check my peeps off the list???!!! 

the late shopper

He’s making a list
And checking it twice;
Gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town
He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town

Friday night Ray and I decided to go out on a "date" to the movies.  I have wanted to see Four Christmases for weeks however Ray and I don’t have a great track record with going to the movies.

We always manage to sit beside the biggest rednecks in the theatre, restless kids who kick your seat, teenagers giggling and talking on their cell phones or a variety of other annoying movie goer habits.. and I assure Saturday was no exception.

We managed to make it to the start of the movie with no one sitting directly beside us, but as the lights went down a foursome piled in behind us.  I got completely into the movie and was having a great time when I looked over and saw a very unhappy Ray Ray.  I asked what was wrong and was met with the answer "ugh I hate people" which is Ray’s typical response when we are out in public..haha.  Seriously those of you that know him know this! 

I went on watching the movie and laughing (it is very cute movie) when Ray leaned in to me channeling his inner poltergiest and said  "IS THAT A FOOT??"  I wasn’t sure at first what he was referring to, but a quick glance to his shoulder and indeed a foot it was!  Actually it was a boot just chilling on Ray’s shoulder like it was supposed to be there!  I thought this was hilarious and proceeded to laugh hysterically.  I mean seriously.. this boot loving momma picks the most antisocial guy out of the entire theatre and rests her little puppies on his arm! 

Ok so Ray did NOT find ANY humor in this and seeing his level of discomfort and also knowing that he wasn’t going to do anything about it.. I took my hand and slapped her foot off of my honey’s arm.  I then proceeded to turn around and make the "are you freaking kidding me.. keep you feet off my husband" face coupled with a quick eye roll and a long sigh and that was the end of that!  I mean WHO does that?  Honestly are you so uncooth that you can’t make it for two simple hours without putting your feet on someone.  Shortly after the boot incident I saw the man beside our little boot lady kick his feet up on the empty chair beside Ray.  Apparently they had been kicking the back of his chair through most of the movie.  So there you have it.  Yet another movie and another not so great experience.  That must be why we curl up on the couch most of the time with some movies on demand and popcorn that doesn’t cost us $8 a bag!  At least we know the only unwanted vistors we will have invaiding our space here is Smo & Phebs and most of the time they are pretty cute!

Hope you had a great weekend peeps!

unhappy movie goers

I’m behind on my Christmas song lyrics this year and Wendy is waaaaay ahead of me in her 12 days of Christmas song, but I’m kicking it into gear today.   In honor of NKOTB’s comeback I will start my Christmas songs with them this year! 

Ho, ho, ho, oh, little train, my little elf, another great Christmas.
Ah, man, it’s boring, it’s boring, same thing every year,
so let’s have a funky Christmas!

Have a funky funky Christmas, have a funky funky Christmas.
New Kids On The Block, let’s rock, it’s Christmas time.
We’re gonna celebrate it with a rhyme.
Danny D, are you ready? - Ready as I’ll ever be
Steady - you know, Joey Joe is ready
Jordan and Jon, yeah, come on, we got a funky, funky Christmas going on.
~NKOTB Funky Funky XMas~
 

It’s Domino’s yo!  So my little techy Ray Ray made a wonderful discovery the other night.  Online ordering with Dominos.  While I was in Nashville this week Ray was left to fend for himself on food.  Which typically means he will make himself an egg sandwich, fry up some span (blek), mix up some tuna salad and crackers or pop some fish stick in the oven (yeah i know who eats that crap.. well my hubby does), but Tuesday night he just wasn’t into "cooking" for himself. 

So he went online to Dominos and saw the online ordering feature, which is awesome for someone like Ray who isn’t a big telephone or people fan..ha! 

He placed his order, put in his coupon code and hit send.  What he didn’t know would happen is the real time the status of his pie making process!

That’s right Dominos now has a feature where you get status updates on what is happening with your order! 

Dustin is preparing your pizza.  Shelly has put your pizza in the oven.  Your pizza is waiting for your "delivery expert" (yes it actually used those words) Jason.  Then finally Jason is on the way with your pizza. 

What’s that expression a watch pot never boils!  I can just imagine my little hubby sitting at the computer while working and periodically flipping tabs to check on the status of his PIE!  I love it!  At least we no longer will have to keep checking out the window to see if they have arrived now that we can instantly know which stage our pizza is in!

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie.. that’s amore and I’m sure it’s Dominos all the way now for Ray Ray!

Delivery expert…. that’s just too much!
pie head

You know that moment when you are singing out loud to a song and someone points out that the words you are singing aren’t the words at all and you get a good laugh because what you have said makes absoluetly no sense.  Everyone does this and I’ve had it happen a few times lately.  So it made me wonder what are the crazy lyrics you are singing wrong. 

When Stacey and I were in Pittsburgh she pointed out that I was saying "Shay with the blade and a ninja on the nine" instead of "Shay with the gauge and Vanilla with a nine". 

A few weeks ago Lara and I were singing pour some sugar on me when she said "sweet potato… hrmm mmmm hmmm" instead of "sweet to taste sachrin me"

For years I thought the Sara Lee theme song said "nobody DOES IT like Sarah Lee" until i got behind one of their delivery trucks and it has "nobody DOESN’T LIKE Sarah Lee.

It was either Wendy, Lesley or Stacey (at least I think it was)  that told me they thought Material Girl by Madonna was saying I’m a cheerio girl!  

So what lyrics have you totally messed up with something that sounds crazy and you don’t realize it until someone laughs at you or you stop singing long enough to actually listen to the words?  

Go ahead give it to us… this should be interesting!!!

ninja on the nine  

For the second year in a row, my high school made it all the way to the State Championships.  Last Saturday Dad, Ray and I watched them clobber a team 41 - 21.  So this weekend we all bundled up, broke out the hand warmers, sported our Kelly Green and made the 3 hour trek to Salem with hopes of watching them take the state championship for the first time in 30 years!  And let me tell you after going last year and losing the whole town was excited for these boys to get another chance at the title.

Ray shot last weeks game.  If you look closely toward the right side of this pic you can see my hubby’s giraffe arm taking a pic of the players after  last weeks victory.  Way to elbow in their for your shot baby!  Go get em! 

There were signs of support all over cwood.  Like this one at a local gas station.  Everytime we stopped somewhere on our way to the game we ran into someone from ctown.  The GREENWAVE ROLLED into that town with some force.  Our crowd was twice that of the other team.  The whole ride up there was like a procession of cars flying the green and white flags and covered in window paintings!    We were ready for a GREENWAVE WIN and wanted it so much we could taste it!

The weather was absolutely FREEZING!  Dad and I stuffed hand warmers in our gloves, down our shoes and I will confess I even put two of them down the back of my pants because my tushy was getting cold.  BRRRRRR!  BTW those things really work and I highly recommend them for making a cold day more comfy.

I think half the town must have been at the game.  We sat in a sea of green and the crowd was PUMPED up for a VICTORY!  I saw sooooooo many people I hadn’t seen in years and even some that I had forgotten existed.   

Here’s the boys huddling up.  In the middle pumping the boys up is a former Clintwood player who went on to play for several NFL teams.

Ray and Tim braved the cold and the possiblity of being tackled and shot the game again this year. 

There’s my hub’s.  I always have to keep one eye on the game and one on him when he shoots football.  I’ve seen him have a few close calls on the sidelines! 

 The game was a good time.  They went into halftime with a 20 -14 lead and it was close up until the end.  I won’t keep you in suspense any longer.. they lost 28 - 20.  Here’s how I felt about that!

Oh well there’s always next year for Willy the Wave to ride again!

My pics from the game are posted.  Ray’s pics from last weeks game can be viewed at http://proofs.highlandsphoto.com/  .  The pics they took at this weeks game should be up in the next few days if you want to see those.  

I’ll leave you with the CHS fight song and yes I still know it.  I know the dance that goes along with it too, but will spare you that one.  Those cheerleading days stick with you longer than you think!  Ha!

Loyal and True
We pledge allegiance to YOU
This is our MOTT-O
We are ONE for all and ALL for Clintwood High School
Here’s to our SCHOOL
Long on high may she RULE
For-Ever-More you will find USSSSS
Always Loyal and TRUE oooo-oooo

the greenwave fan

Last weekend we did 3 thanksgiving dinners in two days and were STUFFED!  While we didn’t get to spend a huge amount of time with anyone it was nice to be with our families.  Below are some pics from our Thanksgiving.  The rest are posted on the website. 

Look at this little stinker!

Aunt Nicole’s not the only one who held him either.  I think those two are going to be buddies.  Koen even wears camo like his Uncle Ray!

Don’t mess with my momma… she’s packing heat!  I think that pose is a cross between dirty Harry and Charlies Angels! 

The Flemings.

 The Austins. 

I hope all of you had a wonderful day of thanks and spent it with someone that you love.

Stuffed

On this day of giving thanks while you stuff yourself with turkey and all that yummy food, remember to stop for a moment and think about what you are thankful for.

As I do on this day every year, here are a few things I’m thankful for.

My family.  We are far from perfect, but we have love that knows no boundaries - they will always be there for me no matter what I need or what i’ve done. 

My friends - who share the same ridiculous sense of humor as I do, are up for anything at almost any time and are my support system…I couldn’t live my life without them or at least I wouldn’t want to.  I’m pretty sure we were meant to be in each others lives (no one else would understand us..haha)

All the babies in my life - I’m blessed to be surrounded by so many little ones who brighten my days.  Aiden, Hyland, Abby, Wesley, Jesse, Harper, Aaron and last but not least my precious nephew Koen.  I love each and everyone of you little stinkers.

My job and home.  In the year of the bailouts where many people are losing both I’m so thankful that Ray and I are ok.

My safety and my country - we are truly blessed to live in the US. Most of us have no idea what it would be like to live in a world where senseless violence is a way of life.  Please remember the people of Mumbai (Bombay) in your prayers today and those who have loved ones there.

My blackberry - wow I had no idea a year ago just how addictive this little guy would be.  I’m thankful that I have it and can instantly communicate and send silly notes to my friends.

A good cup of coffee on a cold day

Finding both socks that match when I get them out of the dryer

The opporutnity to experience new things… such as traveling to India or eating sushi for the first time. 

Waking up and realizing you still have a few more hours to stay in bed..(this one comes from my momma when I was little she would still wake me up on snow days to tell me school had been cancelled so I could get excited that I got to sleep a little longer)

Being so close to some of my friends we can have conversations just by exchanging a glance and know exactly what the other one is thinking.

Knowing the answer on jeopardy … period!!   But the double whammy is when I know it before Ray or when he doesn’t know it at all.   This doesn’t happen often, but I do love it when it does!

Chocolate!  - Where would we be without it… probably 10 to 15 pounds thinner..ha.  But I love it anyway!

People who let you out in traffic… especially those who are exceptionally kind and do it even when traffic is maddness like at concerts, races, football games etc.

People who use their life and resources to help others

Those who let you skip line at the grocery store when you only have a few items. (this happened to me the other day.  All I had was an onion and a little old man let me skip).

Everyone who reads this blog and allows me to document the silly things I think and do.<

Meaningful moments.. those that take your breath away, make you laugh so hard you could cry and make you realize just how lucky and blessed you are.

What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Lurkey 

Vinay and Anna were in town this weekend so after a long day of Santa train and chirstmas parading we headed to Wendels for our first "la familia" thanksgiving feast.  Our crew always does a Christmas meal together, but this year we decided to go turkey lurkey and celebrate thanksgiving together.  We all have so very much to be thankful for and one of the things we are most thankful for is having such a close group that truly is our chosen family. 

We miss Vinay and Anna so very much and it was so nice to have some time to just relax, stuff our selves and play rock band.  This was also Anna’s very first thanksgiving EVER!  She loved all the traditional thanksgiving food including Gerb’s first EVER TURKEY!   We had more food than you can shake a turkey leg at.  It was o so good and we were o so STUFFED!

Thanksgiving "la familia" style was also a special night because we were celebrating Lara’s beleated birthday.  She was in Memphis on Wednesday on her acutal birthday and our little crew didn’t have a chance to celebrate. 

