Wordless Wednesday

{courtesy of Frank-o}

It's that time of year....

....in south Louisiana

Mardi Gras season

Fond Memories

While Daddy Buck was hunting this past weekend, the boys and I went to Alexandria (my hometown) for a visit. We had a terrific time visiting family and friends and I had time to reflect on the idea that my boys are experiencing family, playing in the houses of my parents and grandparents, eating at restaurants that I have frequented my entire life, playing at parks that I played at as a kid, even playing with many of the very same toys that I did as a youngster.....it is so very cool how life has come full circle.

Allow me to explain, with some pictures, just what I mean....

Buck-a-roo and Frank-o built these two masterpieces with Popoids at my parent's house....the very same set of Popoids that my brother and I played with during their craze in the '80s.

Buck-a-roo and Frank-o played with sticks and swung in my parent's backyard....on the very same swing that my family has swung on while barbequeing for the past 20+ years.

Buck-a-roo and Frank-o wrestled and posed for pictures on my Meme's living room sofa....the very same sofa that my Meme taught me to play Battle, Solitaire, and Go Fish.

Buck-a-roo and Frank-o had Saturday lunch at the breakfast room table at my Paw-Paw and Maw-Maw's house....the very same table where I sat on a pot for a booster seat and received many a cooking lesson while sipping a large glass of iced sweet tea.

Buck-a-roo and Frank-o frolicked in my grandparents' backyard and learned all about my grandfather's garden.....the very same backyard and garden that I spent many an afternoon digging potatoes, picking okra, and learning an appreciation for home-grown vegetables.

And, this year especially, a mighty fine garden it is. So enjoy a few extra pictures as I practiced some still-life photography:

broccoli row


green onion row


heads of cabbage

bloom on the lemon tree

unripe bunch of lemons

When I left for college almost ten years ago, it almost seemed "uncool" to go home on the weekends. Now it is marvelous to return home and allow my children the experiences that have left me with so, so, so many fond memories.

"Not Me!" Monday

"Not Me!" Monday took last Monday off for the holiday break....so this week, you are getting double the brutally honest happenings of our family from the past two weeks.

:: We DID NOT have at least three new toys that partially broke on Christmas day. Buck-a-roo and Frank-o handled it well.... a sure-fire sign that they were given too much stuff and the broken items quickly became shuffled in the mix of the overwhelming mound of new stuff.


:: I DID NOT allow us to run out of pull-ups on Christmas Eve, thus having to go my neighbors' house and borrow (well....actually take, never to be returned) 5 diapers to get us through Christmas Day. And, on the day-after-Christmas I DID NOT take my boys to Wal-mart amongst all the day-after-Christmas shoppers, my youngest wearing a swim diaper (YES, a swim diaper), to buy pull-ups and other insundary items.


:: While scurrying through Walmart with two uncooperative children like a chicken with my head partially chopped offshopping, my boys DID NOT proceed to cry/whine/beg for more toys on the day after receiving above mentioned "mound of new stuff". They ARE NOT spoiled rotten, you think??

:: On the Sunday following Christmas, our family traveled to Meridian, MS (7 hours round trip in one day) for our last family holiday gathering. Frank-o wet through his pull-up and onto his pants 1/2 way through the first leg of the trip. Out come the spare pants from the diaper bag. Two hours later when we arrived, Frank-o HAD NOT wet through his "nighttime" pull-up again and needed a spare pair of pants. I DID NOT re-dress him in the original "pee-ed in" pair of pants because they had dried and it was all I had. While eating lunch with family, guess what?? Wet pants again!! Potty-training--NOT going so well!! Re-dress in "already pee-ed in" pants #2 that are now semi-dry or return home looking like a true red-neck child wearing only a diaper? I DID NOT really allow my child to wear dried, "pee-ed in" clothing & a diaper without pants for an extended period of time!! Here's your sign.....


:: On the road again (wait, that's a song) today...as Buck-a-roo was waking from his nap, he was super-fussy and begins to tell me that he pee-ed on himself (does this story sound familiar--same circumstances, different child). Buck-a-roo NEVER wets himself. I DID NOT pull my car over to the shoulder of the two-laned highway in the middle of nowhere where we happened to be (I was traveling alone with the boys) and proceed to strip him naked, gave him clean boxer briefs, used his under t-shirt and sweatshirt to soak the pee from his carseat, re-buckled him in wearing nothing but his boxer briefs and continued on our merry way home.



Man alive do these past few weeks have a theme or what~~~gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now?

hey all you "button-grabbers" out there....

Voila!!
....ours is up for grabs now (mid-way down right sidebar) !!

I visited Oikology101, per Tiff's instruction, and followed the instructions step-by-step and made our button all by my little self. I just boosted my html-code writing skills tenfold!! Visit the blog at the link below to learn some super-skillz as it pertains to the blogging world.

And, since I have become and addict for blog traffic, blog comments, blog followers, all things bloggable....post our button on your sidebar and send a quick "fix"(I should stop now with the drug innuendos) my way.

Favorite Things Friday

I have made another wonderful 'cross-country blogging friend, Tiffany, at The Boren Life. She hosts a weekly blog carnival entitled Favorite Things Friday. Though I already participate in Flashback Friday prompted by my cousin at The Blondin Five; I think, why not another?? So here goes.....

1. The NEW Year....it's such a wonderful time when the joys of Christmas are still lingering and the excitement of a new year is upon us. There's so much NEW...clothes from Christmas, toys from Christmas, calendars/daily planners just waiting to be filled!! NEW resolutions to be attemptedNEW goals, NEW ambitions, NEW desires to be attained. Is it more organization in your life, better planning in your daily lives, lose some unwanted pounds and live a healthier lifestyle, more disciplined children, a new hobby/pasttime, achieve better financial success, develop a closer relationship with God?? It is a very motivating time of the year!!

2. Iron chef America.... Whoa, that's random, right? You know, the TV show on the Food Network. I love that show!! Though they create several dishes that I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot fork, I still enjoy watching. I think it's the competition aspect that I thrive on. If the "secret ingredient" is a fish product or any organ meat, I must admit that I flip the channel right to HGTV at that point.

3. The things that come out of the mouths of my 2 & 3 y/o boys....on a daily, hourly, sometimes, minutely, basis. Children are so naive, literal, and downright, hilarious. They certainly tell it like it is, no sugar-coating; and, that I like!!

Well, there you have it...this week's edition of Favorite Things Friday. That was fun...hopefully, I can keep it up.

Flashback Friday

These pictures are from the new year of '07. They have no other signifigance/relevance other than I really liked their matching outfits and the pictures themselves.

Frank-o (6 months old) :: Buck-a-roo (22 months old)