Guess Who We Met!

Today, Allyson met one of her favorite starlets.

B e l l e

Belle was a guest at Virginia Lynn's birthday party. Allyson was so excited to meet her! At first, she stared with wide eyes. Then, she cried. I think she was completely star struck!

Finally, she calmed down enough for a few photos with the princess.

Here's a picture of Belle with Leeta, Virginia Lynn (b-day girl in the middle), and Allyson

Belle gave Allyson a Disney Princess tattoo.

After tattoos, there was a princess crown craft and animal balloons.

This was a big day for our little girl!

A Barrel O' Fun!

Friday night we met my parents at Cracker Barrel. Michael was working so this worked out great! Mike is not a fan of Cracker Barrel. That is just curazy if you ask me!

I love the grilled chicken strips with honey mustard! Delish!

Allyson likes to sit in the rockers on the porch. She and my dad had a little checker game going on.

She thought the object was stacking up checkers. In her bag a a huge sucker from her Papa. Everyone knows only grandparents would buy something like that. Seriously!

She might be winning!!

My mom & I rocked a bit, too. I just LOVE her!!



And, now, would you like to know how you can make a tasty cake in under 15 minutes? I'm not talking about 15 minutes prep. I mean start to finish!

Microwave Chocolate Cake

You'll need:

Devil's Food Cake mix
all the ingredients needed to prepare cake on box
a can of chocolate fudge icing

In a large microwave safe bowl, mix cake as directed on box. With an ice cream scoop or other small scoop, scoop icing and drop on top of batter.

Cover. Microwave for 12 minutes and 30 seconds. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. (optional) Best if served warm.

I made this for the Ladies Salad Supper last night. I wish I had taken a picture! This cake is good. Trust me. It's a Pampered Chef recipe. Michael and Allyson loved it!

Enjoy!

Please pray!

Most of you probably know that Michael is completely miserable at work. Well, he found out today that there could be a potential position working back at the Macon Airport for Bombardier (Spelling!?). Nothing would make me happier than to see my husband satisfied with his job. So, please pray that a job (preferrably one close to WR) opens up for him.

Thanks, everyone!

Family and Fame

On Labor Day Weekend, Allyson and I traveled to LA with my mom for a family reunion. Now, when I say LA, I mean Lower Alabama. :D

Have you ever heard of Opp? It's a small town in LA, and surprisingly, most people that live in Alabama have heard of it. It's on the way to the beach, you see.

Well, we spent quite a while on the front porch of a home for the elderly visiting my great aunts, Aunt Caron and Aunt Zelda. (Pronounced Aint Kayron and Aint Zelder)

The "creepy mouse" kept coming around. This caused squealing from young ones and old ones alike. :D Allyson was putting the "creepy mouse" on my mom. Aunt Caron is looking on.

Here is Aunt Zelda with Allyson and me.

This little handsome fella is my first cousin's youngest. This is 10 month-old Cooper.

Aunt Caron is getting the creepy mouse. My mom's sister, Janice, Cooper, first cousin Jon, and Baby Olivia (his neice) are on the swing.

Here is Allyson with her 2nd cousins, Erin and Jenny.

You can actually spend quite a bit of time on the front porch of a home for the elderly. We were late for dinner. Blame it on Alabama time.

If you get bored spending time on the front porch of a home for the elderly, you can walk around and take random pictures of yard decorations.

Here's Aunt Janice and my mom. The theme of the weekend was, "Here, hold a baby."

We had quite a crew, outnumbered by kids. We didn't have a relaxing weekend, but it was enjoyable. It's always worth it to be with family.

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As far as fame..

Well, I'm not famous, but I met a famous person today.

I went to a book signing at Sam's in Macon to meet

Nicholas Sparks

He was signing his new book The Last Song.

It will be a movie starring Miley Cyrus coming out in January.

I invited Andrea, but really she took me. We rode in her car and she had a Sam's card. I was her guest.

A group photo

I was so giddy! After the photo, I stood up, but he was still talking to me, so I sat back down. And, then when I walked away, I nearly forgot my camera. I was just slightly star-struck!

The book signing was to begin at noon. Andrea and I got in line at 10 am. We sat a chatted for an hour and then I went to get us some pizza and drinks. When I got back, he was starting to sign already! We had to rush to eat because we were near the beginning of the line. There were people and cameras from CNN. I'm sure they captured me shoving pizza in my face!

We were leaving Sam's at about 11:30. We were both thankful that he started signing early.

It was totally worth it to meet my favorite author. I took all my books for him to sign, but there were so many people that he would only sign his new book.

I wanted to say something he doesn't hear all the time. I'm sure he's always hearing, "I'm your biggest fan!" or "I've read all your books and seen all your movies!"

So, I said, "I'm a fan of yours on Facebook." That got an eyebrow raise and then he said some other things to me about a newsletter. He was very friendly and, well, HOTT!

Meeting Mr. Sparks was the highlight of my week, hands down!

Thanks for taking me, Andrea!

Not a Baby Anymore...

Allyson has grown up so much. It's sad in a way that my baby just isn't a baby anymore. But, it's also exciting to see how much she's learning and how she is developing.

She blows me away at times with the things she says!

Here's her first day going to her three-year old class at daycare.

But, even though she's getting older, I can still see traces of our little baby.




Monday was her birthday, but her birthday party was last Saturday.



It was an Ariel pool party.




Cheryl Meeks made her cake. She made little shells, stingrays, and other sea "tings" that were all edible. She's very talented.

The party was at Melissa & Jody Cagle's house. Someone asked us when we moved into this house. We were like, "We wish!"

I worried all week that it would rain! It was very overcast that morning. I guess the Lord was listening when I prayed the clouds would go away. They sure did and it got HOT!!

Time to sing!!

Our family

Time to open gifts...

We had to take a break in the middle of opening gifts. Allyson was just slightly overwhelmed and thirsty!

Back to presents!

She opened several dress-up things. Her gift from Mommy & Daddy was a Disney Princess bike.

My sweet sister and nephew

After the party, our families came over for pizza and for my sister to open her gifts. Her birthday had been the Wednesday before. (See my previous post)

The kids played.

Josh tried on the gun belt.

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On her birthday...

We took a few pictures before school. Since it was her birthday, I let her wear her tiara.

I took snacks to her class. She's passing out Ariel napkins.

I took Little Debbie brownies, grapes, and Capri Suns.

Here's Allyson with her teachers, Ms. Brittany and Ms. Kelli

Can you believe she will start Pre-K next year? I try not to think about it!

That evening, I set a Princess table.

We had Allyson's favorites: Mac-n-cheese, fried chicken, and corn.

We had to change to get ready to go to our first gymnastics class.

Blow out the candles!

Little glamour girl with purse and sunglasses

Her teacher said she did well, but we have to work on some things like listening and taking turns. Well, she is the youngest in the class!

The next day, she went to the doctor for her three-year old check up. We were told that she is average in height and weight, but developmentally she is beyond average, she's more like 5! The doctor said she has certainly had enough alone time if we're ready for number two!

She just not a baby anymore!