I was so excited about Lara’s cupcakes from Patsy’s that I almost blew out her candle..ha! 

It was so funny we decided to make it a Charlies Angels group effort!

So the thanksgiving holiday has official begun for me.  With all of our family meals (3 of them) and a work breakfast this week is always a marathon of yummy goodness!  Gobble Gobble.. I will be as big as a house before this week is over.  Oh well it’s delicious!

Gobble Gobble peeps!

I know what you’re thinking.. two blogs in one day … WOW!  I’m trying to make up for what a gigantic slacker i’ve been lately!

It’s that time of year again kiddos.. when a special train rolls throughout the hills of Eastern Kentucky and Southwest Virginia bearing Santa and lots of toys for the girls and boys!  As you know, last year I had the pleasure of riding the train, but this year it was back to my usual post as coordinator of the Kingsport stop.  Even though I wasn’t on board this year I still had a great time spreading the Christmas spirit on this special day.

This years celebrity was Kathy Mattea and I have to say she was an incredibly friendly down to earth lady.  She tossed toys at the Kingsport stop for a quite a while and even stuck around afterwards to do some local media interviews. 

Despite all the chaos, the crowd, the cold and how incredibly tired I always am after unloading totes, tossing toys and being on my feet for so long it was a fantastic day!

Here are some pics from the stop.

Me & Robby Spencer.  Robby has a local television show on Charter.  If you haven’t tuned in he is hilarious!

Me & Mr. Austin.  Ray always comes out to help me and shoot fun photos from our day.

Lara Belle and Bob emceed the Christmas parade.. here’s me and the snow princess herself.  Despite our best efforts to layer up both of us were still popsicles by the end of the day!

 Me & Kathy Mattea at the Chamber.

Who wants a moon pie???  You gotta just kick up a leg and give it all you’ve got sometimes!

If you’ve had the opportunity to experience the train somewhere along the route you know just what a special experience it truly is and I’m so very proud to be part of this tradition every year.  So let me be the first to wish all of you a very merry holiday season.. yes I said season.. we’ve still got thanksgiving first!

Santa’s little helper

Today I was walking to a ribbon cutting down the street from my office.  Two of our volunteers were a short distance behind me. 

My heel got stuck in the sidewalk and as I pulled it out of the crack it caught the cuff of my pants leg and well from there it just wasn’t a pretty sight.  When my heel snagged my cuff I lost my balance and with both my feet entangled my sunglasses flew off my face and I went crashing into the sidewalk with my hands and both my knee caps as the only thing to break my fall!  As if the sharp burning in my knees and my hands wasn’t bad enough I hear my volunteers call out "oh my gosh Nicole are you ok" as they come over to pick me up off the ground!

I examined my quickly bruising knees as they made a few jokes about how I should sue for workers comp or complain to the city about the upkeep of the sidewalks.  I looked at one of our volunteers who is always joking with me and said "go ahead laugh I know you are dying to" he smiled and said "well that looked like it hurt pretty bad so i will wait until tomorrow to laugh at you!" 

I turned around to head back to work because my right knee was starting to bleed and I didn’t want it to ruin my dangerous and overly cuffed pants! 

By the time I got back to the office I already had a voicemail and an email.  The vmail was from a friend at the ribbon cutting saying he heard I took a fall and wanted to make sure I was alright.  The other was from Lana Banana saying "geez some people will do anything to get out of a ribbon cutting". 

Oh the life and times of Nicole… never a dull moment!  All afternoon I whined about my sore knees. 

Miss Lara belle and Vanessa who normally pick me up when I fall both told me they were sad they were there to get me off the ground.  Lara said she would have jerked me up out of there and hugged me to shield me from the embarassment… which is so true considering she has done it before! 

clutzy

As you already know our little group is always ready to dress up and act silly so you know that of course the one day of year that this is actually acceptable and encouraged we were out in full force!  

We spent Friday night at a new restaurant in town that had a band downstairs and to Wendy’s delight an 80’s DJ on the second level. 

You know this crew we….danced danced danced the night away. 

Ray Ray and I were an Octoberfest German Couple!  Isn’t he adorable in those suspenders!  Oh the things I can talk that boy into..haha.

Wendy was a roaring 20’s Flapper girl and came complete with her own gansta Gerb!

Lara was our Braves player sexy socks and all!

 Nick and Celsea came as Macho Man Randy Savage and his foxy wife.  Here he is showing off his macho man skills!

Wayne was flying high as our aviator friend!

And no political season halloween would be complete without Palin and her secret service agent Diesel!

To feed the pop culture need for Ms. Spears we have preggers Britney &  and her former hubby KFed!  Oops she did it again kiddos!

Brother also came and dressed up, but for fear of him threating my life I won’t put his costume on this blog.. although if you look closely enough you will see it!  It was classic!

And as if Halloween wasn’t enough fun for one night.. Charlies Angels and crew made a trip to the nursery where the stork delivered the beautiful Ms. Kaitlyn Birchfield halloween day.  Michael and Christy have a beautiful baby girl weighing in at 6 lbs and 2 ounces.  Momma, baby and proud poppa are all doing well! 

Hope your halloween was as fun as ours was!  Pics are posted.

little german girl!

Last night Ray and I settled in to watch one of my favorite show Private Practice.  Which like all of our other favs we have set to DIVO on the high def channels.  When I turned to watch it about 5 minutes into the show the HD channel was completely out so we flipped to the regular ABC channel where we could see our favorite characters, but they were speaking SPANISH.. yes I said Espanol!!!! 

My mind immediately went back to a few months back when we could see ABC, but all we could hear was some radio station coming through!  We never figured out what the problem was back then so i was mad!  I was ready to call Charter or ABC themselves to see what was happening.  Of course Ray was not nearly as angry as I was.  He was just laughing about it all.  I called our neighbors to see if theirs was working while their HD channel was out too their regualar ABC were not speaking spanish.  It was then that Ray adjusted one of the settings and realized for some reason that channel was set to SAP! 

So all was fixed, but we missed about 20 minutes of the show.. oh well the tricks on me!

Happy HULLAWEEENIEE everyone!  Hope you have a safe and happy weekend filled with lots of chocolate goodness!

Feliz Halloween,

BOO bear

Today is the birthday of someone very very special in my life my momma!  If you read this blog you already know what a big part of my life she is.  She is the first person to read & comment on here each and everyday (at least when i used to blog everyday she did… i know i know i need to do better) because she has an interest in my life.  She feels like she knows my friends through my stories on here and frequently asks how each of you are doing.    She is my best friend, the person I strive to be more like, my biggest supporter and the one I turn to when things go wrong. 

She is one of the kindest, sweetest people I have ever known.  She is a friend to all our furry friends and there are so many animals that have found good homes and love thanks to her generosity.  She is friend to those in need, a shoulder to cry and the one person who always tries to see the best in us all.

Thanks for being the best mother a girl could ever ask for.  I hope your day is filled with love, friends, family and happiness. 

I wish i could be there with you today, but since I can’t i’m sending hugs and kisses to Clintwood!

Remember age is only a number and you momma Wanda grow more beautiful inside and out with each passing year.

I miss you mommasone!

kisses,

your baby girl

 Friday afternoon as Lara and I were headed back to work we saw the building of a local radio station was covered in bras!  My mom had told me about their campaign throughout the month of October to collect bras for breast cancer awareness month. 

So just for fun Lara and I had to stop and get our picture taken with them! 

You can’t really see clearly from this pic, but all the stuff hanging off the building are bras! 

  Saturday night Lara and headed to cage fight.. yes i said a cage fight and it was scary and awful.  These guys get in a ring and literally beat each other.. its kinda like a boxing/wrestling combo.  We stayed for three fights and couldn’t handle the blood, the noises and the roughness of it.  Literally a guy was knocked out for about 2 minutes during the first fight.  Our nerves were shot so we headed to JC for some good times with some friends.. much more chill than watching two guys beat each other to a pulp!

 Today was the race for the cure 5k and guess who ran it… MY GIRLS and GERB.  This was Wendy’s first race and i’m so very proud of her!  She has worked really hard for this day and she did it… SEE WENDY WE ALL KNEW YOU COULD! 

Lara and Gerb ran it too and finished with Wendy.  I just wish I could have ran it with you guys.. darn knee… grrrrr!  Oh well maybe next year. 

Cancer touches all of our lives.  Breast cancer in particular has changed our family.  Please get regular checks ups, do self exams and remember early detection is the key.. we are the cure. 

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

cage fighter

Hey guys!  It’s been a busy few weeks, but I promise i’m still alive and still trying to blog when I can!  Both Ray and I as well as half our friends have been sick and we just haven’t had a lot of free time, but I promise to try to do better.  Then last week was a crazy because we decided to put siding up on our house!  Which is something we have wanted to do forever.  Aunt Carolyn and Uncle JR came over to stay with us all week and JR and Ray worked long and hard to make our house look like new! 

Here are the before and afters! 

All that hard work and long days really paid off!  It looks great. 

I was sad to see Carolyn and JR go.  It was so nice to spend time with them and they were the best house guests ever.  Despite my efforts to get her to just relax and enjoy some time off Miss Carolyn made dinner and even did my laundry while I was at work!  You can’t beat that.  Thanks so much guys we miss having you here with us!

Sunday night Linz and miss Abby came in for a visit.  We had so much fun she is growing like a little weed and we spent some much needed fairy godmother time together.  We have discovered that she really likes to shake her groove thing and LOVES aunt Nicole to dance with her.  We went out to eat Sunday night and the only thing that would make her stop crying was for me to stand up and shake it with her to some Janet Jackson.  Nevermind that all the waiters looked at me like I had lost my mind.. little miss Abby and i loved it.  She came over to the house tonight for dinner and we danced danced danced some more.  I CANNOT wait until she gets big enough… i’ve definately got some fun stuff to show my tiny dancer!

Today I spent some much needed time with my momma.  We had our annual mother daughter day off work.  A day where mom and I act silly, laugh, have lunch at our fav spot and get pedicures and it was GREAT!  Eventhough momma scared me while hollering about my bad driving.. she screeched the words "REDLIGHT… REDLIGHT" and "NIKI" at me just to make sure I saw what was ahead..haha!  Linz and miss Abigator met us for lunch so mom got to see our little princess and it was nice to spend time with two of my favorite ladies all at once!
 

Look at these gorgeous girls!  MWAH I love them both so much!

Momma’s birthday is coming up at the end of the month so of course I made her fav strawberry cake and gave her presents in case I dont get to spend the actual day with her. 

I love you momma and had a blast with you today eventhough I got stuck with the toilet that continuiously flushed and got some stinging bug down my pants (yeah.. both are stories for another day.. but hey its me remember so you shouldn’t be surprised that something else ridiculous happened to me..haha). 

Have a good day peeps,

the lucky fairy godmother who lives in a newly sided house and is loved very much by her momma and her linz.. (haha.. hows that for a sign off!)

Ok so the other day I went by Wendy’s to get Ray something to eat and this is what I saw.  I mean seriously I thought our house was bad sometimes.. and people don’t drive through it all day.  Break out the weed eater people.  It’s like a jungle out there!

This past weekend was homecoming at my college and I must say I have not laughed that hard in forever.  We had the craziest weekend.  Les came in and went with me and I think we both needed some Les & Nicole time.  We have come away with a ton of new fun phrases like brown chicken brown cow, meltn faces and more funny moments to last us until we get to see each other again.

Today Vinay and Anna loaded up and moved to New York.   We have known this day was coming, but now that its here I feel a little lost knowing that they are really gone.  So here’s to you Nay and Anna!  We love you kiddos and you are missed by our entire little clan.  We can’t wait to come for a visit but we are going to miss….

~evening workouts at the gym
~running with the A-Team
~Nay spontaneously breaking out into a verse of hotel california
~friday nights at La Caretta
~monopoly maddness
~catch phrase fun
~your laughter
~your friendship
~and most of all just knowing that a fun evening is only a phone call away
 

We love you guys and wish you the best in New York.  Please come visit us soon! 

