"You're gonna kill Santa!"

Haha....got your attention huh? Good evening pals. Whew! Is it hot enough for you? It's been sooo hot here in GA. Temps. In the 90's. Ugh...I am ready for fall! Heck...while we're talking about Santa's, let's just bring on winter!
Darbee Rae and I spent the day at Nana's today. Ever have one of those days when you just need to go "home?" such a good feeling. (smile)
Nana was hard at work on her prim Santas. Darbee Rae loves to get involved and help with any craft project. When Nana told her they were about to get a "prim bath" she was immediately on board. She wanted to help. She quickly fetched herself a pair of gloves and pulled her stool up to the sink to help.



Doesn't she look so excited to help? She was so funny!



She had so many funny expressions. She talked to the Santas each time she dunked one.

Hehe...how fun and what a memory she made. She enjoyed taking them outside to "sunbathe" too.






How cute. We left them still drying in the sun. All that's left is adding the beards and buttons! They will be so cute!
I hope all of you have had a great day. I hope those of you that are in the path of the tropical storm will stay safe.
Until next time.....


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Meet Cuddles....

Good evening everyone. Hope you all are having a good week thus far. We are busy yet again this week. I will get to that in a minute.

I have someone I want you to meet.



This is Cuddles.
Cuddles is a very special bear in our household. Just after Darbee Rae turned two, she was VERY attached to her pacifier. She had got to the point where she would specifically ask for one by color and design. "Mommy, I want my pink pappy with flowers on it" is what she would say. Ha! I knew then it was past time to get rid of it.
I had seen a cute idea in a magazine that I knew I wanted to do. So...off to Build a bear we went. I explained to her before we went what we were going to do. She knew that she would no longer have a pacifier, but she would have a new bear to sleep with. I made sure I cleared the house of all of the other ones before we left because trust me she is a smart girl and I knew she would be on the hunt for one.
So, she picked out her bear, stuffed her paci's inside and picked out an outfit. We headed home with a happy little girl and a very nervous mama.
What was the first thing she did when we walked thru the door at home? Yup...headed straight for her stash. Yes...it was a long cry when she realized they were gone, but it didn't last too long. Cuddles quickly became her new best friend. She slept with her EVERY night and she went with us pretty much everywhere. When she started preschool, Cuddles went each day. On her first trip to the dentist, Cuddles went. With each big milestone, Cuddles has been there. Still to this day, Cuddles is her best bud. She gets new clothes for her when we go to the mall and she loves her to death.
When Darbee got glasses, I knew what was coming next. Yes, Cuddles had to have them too. That's just what we did. Last week, we headed over to Douglasville to the Build a bear store and bought some glasses. I couldn't believe it when we walked in and they had brown glasses almost exactly like Darbee's. Yes, we got them and a few other things as well.



Doesn't she look cute? I love it. Also, do you notice her clothes? Yes...Cuddles now has a bathing suit and matching towel. What did she need it for? Well....
Last week, Aunt Kate called and wanted to know if we would be interested in another week of swim lessons. I kind of cringed at the thought of going thru another week of hearing Darbee cry about not wanting to go under water and how much she didn't want to go to swim lessons. I told her to let me talk to Darbee and my hubby and see what they had to say. Darbee was surprisingly thrilled at the idea and Hubby was all for it. Why not? I made it clear to Darbee that if she agreed to go this time and try it again, she would go every day and she would go under and she would not cry. So, Monday, we began a new week of swim lessons at a different pool. This one is heated and not as deep. Darbee can touch over pretty much all of the pool which has been great. Yes, Cuddles has came along to "watch her be a big girl and learn to swim and go under." has it worked? Yes ma'am! She is doing GREAT! Cuddles is watching and getting a suntan while Darbee swims. I am so proud of her. She has been under water many times and hasn't cried! Yay!



Here she is on Monday before her first lesson. She was very nervous, but still excited.

I am so proud of her and thankful for Cuddles!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Fun Father's Day

Good evening friends.  I hope all of you had a great weekend and a happy Father's day.  We had a good day here and for that I am thankful.

Darbee Rae had informed me the day before that we had to be sure and get presents for "all of her men."  Ha!  That cracked me up.  She went back and added "for all of her men in her family."  How cute.

We started off our morning by giving hubby his presents.  Darbee Rae was so excited.  She always gets excited about giving a present to someone.  She is so cute.  We worked very hard on hubby's present, so I was ready to give it to him too.  He has his own office at  work, so we thought this would be a good gift to "decorate" his work space.

I love that picture of the two of them.  They were sitting out on the porch one day and I was able to sneak some really cute pictures of them.  I love her silly face.  They sit out there often and have some good "deep" conversations.  I love it.  I loved the poem I found for it too.  If you make the picture larger, you should be able to read it.  It fits the two of them perfectly. She drew a picture of the two of them throwing a ball.  (Smile)...perfect.  He loved it.