Hug and loves.. your k-town homies!

As you know, we have a turtle that sometimes lives under our deck.  A few months ago we dotted his back with red fingernail polish so we would always know it was Harry.  Well allow me to introduce you to the new hard shelled homie in our life!  This is.. um well he doesn’t yet have a name, but I’m sure Ray is working on it.

He found him while mowing the yard.. or should I say the mower found him (no worries he is fine)  Harry our big hard shell loves strawberrys they are his favorite and he will actually eat them out of Ray’s hand.  So Ray brought the little guy in to see if he wanted to feast on some strawberries, but I think he was too traumatized to feast just yet. 

So Ray has a new friend and we are a two turtle home…. or as Wesley calls them yurtles.. te he! 

 Kiddo updates

Check out this cutie …isn’t she a doll!  Jeremy sent me this pic yesterday of our darling Abby and her wildcat hair.  Watch out Wendy you may have some competition in the crazy hair department! 

Here’s another one of our little darlings the adorable miss Harper and her daddy Nick sporting his LSU purple.  A few weeks ago the girls and I went over to visit the Adams family and took Chels out for a much needed girls dinner out.  Nick & Chels if you are reading we need to do that again soon!  Or maybe play some rock band.. I think our little rocker Harper would love it!  She already likes Bon Jovi and that’s my kind of girl. 

Check out our two little j-birds Jesse & Wesley beating the heat at Wesley’s 2nd birthday party a few weeks ago!  They had soooo much fun in that swimming pool!

Here’s Wesley getting uncle Ray Ray to open up the incredibly noisy police car we got him for his birthday!  You gotta love friends like us buying the loudest toys we can find.  But hey the kids love them and guess what .. so do we!!! 

And last, but not least are new pics of our nephew Koen.  Ray and I got to spend another night with the whole fam last Friday before the campout.  Here’s Koen chillin with Aunt Nicole.

Now brace yourself for this one because you are not going to believe your eyes, but here is Uncle Ray holding Koen!  Yes I know Ray doesn’t do babies, but he did spend about an hour holding the little man last Saturday morning.  That was until he got "sweaty" and realized that it wasn’t sweat at all, but Koen had peed all over his shirt.  I have to tell you little man that’s probably not the best way to win him over..ha ha!  It was so cute though. 

Here’s my Harley riding momma taking her bike for a spin last weekend.  While I still hate the idea of her riding a bike I have to admit she does look pretty cute on it!

Happy Friday peeps.  I hope you all have a great weekend.

Oh and Vinay and Anna are trying to sell their washer and dryer (it’s less than a year old) and Vinay’s 2003 Infiniti.  They can’t take them in the move so they need to get rid of them fast!  So let us know if you or someone you know might be interested. 

the happy aunt & proud yurtle owner

The Chamber chicks are busting loose…. with Bruce that is! 

A few weeks ago Bruce Pearl head coach of the University of Tennessee’s basketball team was in town for the grand opening of our new Boys and Girls Club facility.  Even though Lara bleeds Kentucky Blue she is a big Bruce fan so after his speech we made our way through the crowd of people hoping to get a pic with him.  And of course we did.  He was such a cool guy and squeezed us all in for a pic with the Chamber chicks!  

Vanessa submitted the photo to a fan site www.thebruceisloose.com click on Bruce sightings and check us out.  They put us up!  There is also a pic of him with Lara and also with Vanessa’s girls that are still on there from last year eventhough all the rest of the pics are new.  They must love us K-town kiddos!

the vol

This weekend the k-town crew got down on the farm…. literally.  The gang came over to my dads and we camped out straight up southwest va style. 

Ray and I used to go camping every summer with one of his good friends from high school (hi brian if you are still reading these).  However we hadn’t been in a few years.  We have been talking for a while about reviving the trip and taking the homies over to see our old stomping grounds and this weekend we finally made it happen. 

The trip was special because it is the last time the gang, peeps, crew, clique, la familia.. whatever you want to call us will be together before Vinay and Anna move to New York .  We have one more week with them before they leave, but next weekend several of us are gone.  So this was kind of our last hoorah with them.. yes they will be in to visit, but I’m sure it won’t be as often as we like.  We are so sad they are leaving us, but we definately made this last party together (for awhile at least) memorable. 

Ray and I went over a day early so Ray and Tim could shoot CHS homecoming game.  Shell and I took Koen to his very first football game.  You have to love his little greenwave outfit!  So adorable and I’m so proud he is in green and white instead of blue and gold.. (sorry Shell and Ray he was born to be a greenwave not a rebel!!)

Saturday afternoon the rest of my homies arrived and we set up camp on my dads farm.  Brother built us a HUGE bonfire which was perfect for all the weenies and smores we roasted throughout the night.  Brother was such a trooper because he cut all the wood, mowed and hung out that night in the cold air even though he has battled bronchitis all week!  We danced, laughed, sang, played guitars (both those with talent.. ray, tim  & dave and those without me, lara and wendy..haha) and enjoyed a simple night that was one of the best camping trips mainly because my friends & family are some of the funnest people on earth!

Highlights from the evening include:
~Gerb’s baja shirt.. a vintage piece circa 1992.. oh yeah i know you peeps remember these
~vinay’s first 4 wheeling experience
~poppie taking Lara on a harley ride
~Gerb the grim reaper
~Poppies random speeches that i’ve heard all my life but the k-town crew found hilarious
~Charlies Angels taking over the guitars for our rendition of Ice Ice Baby acoustic style
~"I wanna love like Johnny & June"
~ Ray belting out the possum…which the crew had been waiting for a long time to finally hear!
~Gerbs new garden tool
~me and poppies dancing with the stars moment.. "i like that old timey rock n’ roll"
~Vinay’s snoring and Carrie, Dave and Lara’s late night conversations

I’m so proud of my peeps for wearing your camo gear, breaking out your sleeping bags, popping a squat in the woods and making the trek to my hometown.  

I wore my fav "thank god for country boys" shirt… here I am showing off the shirt as well as my favorite country boy. 

I hope you all enjoyed it as much as Ray and I as well as my brother and dad did having you all there with us at our home.

The pics are posted. 

the happy camper

Today Lara and I cleaned up cigarette butts in the downtown area as part of a cigarette litter prevention program.  We picked up 400 just on one side of the 2 block street we were on! 

I guess people don’t think of them as litter.  Anyway we were hot, stinky, in work clothes and heels, but we did it anyway!  Lara said she would consider this community service for all the times she probably should have gotten in trouble but didn’t!  Ha!

So kick butt I say and the next time you think about tossing one out the window think of Lara and I sweating it out in the sun!

butt - er!

It’s hard to believe that 7 years have gone by since that tragic September morning.  A sunny day that for most of us started out just like every other one before it. 

We didn’t know then that our way of life would be changed forever in an instant.  

We didn’t know it would touch all of our lives in someway ( I personally have had 2 cousins and my boss serve in Iraq.. thankfully all are ok). 

We didn’t know that everyday people would become heros.

We didn’t know the strength of America’s spirit and the pride we felt for our country.

We didn’t know how it felt to be attacked on our own soil and the fear we would have that day wondering what would happen next.

But without a doubt we know all those things now. 

Today reminds us of what we should do each and every day.   Be thankful for what you have and those you love, tell them what they mean to you and never let a harsh word or disagreement stand in the way of a true friend.  Life can change in an moment that you never see coming so live it to the fullest.  

So this morning as you go about your day remember all those who lost their lives and loved ones.  Remember the shock, disbelief and horror you felt as you watched images of dust covered people, falling buildings and the  sensless loss of life you knew was happening before your eyes.  Remember all the heros who shined that day and in the weeks that followed and how proud you felt to be an American.  Never forget what happened in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania at 8:46, 9:03, 9:45 and 10:28 that morning.   

NEVER FORGET 

Last weekend the family drove up to Roanoke for our annual family reunion "the goat roast".  We had a great time with food, family, a band, fireworks and plenty of laughs.  Afterwards Ray drove back with the family and I made the late night trek to Richmond to spend a few days with Jeremy, Linz and of course the beautfiul baby Abby.  Before I get to how adorable Abby is let me tell you a little story about my journey there. 

I left my uncles in Roanoke a little after 9.  I had a little less than a half a tank and decided just to wait to fill up.  I was getting kind of low on gas and had forgotten that on the stretch of interstate i was on there isn’t a lot of gas stations.  I went for about 30 miles and was right above E.  I decided to get off on the first exit I came to.  At this point it is midnight.  I drove to the first gas station… closed.  Turned around and drove to the other one a mile down the road… closed.  I get back on the interstate and my gas light comes on.  Ok.. no reason to panic.  I can go about 30 miles with the light on.  About 20 miles later I finally see another exit that has a 24 hour Wawa on it, but it’s another 2 miles off the exit.  I take the ramp and am pleasantly surprised to see a station with the lights still on.  I am the only customer there.  I can see the clerk inside mopping the floors and all the lights are still on.  I turn on the pump and am greeted by an electronic message that scares the crap out of me.. (what is it with me and talking gas pumps).  I insert my card and am thrilled that i finally made it to a station.. i was starting to have scary images of me on the side of the road in the middle of the night outside of richmond!  I start pumping my gas and all the sudden the pump shuts off.  The clerk then immediately turns all the lights off in the store.. (as if i didn’t just see him in there).  I look at the pump and i have only pumped 7 cents worth of gas.. that’s right 7 cents..  it then spits out my receipt and won’t come back on.  The JERK cut my pump off.  So here I stand mad as a hornet, it’s pouring the rain, i’m still a mile from the next gas station its midnight and I now have 7 cents worth of gas and a receipt.  Come on… REALLY!

How bad do you have to hate your job that you can’t wait for the customer who is already pumping to finish filling up!  I mean he cut me off 7 cents in and shut the lights off as if I couldn’t see him in there!  He is lucky i didn’t use my 7 cents to drive right through the front door and turn the pump back on!!!!!   Anyway so i get back in  my car and slowly drive the remaining mile to the wawa with the ac off, coasting as much as possible and floating there on fumes!  Oh well it wouldn’t be my life if stuff like this didn’t happen…. geez.. 7 cents.. seriously!!!!  I should have taken my pimped out fairy godmother pumpkin and I wouldn’t have such troubles..ha!

Anyway on to happier things.  I spent a wonderful 4 days with Linz and the beautiful miss Abby.  We had a great time and she is a wonderful baby who sleeps soundly and cries mainly when she is hungry.  We had such a good time I hated to leave both of my girls.  We literally laughed until we cried.  Linz said if weren’t careful Abbigator (yes that is what Aunt nicole is calling her..ha) will have shaken baby syndrome from us holding her while we shook with laughter at all the dumb, but hilarious things we say and do.  Oh Linz lou how I miss you and Jerb.  I wish you lived closer. 

This is what happened when Abby had a meltdown in the car and we were without a passy.  Linz told me to put my pinky on the roof of her mouth.  I was like WHAT?  Linz said just do it.. so i did and she was happy the whole way home.  I however giggled the entire way back because that had to be one of the weirdest things I have ever felt.  I thought she would suck the top of my finger off, but hey our princess was happy so that’s all that mattered! 

Speaking of princesses!!!…. Ok you already know we are a silly group of ladies.  We will do just about anything for a laugh, love a theme party and love love love any opportunity to put on a costume.  So when Cindy asked if we would be disney princesses for her daughters 3rd birthday we were so in!  She asked Lauren which of her friends she wanted to ask to her party and her answer was cinderella.  The child loves Cinderella.. so much that she has her plastered on the walls of her room.  So Cindy sewed our costumes, bought us tiara’s (which you know i’m all about) and this past Sunday we were in business. 

Lara was sleeping beauty, Wendy was Belle from Beauty and the Beast and I was Cinderella. 

However Lara and Wendy had to wear wigs because of their short hair and well… the girls thought they turned out looking more like the wicked step sisters.  We laughed so hard at trying to get Lara in her dress (it was qutie a crazy contraption) and the girls putting on their wacky hair.  I didn’t know what to do seeing my homies with some hair!  I was wearing more glitter than one person should be allowed on my arms, hair, eyeshadow the works.  I’m probably going to have to invest in some special cleaner to get it out of my carpet and bed!  But over all the girls (the little ones and the big ones had a blast).  Lauren had a smile on her face the entire time and I think we truly made her birthday special. 

Later that night after I got home Morgan stopped by the house for a few minutes.  I had on my regular clothes but my hair was still up and of course the glitter was in full force.  I answered the door and Morgan said "my your awful sparkly!" 

Oh the things we do!

the out of gas Cinderella

Earlier today Vanessa and I were driving back from a meeting and I had to swing by my house to pick something up.  These little sheep live just a little bit up the road from me and I always like to look over and see what they are doing.  Well today it was absolutely pouring the rain and when I looked at the sheep this is what i saw.  They are all flat against the barn.. hunched up as close as they can get so that the over hang keeps them from getting wet!  That’s the only covered spot in their field.  I have never seen an animal try to get out of the rain before.. well besides my cats i guess.

I thought it was hilarous so we stopped right there in the road and took their pic so I could share with all of you.  I didn’t know whether to feel sorry for them or congratulate them for being smart enough to realize that if they stood under the overhang it would shield them from the rain!  You go sheepy’s! 

Ok in other odd news.. on our way back to the office Vanessa and I pulled into the car wash so I could get my umbrella out of the trunk.. you know to minimize the drown rat look as much as we could.  We pull into a stall at "Smillin Billies Car Wash" yes that is the actual name of it and after pulling in I know why Billie is smiling.  As soon as I opened the car door it was as if we were at a party.  There was music blaring over the loudspeaker.. i can’t remember the exact song.. but it made me dance back to the car with my umbrella as vanessa and I giggled!  Music to wash your car by… i like the idea and if I should ever get a whim to wash mine (its probably been more than a year since i even attempted a wash) I will definately take it there for some good times music.  Maybe they will even be playing "carwash" at the time to give me some motivation!

Since I can’t be there to meet her in person yet Jeremy keeps sending me lots of awesome pics of the new little princess Abby! 

This was her first ride in the car.. on her way HOME!  Yes the Allenbaugh family are now safe and sound at home and doing great. 

Isn’t she a doll.  I could just squeeze her! 

Apparently Petey likes to wear Abby’s hats.  Jeremy says he can’t keep him away from them!

It’s almost hump day!  The long weekend is almost in sight!

smart sheepy (at the carwash)

Its time for more baby Abby!   I love that Jeremy is already throwing up the rock out symbol with her!  One day she will appreciate that.

I have talked to Linz several times today and they are doing great.  They are supposed to be released from the hospital tomorrow afternoon. 

Until then they are getting used to life as new parents and sending me awesome pics like these two. 

I absolutely cannot wait until I get to see both my girls in a few weeks!  I’m so excited to kiss those little cheeks! 

In other news Stacey left me a voicemail tonight to call her back as soon as possible that she had a funny story that seemed like something that would happen to me.

She allows a friend to keep their sheep on her property.  The poor little things are eventually taken off for slaughter but being the animal lover that she is she makes sure they have a good life while residing at the Beverly’s.  She cleans out her fridge and takes them left overs… grapes, fruit, bread etc.  So of course they absolutely love their new friend who brings them goodies and have become quite accustomed to her nightly visits.  So tonight she hops the fence to bring them some left over bagels.  She decided to only give them half and save the other half for tomorrow.  As she is walking back toward the fence she felt an excruciating pain in her buttcheck and was knocked down on her knees.  She turned around and was face to face with a furry friend who apparently was not happy about only getting half a bagel so he butted her!  He hit her so hard with his little head that he knocked her down!    No fear she is ok and was laughing when she left me the message.  However her tushy will be sore for a few days.  She said when she got up she screamed "ouch" and hit him in the head with her bag of bagels!  Oh if i could have been a fly on a wall.. or a bagel in a bag to see that scene!

Well I’m glad i’m not the only one that ridiculous things happen too.  Hope you guys had a less eventful evening than Stace!

baaaaadddd one

A few years ago Ray and I acquired this maniquinn.  We got her when he first started doing photography to use as a still model to test lighting etc.  She has no clothes, no legs, no arms, a bag wig and her name is Manny.  Of course she is a guest at all of our parties and it never fails I will find crazy pics of my friends posing with her on my camera afterwards.  Ok fast forward to last Thursday to what I shall call Manny’s day out!  I was asked if we could bring her to model clothing for a work breakfast i had the next day.  So I loaded her up naked and all, seat belted her in and took her to work with me.  You should have seen the glares I got from other drivers as they looked over and discovered her.  Well Manny isn’t bashful at all and just stared proudly out the window.. this was her big debut back into modeling and she was quite excited! 

From there Manny was transferred to Lara’s car so she could take her to the conference center to meet Stacey and Vanessa.  Of course from the moment she got in the car I had texted a pic to everyone so they could see Manny’s adventures and Stacey and Lara did the same.  We got responses like "take care of my girl" and "wow manny’s on the move where is she going?"  Lara wasn’t as cautious or maybe she brought out Manny’s wild side because she didn’t buckle up!  Lara texted us this picture. 

She arrived at the conference center where Stace and Vanessa escorted her inside.  Unfortunately due to her lack of arms and small shoulders the merchandise she was supposed to model didn’t fit and they were unable to use her.  Although she very much enjoyed her day out of the house.. manny on the move!  After a hard days work she let her hair down.. or took it off rather and crashed out in the back of Stacey car.  She is still visiting the Beverly’s and recovering from her o so exciting day!

Ok.. so this is what it looks like when you fight a dresser drawer and the drawer wins!  Friday morning while getting ready for a work breakfast I pulled out the top drawer of my dresser.  I was in a hurry to not miss Manny’s big debut and trying to get there on time.  I dressed and turned around to walk out of my bedroom forgetting that I had pulled the drawer out and turned right into it.  I hit so hard it almost knocked the wind out of me and made my teeth chatter.  Ray heard it all the way from the living room.  By the time I made it to the breakfast this lovely pump knot had already started to form.  Of course we had a good time with it.  Lara and I even held objects up to it for size comparissions.  I was told I looked like a klingon and a unicorn.  My head is still sore, but luckily it didn’t really bruise!

Friday night Ray, Vinay, Anna and myself played the fastest game of monopoly ever.  We managed to play to the finish in just 3 short hours.  I am obligated to say that Ray won, but I certainly put up a good fight to the end.  I hadn’t played in forever and had forgotten just how much fun it is.  When Ray and I first started dating we would play for days… literally.  We would just leave the board set up and come back to it after we rested for a bit! 

And last but most certainly not least at 3:51 today my god child Abagail Rowen was born!!!!!  Here she is our adorable princess!  Linz called me earlier today to let me know she was in labor.  She went in the hospital at 7:30 this morning.  The bad part is.. she had been up since 4:30 a.m. with a virus!  I don’t think I have ever heard of anyone getting a bug the same day they go into labor.  She sounded exhausted, but ok.  The doctors gave her some meds, but they wouldn’t even allow her to eat ice chips because she had been throwing up so much.  I haven’t talked to her since the baby arrived, but I spoke with Jeremy this afternoon and everyone is doing great. 

Have a great week,

The fairy godmother

Ok so i’m going to make an effort to get back into my nightly blogging.  I’m not sure what’s come over me, but I have been bored with it and had little to say.  But I know that Sheryl and especially my mom get frustrated when I don’t so here goes.  Today’s blog is about things I recommend.

Tuesday afternoon Lara, Wendy, Vinay, Anna and myself decided to try a new spinning class at our gym.  For those who may not know spinning classes are hour long aerobics classes on stationary bikes.  I LOVED it.  The hour went by so fast and the music was good.  So if you ever have a chance give spinning a go do it.  It’s a fun way to de-stress and burn a few calories!  I do recommend though that you either get a padded bike seat or wear padded bike shorts as those seats are hard on the tushy! 

After spinning our wheels and getting no where we headed to Wendy’s house for a night of fun with Rock Band!  I so love this game and want one of my own.  I could play the drums all day.  However I recommend if you ever play with us that you don’t sit close to Lara while she’s drumming.  Last night she was working what her momma gave her on the drums when one of her sticks broke in mid play, went flying through the air and smacked an unsuspecting Rocco in the face while he was singing.  Yes she was jammin out so hard that she actually broke the stick….however what she didn’t break was her rhythm.  She just kept on going.. atta girl!  Wow Luka and we thought you were the animal when playing this game!

I just finished reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Seabold.  Les has been after me forever to read it and I finally did.  It is an incredible story from the perspective of this girl who was murdered and what she watches her family go through in the aftermath of her death.  It is one of those books that once you pic up is hard to put down.  I recommend this book and give it the Austin two thumbs up!

A few days ago Ray and I watched the movie Zodiac.  It’s a true story about the serial killer that murdered people in California in the 70’s.  I am a junkie for court TV, crime drama’s and murder cases (yes I know I am a weirdo, but im facinated by this stuff even though it freaks me out and I can’t sleep..ha)  Anyway the Zodiac killer corresponded  with several California newspapers during his crime spree.  The movie is about one of the reporters and his quest to find out who the killer was.  So if you are into morbid movies like me I would definately recommend this one. 

And if you aren’t watching Tori and Dean then get on the band wagon people.  I LOVE this show.  Last year when the second season went off and they moved out of the b & b the show as if it was the final season.  So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it back on a few months ago and have been hooked again ever since.  Definately recommend this for the category of mindless tv!

I recommend you duck and take cover if you intend to pass by my or Staceys office.  For the past two days we have been chucking one of those stress balls shaped like a bus at each other.  The point of the game is to catch each other when you aren’t expecting it.  Like yesterday a volunteer came in to meet with Stace and I had him throw it at her as he walked through the door.  Yeah I know its juvenile, but stuff like that makes my job so much fun!  Today she just opened my door and slapped me in the back of the head with it.  It’s getting a little dangerous up there so look out! 

Finally I recommend if you are pumping gas you watch the stories you tell as the gas clerk may just be listening to you!  See previous post.

Hope you had a happy hump day.  The weekend is almost here!  Yay!

spinner

Ok I will preface the following story with a "you really had to be there warning".  Because it was truly hilarous, but no one else we have told seemed to laugh nearly as hard as we did.

Again you can file this under the strange things that happen to Nicole folder.

Today Stacey and I pulled into a gas station on our way to lunch.  I shuffled around for a few minutes in my purse trying to dig out my gas card.  As soon as I opened my door to get out and pump a voice from above said "hello there".  I looked around a few times completely puzzled as to where this mysterous voice was coming from and said "uh hi..hello.. hey hi" all the while looking for the mysterious person talking to me.  I mean he literally sounded as if he were standing by my car or inside the pump! 

This wasn’t a conveinance store, but one of those free standing stations where the attendants are visible in a tiny glass booth.  I glanced over and sure enough there he was smiling and waving from inside his glass bubble.  I’m not sure I’ve ever had a welcome greeting at a gas station before, but ok i’ll go with it.  Stace rolled down both windows on my side to talk to me.  She had heard everything with the windows up and was laughing. 

So at this point for lack of anything better to do while waiting I picked up in the middle of a story about a friends wedding.  It really wasn’t anything significant other than one of the groomsman was a guy I dated one summer when I went to governors school.  He was from another high school and I broke up with him to go out with someone else there (yeah I know not nice.. but it was a long time ago… ps.. i hate that i’m now referring to h.s. as a long time ago).  I’m not sure he ever spoke to me again after that and I really didn’t have to communicate with him anymore since we were at different schools.  I was telling Stace that I didnt think I had seen him since and wanted to say hello, but there was never really a good time to say hi.  It was funny because Ray recognized him too because they played basketball against each other.  I know he saw me a few times, but he either can really hold on to a grudge or didn’t have a chance to say hello either.  So I’m filling her in on all this when the pump kicked off.  I start to take my receipt when i’m once again startled by the mysterous voice who then says "wow you are a noisy little critter aren’t ya".  