We also made key chains for "all her men."  Ha!  I loved how these turned out.  We used Shrinky Dinks.

Will definitely do this again.

I love how she wrote their names.  She told me she was putting the dots on their names like I do to make them cute.  Love it.

Yup...she's gonna be just like her mama.

I love how she made each one different.

Here she is giving daddy his gift.

We surprised Grandaddy (hubby's daddy) and went to church with him.

Afterward, we met Nana and Papa for lunch.  They came back to our house for gifts.

She had to help Papa open his.  He got a new Bible cover.

We also found a really cool workshop book.  They enjoyed looking at it together.

We spent the afternoon at Grandaddy's visiting with hubby's brothers and sisters.  It was great.  

Grandaddy was proud of his gift too.  

Our last "man" was uncle Pete.  Darbee calls him Papa Pete.  She thinks of him as a grandparent too.  He is a candy-aholic if that is a word.  Hehe.  He loves chocolate.  So...thanks to Pinterest, we found a perfect gift for him.

I loved how it turned out.  

Even I was excited to see how he liked it.

Yes...he loved it!

As you can see, Darbee Rae had dressed herself in her "cool clothes" as she calls them.  Hehe...one day she will look back on these pictures and smile. I love her carefree style though.  

Pete wouldn't eat any of his card.  He told us he would save it for a few days and make sure everyone had a chance to see it.  

I am so glad he loved it.

I am thankful for my daddy and for the example he is for me.  I am thankful for the daddy he was and still is to me and for the memories I have with him.  I am thankful for what he has taught me.  I am thankful for the relationship we have and that I could go to him for anything.  

I am thankful for my husband and for the wonderful daddy he is to our little girl.  I am thankful for our relationship and our life together. I am truly a blessed girl and I know it.  

I hope all of you had a great start to your week...

We have a busy week ahead as Darbee Rae is taking swim lessons again!  I will blog about that maybe tomorrow...she is doing MUCH better this time.  

Until next time....

Would you join us for brunch?

Good evening dear friends.  What a day it has been.  

Would you like to come over and join us for brunch?  

I am delighted that you have joined us and look forward to chatting with you.

A group of girls joined Darbee Rae and I at our home this morning for brunch.  

It was the best time...just sitting and catching up...gossiping...venting....laughing....it was good.

Of course, there was tons of food.  

I cooked a delicious sausage casserole that I am going to share with you and monkey bread.  MMMmmm..

It was delicious!  The other ladies brought some things too!  There were homemade biscuits and ham, sausage balls, chicken nuggets (yes-those were for my weird child), fruit, and a wonderful fruit drink.  

We ate and ate and ate...

Afterward, everyone just sat around and enjoyed each other's company.  Darbee Rae enjoyed playing with friends too! What a nice day and I can't wait to do it again.

I have a wonderful recipe to share with you.

It is easy and oh so delicious!

Sausage Cream Cheese Casserole

You will need:

Ingredients:
2 packages Crescent rolls
1 pound of hot bulk pork sausage
1- 9 oz package cream cheese
1 -2 cup package of grated sharp cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 375

First, start with your crescent rolls.  I found this Crescent seamless dough sheet.
What a lifesaver!  It was perfect.

Roll out the dough and press into the bottom of a greased 9x13 casserole dish.

In a skillet, brown the sausage until it is well cooked, then drain off excess fat.

Return sausage to the skillet and add the cream cheese and allow it to melt stirring with the sausage.

When the cream cheese and sausage mixture is well mixed, spread it on the prepared crescent rolls in the dish. Top with shredded cheddar.

On a piece of wax paper or parchment paper, unroll the other crescent rolls and press the seams together and place over th top of the casserole.

Bake at 375 degrees for 13-15 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Cut into squares and serve.

Oh yea...it is great!  Definitely a keeper!

I hope you like it.

Yes...we had a feast!  It was a good day.

Thanks for joining us!  I hope your tummy is full!

Until next time...

Getting Creative

Believe it or not, Darbee Rae and I spent the ENTIRE day at home yesterday.  Not even once did I leave the house.  Now...ask my mom or my hubby and you know that is VERY unusual for me. I like to go and so does Darbee Rae.  BUT...with all of the going we have been doing the past two weeks with cheer camp and swim lessons, I was ready for a day at home to do whatever I wanted.  

That's what we did.  We slept too late and got up and did much of nothing.  I did manage to get the laundry done.  The house was clean, so I devoted the rest of the day to doing whatever.

We decided to get crafty.  Thanks to Pinterest, I had found a project I wanted to do with Darbee.  

We started with a blank canvas.  I found a 2-pack at Hobby Lobby for $7.99 and used my 40% off coupon.  That was a great deal!  They are 16x20.  

Hubby and Darbee Rae spent the evening at the park the other night and I had a crafty party with myself. Hehe.  

I got a few things done with my Cricut machine that I had been wanting to do and this was one of them. 