I immediately started laughing and apologizing to the gas pump… I realized I was once again talking a gas pump and stuck my head around to the glass booth where both he and his co worker were he hawing with laughter.  I waved and jumped in the car laughing every breath and drove away as quickly as I could knowing that he had been listening to my story the entire time.  I guess most people just pump their gas quietly.  However being the chatty patty that I am you know I’m going to be talking to whoever is with me.  I’m not sure if they have their pump mics on all the time or if he was so amused by my reaction the first time he spoke he decided to listen in.  Goes to show you that you never know when someone might be listening to your conversations even when you are simply pumping gas.  I’m glad I could be there for his amusement, I guess it does get kinda boring cooped up in there just watching cars drive by.  If I had a fun speaker system like that where I worked I would probably mess with people too.. ha!  All I know is Stacey and I laughed until our stomachs hurt over this one. 

You have to watch out for those bank people and gas station attendants they will ease drop when you least expect it!

the noisy little critter

Tonight I had the pleasure of meeting the beautiful Harper Nicole for the first time!  She is an absolute gift from above!  She has these beautiful deep blue eyes and makes sweet little humming noises when she eats like an angel.

She got the hiccups while we were there and I’m not sure I’ve heard anything more adorable.  I had the hiccups earlier today and it sounded like someone was strangling a chicken in the car with me.  But hers were tiny little noises that although we knew were frustrating her sounded adorable!  

It was also so nice to see Nick & Chels faces.  Wow have I missed the two of them this month.

They are doing good and are so happy to be back home again. 

I thought I had won them over with my home backed spagetti, but Luke brought the gift of all gifts.. Harpers very first tiara!  Yay for Luka.  Good job buddy.  I have to say though I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t think of that!  Oh well I will make sure to keep her well stocked in the future!  Sadly I’m almost pretty sure I have one almost like it at home. 

In other Nicole news, Ray and I saw four skunks on the road to our house including a baby one in our driveway tonight.  All I know is I better not get sprayed because we all know if that would happen to anyone it would be me! 

I haven’t seen "A" skunk in years much less 4 right near my house.  It reminds me of the time I got locked out on Ray’s back porch.  I stepped outside just for a second when I realized I wasn’t alone.  There in the corner of his deck was a little stinker (literally) staring me down.  Neither one of us made a move, but we just stood there looking at each other.  I slowly turned around to open the door and run inside when I realized it had locked behind me.  I didn’t want to spook it by yelling for Ray so I just started tapping on the door and whispering. "skunk… skunk…"  Which of course didn’t work.  Finally Ray realized I had been gone a while and came looking for me.  I was only out there for a few minutes, but it felt like forever.  I have no clue why I didn’t get sprayed… maybe me and pepe bonded or maybe he thought it was funny to watch me fearfully whisper for help or maybe we had a respectful fear of each other… I don’t know, but regardless I’m glad he didn’t get me.  Seriously though what is the liklihood that I can get away with it twice.. not much I’m guessing especially if you know me.  So here’s hoping the skunkerston family hasn’t moved into my yard because I can guarantee smokey, me or Ray will get hit! 

peace out,

stinky  

This weekend I ventured home to spend some much needed time with friends and family.  Lesley came in to stay with her great aunt for a few weeks and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend some time with her and my parents.  So I took off work and headed over Thursday night. 

I surprised mom Friday morning with breakfast.  I intentionally didn’t tell her I was coming so she would be surprised.  And got to hang out with her for a few minutes while she ran errands.

After work, Mom and I got to see the o so adorable baby Koen while I was there.  His bib says "will work for cookies".. if that isn’t cute I dont know what is!

Here is mom holding him for the first time.

I’m pretty sure Les and I could entertain ourselves watching grass grow.  Every time the two of us get together it is plenty of ridiculous behavior and lots of giggling.  This time was no exception. 

Here we are stopping traffic or trying to rather to get a few pics by the town sign.  This was our first attempt at a timed pic.  We took it by stacking some nearby blocks and trying to prop up the camera.  Obviously it didn’t work so well.  So we resorted to the hand held, cut half your face and the sign off style.  

A few times we tried to flag down some passersby, but with no success.  We did get quite a few stares, horn honking and what in the world are those girls doing glares!   

Go big C!

We spent the evening slumber partying up until the wee hours of the night trying not to wake her 93 year old aunt… whispering and giggling like we were still in high school.  We did crazy dares & pranks, reminisced about the good old days from college all the way down to elemtary school and laughed until we could laugh no more.  And that is why she is my best friend.  Move closer to me already Les so we can do this all the time!!! 

I came home last night and hung with the crew at the marina where we listened to one of the most entertaining bands we have heard in a while.  Lara tried to haggle the lead singer to come down on his price so we could have them at one of our parties.  She was bargaining everything from gatorade to trying to get him on a Wednesday when they aren’t busy! 

Hope you kiddos had a great weekend,

cwood

Ok I have to ask this question because I’ve wondered it ever since these new volkswagon beetles came out… why is it that everyone that drives one insists on putting fake flowers by the steering wheel? 

Is there a tiny little vase in there and they feel the need to fill it?  Are they sold off the lot with them in it?  "Do you want power steering and lether…oh and by the way what color fake flowers would you like with that?"  Or is it written somewhere in the owners manuel under "what to do with your empty hole in the dash.. see page 47 under what fake flowers go best with the color of your car". 

I mean seriously they are cute, but what’s up with that?  I have seen so many that I had to drive up beside this random person on my way to Pittsburgh just to take a pic.  Actually I wan’t quite satisfied with the one I took myself and sped up so Stacey could ride up beside this clueless person and snap one.  I’m sure she was like "why are these people following me and taking my picture!?"

Ok now on to more important things.  In my busy week last week I forgot to blog that MY CAR KEYPAD WAS TURNED IN TO LOST AND FOUND!  Big Yays for that.  I mean how lucky am I that out of thousands of people someone saw mine and had the courtesy to turn it in.  I had a feeling I should hold out on purchasing a new one.  The first few days after funfest one of the lady’s I worked with got me all excited when she said one was turned it, but alas it wasn’t mine.  However I did find comfort in knowing that someone else like me takes theirs off their keyrings too.  I had almost given up hope when she came running up to me one morning and said.. "nic is this it?"  And it WAS!!! 

Now on to other random thoughts.  What’s up with this sign?  Um ok if you feel like you might hurt your children would you really call a number you found on a poster in a bathroom at a Pittsburgh Pirates game?  I think not.  Stacey and I were washing our hands when we spotted in and she had to get a pic for me for the blog. 

In other news guess who finally went to the grocery store today after almost 2 months… MEEEEEEE!  How funny is it that I actually went on my lunch break.  Talk about speed shopping maybe that’s how we should do it from now on.  I definately buy fewer items that way.  Ray had to go to lowes so while he was there I rushed through the store and waited by the curb for him to roll up and grab the bags just in time for me to return to work.  So there you have it.  It’s a whole new world at my house complete with bread, eggs, milk toilet paper and more.. woohoo!  Not sure why we both hate grocery shopping so much that we go without TP for 2 weeks, but for some reason we do..ha!    Yes we are a lazy couple that would rather use napkins for two weeks rather than go to the grocery store and buy some!

On a serious note please say a prayer for my friends several of them have quite a bit going on from our beautiful baby Harper who has had quite a rough entrance into this world, to friends with personal problems and others with health issues themselves and I’ve been worried about them all.  So if you have a moment please send a few prayers up for them.  I personally have continued to have heart palpatations despite cutting out virtually all caffeine from my diet.  I go back in September to wear that month long monitor that I’m not looking forward to at all.   So keep me in your thoughts as well.

TP

Hey peeps.  Well I’m back from my tour of the city of steel.  It was a great, but exhausting time. 

We got off to a very slow start when the ac went out in our rental about an hour into the trip. We were on the phone with the car company on and off for an hour just trying to find a place to stop and exchange it.  It would go off for a bit and then come back on so we were definately cruising up in a hot box.  After talking to a billion people, thinking we had it fixed but realized they were trying to put the three of us in a truck and finally fighting a rain storm to transfer our stuff we exchanged it in the middle of West Virginia. 

Here are some pics from our advertures in Pittsburgh.  Wednesday night we went to the pirates game. 

 I love a good costume!

The suite Stacey and I stayed in Wednesday night was HUGE!  We had to switch hotels on Thursday so we could be at the conferece center where our classes were held.  We were so spoiled by our suite that we felt like we had moved into a cracker jack box!

You gotta love a bathroom with a jucuzzi tub, marble shower and a bidet toilet!

Tiki Tiki tic tic tic tic teeeeee.  Gotta love any opportunity to put on a china girl costume.  You know we were all about it!

Who doesn’t love their pic taken with a mascot even if you have no clue what it is supposed to represent!

Hi have you met my friend Stacey who likes to steal cucumbers!  Oh yes she did.  She found a garden as part of the conference center and helped herself to these three gigantic cucumbers!   So funny!

Thursday night was the reception at Heinz field.  Go ketchup.. I mean Steelers!  I loved the two bottles of ketchup proudly displayed on the scoreboard!  I could so use one of them right now at my house considering we STILL haven’t went to the grocery store!

Stacey had the chance to meet my buds Jim and McNally who keep me entertained at these conferences.  They are my government relations counter parts from other chambers so we attend a few of these events together each year.  It’s always a good time and this conference was no exception. 

Pittsburgh was a beautiful and fun city which was not at all what I expected.  I had a great time, but it’s so good to be home.  I have missed all of you!

Hope you had a great week.

the pirate.. yaaarr

I know I know it’s been a week.  Sorry Sheryl, mom and others.  I have been busy and have been a little uninspired to write anything. 

Right now I should be packing for my trip to Pittsburg (i leave in the morning) yet we all know how I feel about packing.  UGH!  Seriously if you are ever wondering just what in the world you could possible get for me find a girl my size, with decent style who will come to my house and do it for me.  I hate all the trying stuff on.  Figuring out what I will need for the next four days blah blah blah.

And while you are looking see if you can find someone who also likes to grocery shop and clean being as I have been pretty lazy in those departments as well.  We so need to go to the grocery store right now.  We haven’t been in over a month!  Maybe longer. It’s always humorous to me though the creative food combos I come up with when we are getting low.  For instance the other day i made french toast out of a hamburger bun!  For dinner!  And you know what it actually wasn’t that bad.  Ray came in looked at it, shook his head and took a plate.  Oh good times.  The cats were really loving it until I finally broke down and bought them some cat food.  For like a week they were eating good.  All canned food.  Then when we ran out of the actual canned food for cats they started getting canned tuna. 

I’m pretty sure they are spoiled anyway, but try going back to dry food when they have been eating tuna for a week.  Needless to say it isn’t easy! 

Ok.  I’m seriously going to stop blogging and go pack!  Ugh where are the elves when I need them.  Lesley where you at.  You are always good to stay on the phone and kick me into gear during packing time.

I will try to blog from Pittsburg if I get a sec.  I know as soon as we get there tomorrow night we are going to a pirates game.  Should be fun!

packing procrastinator

Getting stung by bees in unconventional places apparently runs in my family.  Brother was mowing on Friday and got into a hornets nest.  He escaped unharmed only to run into a nest of angry yellow jackets just a few minutes later (I guess the hornets sent out an apb or something) because this time he wasn’t so lucky.  The little boogers got him in the face a few times.. thus the reason he looked like this. 

Poor guy his face was swelled up like a watermelon!  I can laugh about it now only because his face is back to its normal size.  Geez o pete people.. let’s cute the family some slack.  First me in the hiney and now Dougie in the face.. mom, dad watch out for killer bees!

Remember our hardshell pet that lives under our deck.  Well after Ray mowed last time he disappeared only to come back a few weeks later.  This time we dotted his back with red fingernail polish so we will always know it’s Harry.  Yes that is Ray feeding him lettuce right out of his hand.  Wow we are such a weird couple.  It is kinda fun though.  I think Harry was a tad upset we didn’t have fresh cold strawberries this time, but he liked the lettuce anyway. 