I cut out the letters I wanted and put them on the canvas. 

I love this saying.  I try to live by this. (Smile)

I turned the canvas over and rubbed hard to make sure they were stuck.

I got out my acrylic paint and chose the colors.

I wanted to hang this in the living room, so I chose warm colors that would match.

Darbee Rae was so excited to help with a "mommy project."  

I let her finger paint all she wanted.

She couldn't believe she could actually paint over the letters!

She did a great job!  

I even got in on the fun too!

Here is our final result. 

I love how it turned out!  

I can't wait to find a special place to hang it. 

Darbee had been wanting her own craft project.  In Michael's the other day, she picked out a picture frame to paint.  While we had the paint out, she decided to paint it too!

She did a great job!  I will have to post a picture of her finished project!  It turned out great.  

So...we had a great afternoon.  

We accomplished a lot.  It was a lot of fun!

Needless to say, we got out of the house today!  We called Nana and headed out to lunch.  

I hope all of you have had a great day and done something to make you happy!

Until next time...

Summer Playdates...

Good evening everyone!  It's a very soggy one here in GA.  They are predicting near an inch of rain this evening and more over the next several days.

We have had a very busy week and weekend!  Although I haven't been working since February and we have been home, it's amazing how our "summer" has been so busy!  It has been a lot of fun and I look forward to much more fun times ahead.

I have always committed myself when I have been home with Darbee and not working to keep her involved and busy.  When we were home several years ago, we were involved in our local library's lap time once a week which was a lot of fun.  It was a fun class for Darbee to interact with children her age and learn lots.  Last year, I enrolled her in a class called Puddle Jumpers which was a mommy and me class that was tons of fun.  It was like a preschool day all rolled into about an hour long class.  We attended that for two sessions.

Now that we are home again, I feel like I am scrambling to get it all in before she starts school.  It feels weird to know that my time is limited and that I have to now think on a different frame of mind and know that my baby will be "back to school" soon.  Wow...where did time go.  Luckily, she doesn't start until after Labor Day, so we still have quite a bit of time left to squeeze in all the fun we can. I have seen many posts about summer bucket lists and love those!  I have set out to create a list for us.  I will share when I have it done. Smile..

Darbee Rae finished up swimming lessons on Friday and boy was she glad!  She has already let me know she wants to go back next year, but she still doesn't want to put her head under the water then either!  Ha!

On Thursday after swim lessons, a friend of mine and her little girl Bayleigh came over for a playdate.  Darbee Rae was so excited.  I think that's what got her thru her swim lesson!  Ha!
Bayleigh's mom (Stephanie) and I were friends in high school and have kept in touch since.  Since we've both had kids, we have became closer and spent more time together.  I am so thankful!  Darbee and Bayleigh get along great and have a lot of fun playing together.

They brought over a pizza, so we started out with lunch out on the deck.  I think both girls were too excited to eat, so we quickly headed out to play.
It was hot, so water was the first activity.  They played in Darbee's pool for a LONG time!

I had to share this picture.  It just cracks me up!  

Now that's fun!

They stopped just long enough for me to snap a pic. of them and then quickly got busy again.

It's amazing what water toys entertained them.  I brought out some Barbie dolls and a few toys but you know what entertained them for the longest time?

White styrofoam cups.  Ha!  Did they fill and pour with them? NO!  

What did they do?

They made casts of course!  It was so cute.  They worked forever on getting their casts just right for their "broken bones."  Funny how quickly a "cast" cures a "broken bone" huh?  Made it all better enough to jump on the trampoline!  Ha!

Next was the sprinkler. 

I don't think Bayleigh was a big fan of getting her hair wet..

She got creative and made a hat!  Hehe...These girls make me smile.

Next, we headed inside for dress up.  

Oh yeah...this was entertaining. 

Oh don't I wonder what she was thinking!

Then it was snack time...

I love how they had to divide the M&M's.  It was the cutest thing ever.

Then it was time to head back out for a drive.  LOL

What a fun time we had!  

We can't wait to get together with them again!

On Saturday was yet another play date with one of Darbee's friends from dance class, Katie.

We met them at Monkey Joe's.

Needless to say, they had a blast!

Darbee was happy to see Katie since we haven't been to dance in a while and was eager to play!

I enjoyed the adult time.  It's so nice to be able to sit and chat with a friend sometimes.  We look forward to getting together with them again soon too!

Whew!  Are you tired?  I know I am...I am ready to slow down for a bit this week and take it easy!

Nothing much planned for this week except maybe a brunch one day for some girlfriends. 

Has your summer been busy?  

Yesterday, I had the entire evening to myself for some mommy time.  Hubby and Darbee Rae headed out to the park and I wanted to do some crafting.  I got out my Cricut machine and my sewing machine and had a blast.  Will update you on my projects soon.

I hope all of you have had a great weekend.  

Until next time....