So we have yet another pet to add to the stranger creatures we have at our house.  This is Sir Fredrick Hang a Lot (yes of course Ray named him.. why wouldn’t he).  Ray refuses to let me tear down his little web that is in the doorway to our deck.  I don’t know how he did it, but Ray managed to make me actually have a tad bit of sympathy for our freaky little friend.  He says Sir Frederick builds this elaborate web each and every night and every morning he takes it all back down again so he isn’t in our way.  And since he works so hard at it I should let him stay.  Geez.. give me a break.  I was ready last night to take a broom to Sir Hang A Lot and his little web, but ugh.. how can I after that sad little story.  I guess that is what happens when you give something a name.  Oh well if he bites me he is going to meet the bottom of my nike’s is all i have to say!   Mr Ray also feeds  live moths to our creepy little friend which I find completely disgusting and kinda cruel. 

Harry the hardshell i’m ok with, but this little guy.. ugh not so much!

Here’s Dougie and Ray wrestling on the 4th of July.  In case you can’t tell Ray Ray is on the losing end of this battle.  See Ray didn’t invite Brother to my 30th birthday party because he knew he was working.  Dougie’s thought was he hasn’t missed a birthday of mine in years and would have taken off work to attend.  So to settle the dispute they wrestled it out.  All I have to say is It ended with Dougie trying to make Ray eat grass!  Nice.  Oh boys will be boys! 

This is what happens when my dad and I get together and eat ice cream.  Of course we can’t be normal like everyone else.  Instead it turns into a who can hold the spoon on their tongue the longest contest.  And you people wonder why I’m such a nut… well there’s half of the reason..ha!

ps.. in case you are wondering my dad won!

spoony

And so another fun fest comes to an end.  It was a fun week with with my fun friends at Fun Fest.  I will give a recap in a moment, but first I have another story to add to the "ridiculous crap that happens to me" file!

Last night the crew and I went for the final concert and our night ended with much excitement.  After the fireworks were finished Lara, Ray and I went up to hang out with our balloning friends.  We hung out for a while and Wendy drove the three of us back to my car.  Typically when I go to these things I take my car entry keypad off my keys and just carry it instead of the full set.  Well at some point in the night when I was pulling my cell phone and camera in and out of my purse in a crowd with thousands of people the little booger fell out.  We discovered it was missing when we got back to the car.  Both sets of keys to my car were locked in it.  Poor Lara was exhausted and had to be at work the next day however no one could take her home because her purse and the keys to her house were in my trunk and Wendy and Gerb couldn’t leave us because they love us!  So there it was almost midnight and we were on a deserted street in K-town.  After driving back to the softball fields where we had been hanging out with the ballooners we did a search by cell phone light with no luck no keys.  They could have been anywhere.  I had taken my phone in and out of that crazy crowd all night.  So we called my coworkers who were still at the stadium cleaning up.  The only cops left there were the ones with the trustees cleaning the field and they couldn’t leave.  Apparently now a days cops won’t jimmy car doors anymore either.  So here we sat looking o so suspicious, on a deserted side street filled with houses taking a silly road trip while the car was standing still.   It was filled with lots of … are we there yets, i’m hot, now I’m cold, gerb don’t get out of the car, i don’t like this song, are we there yet, does anyone have any gum… i do.. oh wait it in the car with all of our KEYS!   I like to call this picture tired, sad and angry! 

We waited for close to an hour continuing to check behind us to see who was coming to rescue us!  We saw a golf car fly by, but it kept on going.  A quick call back to the stadium informed us that help was on the way, but couldn’t find us.  So Lara and I ran in the street to flag down the bright yellow banana golf cart carrying two workers armed with 3 screw drivers, a coat hanger, a flash light and a rag!  Apparently in route their first golf cart broke down and they had to walk back to get another one which is what took so long. 

I don’t know how these guys were so good at jimming a car window and I’m not sure I want to, but I was so thankful that they could!  So there we were a locked car in front with everyones stuff in it, wendy’s car parked behind it with her flashers on and a bright yellow golf cart behind it all lined up while two guys with flash lights and screw drivers fished a coat hanger down my window.  We looked like quite the shady crew I’m sure the neighbors were all impressed.  Ray said if the cops showed up he was just going to take off running and see what happened..ha!  It took about 10 minutes, but finally we were in.  Oh what a night.  Again.. crazy crap that happens to me!  You know your friends are awesome when you can turn a crappy situation into something funny!

The rest of the week was an absolute blast!  Tuesday night we block partied with the crew at Magadascar.  Wednesday night I was a guest server for an event at allandale.  Thursday night we corn hole tourneyed at the house until after midnight!  Friday and Saturday night we went to see Gavin Degraw and Little Big Town.  Here are some pics from my week. 

 Gavin DeGraw concert. 

This is what happens when Alex and I get a hold of some ear plugs.. those are meant for ears… really?

The corn hole crew!  I have no idea why we feel the need to make such silly faces.. must be the corn hole!

We were practicing so we could enter the corn hole tournament at fun fest next year!

And in case you don’t know what corn hole is… it involves throwing bean sacks into a ramp of wood with a hole in it… and I am really terrible at it!  Oh well I think this crew could have fun watching grass grow! 

Here’s Ray Ray doing the job he was hired to do.  Only moments after this Little Big Towns stage manager came off the stage and told him that they only allow professional pictures taken of them during their first three songs.  Yeah I was ticked and the guy was a complete jerk about it.  There were oh I don’t know about 50 other people taking tons of shots with their cameras.  One of the singers kept taking peoples cameras on stage and taking pics of the other band members for people in the crowd, but for some reason they asked Ray to stop.  The crappy thing is he was just doing his job.  Not to mention there were at least 5 other professional grade cameras there doing the same thing except they were taking them for themselves.  So I am definately not a Little Big Town fan anymore.  Don’t be picking on my baby people it makes me angry!

Here’s our sad face snapshot because Alex is moving to Charlotte to take a new job in a few weeks.  Boo hiss I say!

And finally the fireworks.  I would argue that Fun Fest has the best fireworks anywhere.  They are set to music and always bring the festival to a close with a bang each year.  If you’ve never seen them you don’t know what you are missing. 

If you are a k-towner I hope all of you had a great Fun Fest.  If you aren’t a k-towner you should come in sometime and hang with us it’s always a good time!

keypadless in ktown

I just read on the Caring Bridge site that Harper’s surgery went well.  Thank you for your prayers for her.  Below is the post from Nick & Chelsea.

"Dr. Harris just visited us and said the surgery was a success. Although he said it was one of the more difficult closures of his career, he got it closed. God is really, really good.

 We’ll be seeing Harper in a few minutes. She’ll be intubated tonight. And we still have a long road to recovery - she’ll be in the NICU for at least another two weeks, he said. Plus, we still won’t know about the functionality of the legs, bladder, etc., for quite some time.

But for now, she’s cleared a big hurdle and we’re happy. She’ll just be recovering from surgery for the next few days. The next big thing will be ultrasounds of the head to determine if she needs a shunt (and another surgery.) That’ll happen early next week.

Thanks again for all the prayers and well-wishes. We are humbled."

Lara’s dad is recouperating and doing well.  Thanks for your prayers for both of these families.. they are our dear friends and mean a lot to us.

In other news I am worn out from all the fun festing!  It’s been a great week thus far and the best is yet to come.  Last night we went to a block party at a friends business.  A good time was had by all.  Tonight I was a volunteer server at one of the other events and I am pooped!  I forgot just how tiring serving can be.  I just got home around 10:30 so I’m pooped and headed off to bed.  Have a great week!

the tired fester

Nick & Chelsea have been anxiously awaiting this arrival and after several reschedules and lots of patience she is finally here. 

Harper Nicole Adams was born yesterday at 10:45 a.m.  She weighs 6lbs and 5 ounces and apparently looks like Nick! 

Both momma and baby are doing good. 

As we have known Harper has spina bifida, but is doing really well as of right now.  Yesterday she moved both her legs and peed twice which are really good indications.  Wednesday afternoon Harper will undergo surgery to repair the lesion on her spine.  Please continue to pray for Nick, Chels and baby Harper.  I know they truly appreicate your support.

You can visit www.caringbridge.com/visit/harperadams for updates on the Adam’s family!

In other news, Lara’s dad had surgery yesterday to implant seeds to kill his prostate cancer.  After a few problems, he is now doing better.  Lara and her family could use your prayers that this will eliminate his cancer with as few side effects as possible.

Thanks for your support of the Adams and Moore families.  They truly appreciate it.

Nicole

I was recently told by someone that for the first few months she knew me she was really intimitaded by me.  I was really taken aback by the comment because I dont think of myself as intimidating at all.  I guess the self image i have of me is a friendly, open, approachable person.  However I’m not sure we always see ourselves the way others do. 

I brought this up over dinner with some friends the other night.  When a close friend of mine remained silent during the discussion I asked her what she thought and she said "i dont think you are intimidating but it’s just that you are opinioned and aren’t afraid to speak you mind about things" .  I think that is a fair statement and I don’t disagree with that at all.  Intimidating.. nah.. opinioned and unafraid to say what I think.. definately.   And tonight the opinioned one struck again!

The crew went out to dinner tonight.  Ray who has been working himself to death all weekend shooting games, fun fest and a wedding was joining us late because he came straight from a shoot.  From the moment we sat down our waitress was awful.  Not only was she unattentive she was very rude.  She asked us if we were ready to order eventhough we already told her that we were waiting on one more.  When Ray finally arrived it took her 15 minutes to make it back to our table to take our order and another 10 after that for him to get something to drink.  It was clear to all that she could really care less about our table.   When our food finally arrived both Ray and Gerb were out of drinks.  She walked by our table twice and said she would be right back with their drinks.  We waited for another 15 minutes with no beverages.  At this point Ray has almost eaten his entire meal with nothing to drink.  Again he is exhausted from working so much this weekend and he is tired, worn out and just wants to eat his meal.  I just kept getting more ticked off about it as the evening went on so by this point I have had it.  Now usually Ray doesn’t like me to say anything when service is awful, but when I asked him to let me out of the booth he easily agreed.   I marched right up to the hostess and asked to speak to the manager.  The manager arrived a few seconds after the waitress finally brought drinks.  She just plopped them down without so much as an apology.  I proceeded to tell the manager while the watiress was still within earshot that she was a terrible waitress, was rude to us and Ray ate his entire meal without so much as a swig of something to wash it down with. 

I mean bad service when someone is really trying is one thing.. but bad service when you just don’t give a hoot well that’s quite another. 

Needless to say we won’t be back there for a long time.  Lara and I figured she would be waiting outside for us or something because she was such a redneck.  I do feel bad for probably getting her in trouble.  However we did still leave her a tip.. a small one but at least she didn’t get completely stiffed. 

Oh well hope you kids had a good weekend,

intimidator

Today when I got to work this was on display at our front desk to greet me when I walked in.  It remained there all day until I stole it tonight and brought it home so it will never see the light of day again!  

I strolled up the steps to find this little guy taped to my office door.     In case you can’t read it is says "i lived a good life…thank you nicole!!! I died with a smile on my face" and it is the actual bee that stung me.

Yes the people I work with are warped.. funny but warped..ha!

In other news baby Koen is doing good.  He was released from the hospital this afternoon and should heal up just fine over the next few weeks. 

Here he is kicking it in the hospital bed!  So cute

He is doing so well he even peed on his Aunt Nicole!  Yes that’s right.. I don’t think I have ever been peed on by anything in my life, but I have now!  I guess it’s like they say it’s better to be peed on than peed off!   I went to hand him to Michelle and there it was the wet, cold spot on my shirt. 

Ah well if that’s the worst thing he ever does to his old Aunt I guess it’s ok..ha!  I love him anyway!

I forgot to post this pic of Uncle Ray giving Koen his first set of bunny ears the day after he was born!  You’ve got to start them with this sort of thing early ya know!

later peeps,

peewee

First of all thanks so much for your prayers for baby Koen.  The surgery went well and he is resting.  For those of you who don’t know Koen was diagnossed with Pyloric Stenosis yesterday and underwent surgery today to correct it.  Both Ray and Tim had this when they were babies and had the exact same procedure so he got it from both sides of the family.  Basically a valve in the stomach closes up after birth and causes vomiting and dehydration.  They went in and opened it back up and he is eating well.  I know Michelle and Tim as well as the rest of the family appreciated your support today! 

Now.. another story from the life and times of Nicole.  It’s another one of those wow.. this crap only happens to me kinda things.  I have had a booger of a day.  I had my annual legislative bbq this afternoon.  We were 40 people over our capacity, had to order extra food at the last minute yesterday and I spent my day organizing, hauling and working my tail off.. we even loaded up a truck full of chairs and tables from the funeral home in skirts and heels just so we would have enough.  And overall the event went really well except for a few minor things..

One of the state reps and a good friend of mine always calls me out and makes everyone sing happy birthday to me at this event.  I begged him this year to just let it go and not make a big deal out of it.  To which he responded.. "oh no.. this is a big one there will be a special presentation".  I have wondered for weeks what in the world he was planning and tonight he showed up with an easel and something covered with a trash bag.  He got up to speak and of course the moment came.  He thanked me for my work at the chamber and pointed out that it takes a lot of work to put on these events.  He then made me come up there and stand where he proceeded to say that I had just celebrated my 29th bday for the second time and he had something special to give me.  What he had was something that I wanted…considering I took it myself.  He said I asked to see his camera one night and took this self portrait of myself so he was returning it to me.   I was mortified!  What a terrible picture it is!!   Ugh!  I have like 17 chins in that pic.. so embarassing!   The entire room was howling with laugher. It was displayed on an easel for the rest of the event.  Geez.. so embarassed.   Guess it goes to show you never know when those things will come up and bite ya.. ok.. and speaking of bite ya.. on to the rest of the story. 

After enduring all the laughs and funny comments from the crowd on my lovely self portrait with my pride totatlly ripped to shambles I begin work on the clean up.  Luckily i had many chamber elves to help me (thanks so much Stacey J!).  Tim and Ray were scooting tables as I was picking up chairs to stack.. When all the sudden i felt a burning pain in my right butt cheek.  I squealed in the middle of the room and started swatting up my dress as Tim, Ray and everyone looked at me like I was a crazy woman  As if I hadn’t endured enough embarassment for the night!  When the little guy to the left fell out of my skirt.  Yes people I was stung on the HINEY by a HORNET!  The darn thing flew right up my dress and stung me on the butt.  I began stomping him and yelling all the while holding my right cheek and crying out in pain.  I limped to the bathroom and discovered a whelt the size of a quarter.  Stace once again came to the rescue and squirted windex on my booty to help with the swelling.  The rest of the cleanup I walked around enduring more laughs as word spread that I had got it in the tushy!  I even got a text from our board president who wasn’t even there that I should leave those poor hornets alone!  Wowsers.. really thats the kind of day I’ve had.  I’ve now heard and almost tried every home remedy from tobacco spit, baking powder to windex and my tail still hurts.  I have said it before and I will say it again.. man this crap happens only to me!!!  Oh well guess it makes for an interesting life!

have a great day.. and watch out for those pesky hornets.. they will fly right up in your personal space and zap you in the tushy!

Ps.. happy birthday wishes to Miss Emmeline.  I miss you girlie!

buzzy

First and foremost.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARRIE who is a dear dear friend to the Austin family including the furry members of my family.  Smokey and Phoebe absolutely adore miss Carrie and she takes wonderful care of them and our house anytime we are away.  We are so blessed to have you in our lives and hope you have a fantastic day! 

Now to the rest of you… Happy 4th of July.  I hope you fill your day with friends, family, fun, fireworks, fellowship and most of all FOOD!  Eat up.. as the chick from Legally Blonde says.. the red, white and blue makes me want a hot dog real bad.."  ha!

Remember today we are so blessed to live in this great nation where we can speak our minds, make the living that we choose and elect those we want to make decisions for us.  Don’t forget all the soldiers who fight to protect those freedoms.  Now speaking of that I am thrilled to say that my cousin Michael is now back on American soil.  He finished he duty in Iraq and has been in another state debriefing.  He was reuinted with Marsha and the boys last week.  Michael if you are reading this I love you and am so happy to have you home and not a night went by that I didn’t pray for your safety.  God does answer prayers and brought you back home to us!  I can’t wait to see you guys! 

Have a wonderful 4th.

firecracker!

Well it’s officially here my leap into my 30’s.  I started this post yesterday on my actual birthday, but was too tired last night to finish it. 

Last year I did a list on my 29th bday of 30 things I wanted to do before my 30th.  While I haven’t accomplished everything on this list..  here is my progress.

1.  Learn a new skill - I learned how to be a pretty darn good matron of honor.  With bachelorette parties, holding dresses, solving little problems, making dvds from old pictures and making sure the bride was happy happy happy all night!  And I’m definately brushing up on my fairy godmothering skills waiting for the arrival of little abby!  I’m also preparing my aunting skills since ray and I now have a nephew!
2.  Recycle consistently - more than just the occassional plastic. ok still not there, but we are definately recycling some plastic!
3.  Read the books on my summer reading list.  I’m still reading reading reading.  Right now i’m on a jane austen kick
4.  Make a difference in someone’s life.  I dont know.. do I make a difference in any of your lives?
5.  Do something good in my community. I could do better here.. because other than the things I do in my everyday job I haven’t actually set out to do something more in the community.  
6.  Visit another country (again) Yup.. done and done.. Mexico & India.. woohoo
7.  Help someone in need.  we donate to several charities and adopt two children every christmas
8.  Visit the west coast - I’ve never been past Nevada - done.. I finally stepped my feet down in california last Sept
9.  Save an animal.  we have been feeding harry the turtle.. does that count?
10. Get in better shape - (tone up… get past the post surgery flabby abby!) Still working on this one.. my arms have gotten much better since I started taking miss wendy’s weights class
11. Eat better - less sugar and fat (lay off my new addiction to iced animal crackers!) while i’m still a sugaholic i have cut down my intake and done away with the iced animal crackers!
12. Run in another race (gallbladder, appendix and knee best be cooperating) haven’t ran a race but am back up to my 3 mile running routines.. slowly slowly getting there.. knee isn’t better but is better than it was
13. Spend more time with my family - i’m not sure i can ever spend as much time with them as I would like to… there’s simply not enough time in the day to be with them as much as I want to 
14. Find a church that feels right for Ray and I -we have tried out a few this past year but definately need to find one to attend on a weekly basis
15. Figure out what I want to do with my life (shew that should be easy..ha) never growing up peter pan.. never… i think i am just going to find a way to be independantly wealthy!
16. Make a list of all the places I want to see (and get started going there!) - india.. check.. mexico.. check.. hrm.. what’s next hawaii maybe
17. Take a dance class. (salsa, ballroom) Anyone interested?  done.. Luke and I did the salsa thing for a while and I loved it.. we need to go back
18. Be kinder to others… and work on my temper (a little less road rage a little more let a stranger into traffic kinda thing..ha) still road rageing on occassion, but i am making improvements.  I am doing better at my horn honking and trying to let people into traffic when ever possible.  so i wouldn’t give this one a done, but an improving.
19. Be more spontaneous (shew I know you are all thinking oh my it can get worse?) I rode an elephant!  even though it scared the life out of me.. that’s pretty spontaneous!
20. Learn to live with less (things can happen unexpectedly and it’s nice to know we can all do without so much stuff!) done done done.. with ray starting his own business this past year has definately been an experiement.  The job is going great and Ray is doing better than ever but it has definately changed the way we budget our money
21. Pay it forward (pay for the order behind me in the drive through, return someone’s shopping cart etc.) I went into the bathroom stall with an indian woman to show her how to lock the door.  I also randomly helped a guy who didn’t speak great english pick out his ice cream when he couldn’t understand what the clerk was saying.  so yes I think i am doing good in the help a stranger pay it forward item.
22. Be a better friend.  I do my best to be a good friend.. so here’s hoping i’m doing enough
23. Finish reading the bible from front to back (I’m about 1/2 way there) not finished but still reading
24. Have more patience (this one will take some work… i’m one of the least patient people I know!) I think my illness and everything I went through last year has taught me patience for the things I can’t control.
25. Learn to control the hinges on the door to my mouth (I tend to say exactly what i’m thinking without giving it some much needed thought).  I’m still trying.  Although there have been several times this past year when I have just wanted to tell someone exactly what I thought, but have decided better of it. 
26. Figure out why my hair keeps falling out.  This can’t be good I’m going to be bald by the time I’m 40 if I keep going at this rate (I could weave a rug with the stuff in our shower drain..ha) I think it was the lack of food and all that I was going through with meds because the massive hair loss has slowed down significantly
27. Spend less time in front of the tv and more time living my own life. well the writers strike really helped out on this one.  We don’t watch nearly as much tv as we used to
28. Prepare myself for motherhood (mentally, physically & financially) still working on this one.
29. Learn to say no when whatever just isn’t a good fit for me… (you know when you feel the need to do whatever out of guilt, obligation etc.) nope..still not good with no
30. Have more fun - laugh a little louder, a little longer and enjoy all the wonderful things this life has to offer.  I am definately doing this one.  I try to laugh as much as I possibly can and we all know i’m pretty loud..ha! 

Thanks to everyone for making my birthday special.  I truly appreciate all the calls, texts, emails and cards. 

the 30 year old.. Ugh.. i just hate saying that.

Ok here it is my surprise early birthday party pics.  They are posted! 

Gotta love some silly string.. yay!

Yes it was my party, but this post is all about my friends! 

I know I say it all the time, but they truly are awesome!  They are the most special people in the world.  They love me enough to throw a "forever young" kiddy party when they know I’m having trouble with the big 3-0! 

The party was a complete package of all the things I think are fun and love. 

It came complete with hula hoops, bubbles, limbo sticks, hillbilly golf, princess hats, purple in every corner you can imagine, princess crafts, hot dogs, hamburgers and brats… oh my…..smurf cutouts, silly string, a princess pinatta, an airbrushed t-shirt and of course no party is complete without a CLOWN!  Oh yes my Luka even dressed up and scared the beegeebeess out of me.. as seen in the pic to the left!

If you think your friends are as awesome as mine… try me.. they are incredible….check out this clown!

 Oh my boo.. whatever would I do without him and his unique ways to make things special for me!  Check out my princess party hat and air brushed shirt.  On the front it says "happy birthday Nicole" complete with a butterfly resting on the i and on the back "forever young" dressed up in more purple than you can stand!  Thanks Wendy and Lara.. nice work!

 My pinata.. guess they were afraid to blindfold me and give me a stick..ha!  That’s probably a good call.. hahah.. see I told ya they know me! 

Anna and Vinay got me the newest book from one of my favorite authors for my birthday present.  You kiddos rock!  Vinay came even though he was scheduled to fly out that afternoon!  Now that friends is dedication!

 Here we are.. my smurf families…  Big shout outs to Sheryl who painted this herself!  I just love it that my friends care enough to spend all week painting a smurf scene on cardboard and cutting out the faces because they know I will love it! 

 and you are right.. i so do!  Hola homies has been replaced with our little smurf village!

 Yes look closely everyone is in at least one shot!  I’m not sure how I ever found my silly soul mates.. but I so have.  Thanks for being as ridiculous as I am!  We will never grow up peter pan.. NEVER!

 The clown car.. hats, big ties, groucho faces and bow ties.. oh my!

Here’s my Nicka and Chels who bought me an awesome smore machine.  I can’t wait to break that out at our next party!  Speaking of Nicka and Chels.. please send some prayers their way… as baby Harper "NICOLE" (yes i said Nicole Luka..te he.. ) is expected to make her way into this world sometime later on in the week.  Please pray for the Adams family.

Balloon animals.. oh yes.. who knew sheryl, luka, Rob and others had balloon skills.. but they do! 

Stace got me a HUGE bag of cotton candy that we scarfed down in record time.. and hersey’s with almonds since I eat the hersey kisses in her office like they are going out of style!  Thanks for looking out for my sugar cravings J! 

And here we are .. charlies angels.  You chickens rock.  Little miss Lara kept me occupied all day moving things into her new condo to keep me from figuring out what was going on.  I thought it was incredibly odd that wendy wasn’t there helping and wasn’t going "shopping" with us later on in the day.  Yeah that’s how Lara got me to bring clothes and clean up before the party.  We ran Sunday morning, moved stuff all day and were sweaty messes before it was all said and done.  I’m glad she didn’t let me step into the party like that.  Instead she told me to bring clothes and shower at her house that we would take a shopping trip that night!  When we went to drop the truck off at my house.. well i had a yard full of cars and a house full of fun surprises and my favorite people! 

Thanks so much for making my 30th week.. or my 4th decade as someone so kindly pointed out a little less scary!  I love you kiddos.  Thanks to each and every one of you for your work, sneakiness and for being the best friends a girl could ever ask for! 

the 29 year old… yes.. its still true until wednesday!  (big thanks to stace for asking me how old I am everyday just so i can keep saying 29!)

God had blessed me with the most wonderful friends a girl could ever ask for.  Tonight they threw me a “forever young” surprise early 30th birthday party.  I’m too exhausted to post the pics and do a recap tonight but look for good stuff tomorrow! 

Thanks so much friends.  I don’t know what I would ever do without each and everyone one of you.  Espeically you Ray Austin… I love you baby.  Thanks to all of you that worked hard to make this happen for me!  Love you peeps. 

I will do a full recap tomorrow night!

smurfette!

Happy Birthday wishes to my father in law Gleason!  If I was there I would bake you a chocolate cake!  Hope you have a great day.  We love you!

Hey everyone.  Sorry I’m just now getting to this blog.  Its been a busy week with traveling, new babies and working late to play catch up, but finally the Florida pics are posted.

Of course I didn’t leave home without my "flock to florida… flamingo wrangler" shirt courtesy of miss Wendy! 

As part of the conference they had a luau dinner for us.  Here’s me with some of the entertainment. 

Ray and I had a great time in Orlando and hanging out at the City walk with my work friends then we ventured to Aunt Carolyns for a weekend of fun.

Friday night they treated us to dinner at Outback and some good times on the Karaoke machine.  We even got little Ray Ray to sing! 

Saturday Robin and Sonny’s girlfriend came over for a bbq.  I think we all ate so much we felt miserable, but not bad enough to not take our afternoon dip in the pool.

  Here’s aunt Carolyn and I freezing as we dipped in the chilly water.  It was cold at first, but felt pretty good after a while. 

Think this is my cute kitty smokey???  Think again.  This is actually Carolyn and JR’s female kitty.  She was such a sweet heart I wanted to take her home. 

Ah we are such the photog family.  Like Aunt like nephew i suppose. 

This is what they are shooting.. wow.they really do mean long horn huh!  Ever heard the David Allen Coe song cows with guns???  Well these guys dont need them..ha!

This is Carolyns beautiful and equally delicious oreo cake mmmm.. so good.  Wish I had a piece of it now!

Saturday afternoon we visited Ray’s cousin Jim.  This is Jim and his adorable family.  These boys were so cute!

Sunday it was ALL ABOARD for a cruise through silver spings river on Carolyn and JR’s boat.  Here’s captain niki now..haha.. just kidding JR was our tour master and did an excellent job of coasting us through the beautiful scenery. 

And wow did we see some scenery.. crocadiles, monkey, birds and turtles oh my! 

Crikes.. it’s a croc in the wild!!!

What we didn’t see though were any doodlebugs.  Caryolyn snapped this pic on one in her yard today and emailed it to me.  I had never heard of them, but apparently we have them here too.  And if you sing the below song they will come out of their hole!  I’m now on the search for a doodlebug to sing to.. of course my singing would probably make them crawl back in and hide..ha!

doodlebug, doodlebug
your house is burning down
run to the barn
and get a sack of corn

Oh good times!  Thanks so much for having us guys we had a great time.  It was so good to see all of you and I hope we can do it again soon.

Well tomorrow I’m off to help Lara move into her NEW CONDO!  Yay Lara pants is a home owner!  Then Sunday I’m "on the road again" like Willie.  Geez I’m a traveling banchee! 

later peeps,
the florida doodler 

HE’S HERE HE’S HERE!!!!!

A little bit of heaven
Drifted down from above -
A handful of happiness,
A heartful of love.
The mystery of life,
So sacred and sweet
The giver of joy
So deep and complete.
Precious and priceless,
So lovable, too
The world’s sweetest miracle,
Baby boy, is you.

Koen Chase Powers came into this world at 6:38 p.m.  He weighs in at 7lbs 4 ounces and is 20 inches long. 

Michelle, Tim and baby are all doing great! 

Poor Michelle was so hungry, but all they would let her have was ice. 

After they gave her the epidural she felt MUCH better and actually had to watch the paper to see when she was having contractions!  I told her we needed a good pain pic for the blog so she faked this one for me..ha!

Here’s all of our first moments with him!

The next pic may shock you a bit.  Please make sure you are seated. Yes this is Ray meeting his new nephew!  This is the first baby I’ve ever seen him hold.  Usually they have to be walking and actually reach up for him and even then he isn’t big on hold them.  So cute!

Poor kiddo was hating all the flash bulbs.  It was like paparazzi up in that room.  Camera’s going off everywhere.  He might as well get used to the camera’s with Tim as his dad, Ray as his uncle and me and Michelle with the matching cameras that will be the most photographed kid in the world!

This pic makes me laugh.. it’s Ray and his dad both with their hats turned around backwards taking a pic!

The Powers family. 

Congratulations Michelle & Tim!  We love you guys!

love,

Uncle Ray and Aunt Nicole!!!! 

Hi peeps!  Well we are back from sunny Florida and we had an absolute blast!  I promise to blog and posts pics soon, but considering I leave in the morning for Nashvegas (John Stone & Tootsies here I come!)  it probably wont be for a few days.   Hope you can wait til then.  Big thanks to Carolyn and JR for putting us up for a few nights and showing us a great time. 

We flew in tonight and are exhausted.  Funny story though we ran into both our friend Michael and my 1st cousin Dennis at the airport and they were both on our flight.  If you remember the last time I flew I ended up on a plane with one of my other first cousins.  Small world it is! 

Happy fathers day Poppie, Eddie & Gleason.  We love you guys very very much.

Please say a prayer for our friend and neighbor Amy.  She lost her brother yesterday.  My heart goes out to her and her family. 

Ok will do a blog recap complete with alligators, monkeys and birds.. oh my…. and the cat that is a twin to my sweet little smokey joe!  Seriously Caroyln and JRs cat could be his sister.. it’s uncanny.  Stay tuned for a side by side comparison and to hear all about our fun adventures in the sunshine state! 

the frequent flyer

Ok this is on the bberry so it will be brief.
We are having a great time in Orlando. Last night we went back to the City Walk where we were a little more than 5 years ago when we were here on our honeymoon. I have been in work sessions most of the day today and was one of the speakers on a panel earlier. Tonight we have a luau so that should be fun.
I would like to wish happy birthday to my mother in law Sandy. We love and miss you. Hope you have a great day.
I will blog more if I can later on this week.
Minnie mouse

Today Aiden graduated from kindergarten. 

Congrats little buddy.  Aunt Nicole is VERY proud of you and you look o so adorable in your cap and gown!

Tonight Ray and I are packing for ORLANDO!  I’m headed there for a conference and Ray decided yesterday to pack up and go with me.  We are so excited.  After my conference is over we are headed to Aunt Carolyn’s house for a weekend filled with family, food, fun and boating… yay! 

I just hope Michelle can hold off on having baby Koen while we are gone.  It’s getting closer to her due date and I’m afraid with my June traveling I will miss it!  So don’t push sister don’t push!!!!  We will be back soon and definately want to be there to meet our new nephew!  It was so cute on Friday I got to feel him hiccup.  Who knew that babies hiccuped in there.. I certainly didn’t.

Of course you know I’m doing the dreaded packing right now.. ugh why do I hate packing so much!  Anyway I bit the bullet and am half way through it, but we are trying to do the impossible and pack both of our stuff in one bag.  Again where are those magic packing elves when you need them? 

If I don’t have a chance to blog from Florida (I will do my best but who knows) I want to wish a happy 10 year anniversary to Wendy & Gerb!  Congrats guys.  That is quite an accomplishment.  I hope you have a wonderful trip to Charleston.  That’s where Ray and I spent our one year anniversary and I know you guys spent your first one there too.  

Finally please say a prayer for Stacey and her family.  Week before last she lost her grandma and this morning she found out her grandpa had passed as well.  That is a lot for one family to take especially in such a short amount of time.  So please remember them.

florida bound

Ray and I ventured home this weekend for an early fathers day and to celebrate Sandy & Gleason’s bdays.  My travel schedule is crazy this month so it worked better for us to go this weekend.

Here’s Sandy and the headset we bought her for all her early morning phone calls to her sisters. 

We told her she looked like a fast food worker and she said "welcome to hardees can I take your order"!

 Saturday I took a short drive over to Les great great aunts where she has been all week staying with her.  And of course there was lots of silliness.  Her Aunt Maude told us we should be together all the time since we made each other giggle so much.  We explained that we have been friends since we were 4 and the laughter usually begins when we get within a few feet of each other!  I have to say I agree with Aunt Maude.. we should definately be together more often.. Move already Lesley!

Saucy Mama’s!

 Luka we took this crazy eyes mcgee pic just for you!

Gangsta’s

Ok here is the really funny part.  We were just talking when I was totally distracted by this crazy gray hair sticking straight up on Les’s head just flapping in the wind.  I started laughing and just reached over and yanked it right out of her head.  At first she thought I had spotted a bug.. actually i think she would have been a little less distraught if it was a bug.  because she was definately not pleased when I said it was a gray hair.  In between giggles.. she vowed that she would not rest until she found one on my head.  So like a momma monkey she went to work.. laughing and searching through my hair.  No luck.. no gray.  She then ordered me to flip over that "maybe they start at the base.. we are the same freaking age.. i know you have one too!"  Indeed I did.. at the base of my neck she yanked out a big long one.  We laughed until our stomachs hurt!  Oh yoda how you make me laugh..ha!

Saturday night it was fathers day celebration number two.  Here’s grill master Ray Ray cooking up some steaks. 

I have absolutely no clue why we were laughing.. we just were..ha

Brother had a rough day at work and decided to stretch out on the sidewalk while the family was hanging on the porch.  For some reason I thought this was funny and decided to join him.  I had way more fun with it than he did and giggled the entire time.  I’m pretty sure he was ready for me to get up as soon as I laid down there!  Like brother like sister I guess. 

Oh good times with the fam.  Hope you had a great weekend.. I know i did!

chewbacca

Happy Birthday Aunt Carolyn.  Carolyn is Ray’s mom’s sister who lives in sunny Florida. 

Even though she is far away she is never far from our hearts. 

She’s a fun loving, lady who isn’t afraid to go head to head with me in a bidding war over a quilt at the family reunion.  (reference to 4th of July post 2006.)

She loves Karaoke and is the queen of funny pics.

She’s the kinda lady who will take your face and stick it on Britney Spears body and send it to you and the entire family.. and I have to say she is pretty darn good at it.  I don’t where she comes up with this stuff, but it is hilarious! 

These are just a fwe examples of her handy work!  Nicely done Auntie!

She’s actually the one who gave me the idea for the dancing mushy gushy gram I did a few blogs back.  She sent us one of my in-laws and it made me want to do one of me and my mom. 

 She’s a beloved sister…. (her, Sherin and Sandy spend like two hours every morning on the phone), a  devoted daughter, a caring mother, loving wife and an awesome aunt. 

She and J. R. even opened their home up to us on our last night of our whirlwind Florida honeymoon.   

Thanks so much for being the funny, sweet lady that you are. 

Wishing you the happiest of birthdays from your Tennessee Family!  We love you. 

the adopted niece