Hippity, Hoppity

Quick post here, but I want to get the pictures on the blog before Easter is over. Geez it is early this year (March 23rd).

Anyway, we went to an Easter "teaser" event this weekend at Opry Mills. Very cute. They gave the kids breakfast, did some crafts and the Big Bunny himself even made an appearance.

Here are a few of the better pics from the event.

Ash (purple) & Anna (green) displaying their craftiness!

Giving the Big Bunny a hug. The poor bunny was accosted by about 10 little ones after this, so this is the best shot we have of him with the girls.

Rare photo of bunnies in the wild. We caught them during a loving moment.

I have no words...

Lovely, just lovely

Mommy: Ashlyn, why did you cut a hole in the ottoman?
Ashlyn: I wanted to see what was inside it.
Mommy: But this is furniture honey. We don't cut holes in furniture.
Ashlyn: But Mommy, its really old and ugly.

Nice.

Guest Blogger

After giving my husband a hard time regarding his Oscar picks, I thought I would give him a guest spot on this blog.

First - a brief background. My cousin Scott (same Oscar picks cousin) does movie reviews throughout the year. He also does an end-of-the-year "Best/Worst" picks of all the bazillion movies he has seen.

To be funny (and a bit of a smart alek), Chris decided to send out his own version of this "Best/Worst" review. Check it out!
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Now for my 1st Annual Silver Blueberry Awards of the Best and Worst list of Oscar nominated movies I have watched.

Please keep in mind that these are strictly my own views. I'm not an expert. Really (as you are about to see)!

Also, keep in mind that these are picked from only the movies I've seen (with possibly a personal viewing record of less than 5 hours.) (Side note: Scott, you watch that many hours on a cold, wintry day. Of course, you don't seem to have many of those in the desert. Scratch that. You watch that many hours on a hot, boiling summer day.)

I apologize in advance that this list is small, but it is to the point and covers some of the best and worst movies of the year.

Now for my top three list of best and worst movies of the year:

Chris’ Best 3 Movies of 2007

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End - This one is full of pirates, fighting, pirate ships and all the piraty things pirates do.

2. Surf’s Up - Dude. This was the big cohoona of penguin surfing movies this year. You need to hang ten and goofy-foot on over to the movie rental store for this one.

1. Ratatouille - Funny movie about a rat that cooks. A great replacement for a non-cooking spouse. And not only that, the rat talks too. A must see to believe.

Chris' Worst 3 Movies of 2007

3. Ratatouille - A rat under your hat controlling your arms is really hard to imagine.

2. Surf’s Up - Do they expect us to believe that a chicken could surf as well as a penguin? First place! Seriously?

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End - I wish pirates would speak clearly. I was constantly asking for clarification. Wear a hearing aide instead of an eye patch to watch this movie.

I hope you enjoyed reading my review. Please no comments as I am extremely busy preparing for next year. If Pixar made more movies...
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I love my husband!

Oscar Night at the Riggs Household

First off - I must give you a quick description of my husband's feelings toward movies.

He's not a fan.

Not just of certain genres, or certain actors, or certain directors - he's just not a fan of movies in general. He says he doesn't like to sit and watch something for that long.

hmmmm....let's think about that statement for a moment...

Last time I checked, a televised football game still lasts at least 3 hours and a basketball game lasts at least 2. Interesting...

Another bit of history...my cousin (Scott) has put out an Oscar Picks pool every year for as long as I can remember. He's a talented actor/writer and is very interested in all thing theatrical. I always participate and now my hubby participates. Are you seeing the irony yet?

Keep reading. It gets better.

It is RARE that I ever see many of the movies nominated for the Oscars. In fact, this year I only saw 3 of the movies and two of them were animated. Pitiful. The other movie starred one rather handsome man that the girls refer to as "Mommy's Friend". Let's take a quick moment to appreciate him, shall we?

Hubby saw the same three movies. Of course, he's not pining over Johnny Depp like I do, but he did somewhat enjoy Pirates III.

As we were watching the Oscars last night, my movie-despising husband begins to get irritated.

Was he upset because Anna won't go to sleep? Was he irritated about having to go back to work on Monday? Were his undies in a twist?

No.

His Oscar picks were wrong.

Are you kidding me?!?

I mean - he was seriously HACKED OFF because the picks he made in Scott's pool were wrong.

This is when he told me the most disturbing part of this tragic story.

HE RESEARCHED HIS PICKS!!!!!

He literally took the time to check out websites regarding what all the "pros" thought about how the Oscars would turn out. He analyzed all the information (probably making some sort of intricate spreadsheet knowing him) and based his picks on thoroughly scrutinized data. This is a man who could happily go through the rest of his life without watching another movie.

I am BESIDE MYSELF at this point. The whole situation is hysterical and he can not figure out why I am so amused.

The best part?

While they were showing little snippets for the best animated dog in a tutu award (no clue what it was really for), a clip came on for Peter the Wolf. This is when my husband said, "That won't win. It has SO been done before."

I almost peed my pants.

Taking the easy way out

I haven't posted here in a while, so I'm "cheating" and sending you to a site where I just posted an entry. I'm sure I'll have some more interesting stories to post soon, so stay tuned. Til then...

...check this out.

Split Ends

Thank Heaven!

I was able to get my haircut Monday!

Fellow POTATO mom and officer (as well as professional hairdresser) - Jana Davis - mistakenly told me how cute my hair would be stacked in the back at our last meeting. Ah - her fatal mistake - she NEVER should have shown interest in my hair as I quickly jumped at the opportunity to have her cut my hair. I had already heard she had cut other POTATO mom's hair and that they were VERY happy with the results.

You see, I go through these tragic hair phases (think Sweeney Todd meets Cybil) where I think I want to grow it out and then lose my mind in the process and command some poor hairdresser to shave my head. Usually, the hairdresser talks me out of the Sinead O'Conner look and we proceed with a short cut instead.

So Jana agreed to cut my hair. I really like it and hope I can schedule another time with Jana to get it highlighted. I'm thinking we can throw in some pink and blue streaks for fun -Yoohoo!

I didn't do a great job taking this picture, but you at least get the idea of how the cut looks. Feel free to let me know what you think of the new "do" in the comments.

Be Mine

I had to remove that OBNOXIOUS music that I stuck to the previous slide show. Mercy - that was like torture after a while. Sorry about that.

Anyway, there isn't any music attached to this slide show. This show is from Valentine's Day. The girls had a "Fairy Tale Tea Party" at school which was - well - interesting. I'll explain more later, but just keep in mind that Anna hates ANYTHING "Princessy". This caused quite a predicament in figuring out her outfit. You'll soon see how we compromised.

Hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day.

What the...

I really will give a rundown of this past week at some point, but you know things are bad when you start receiving mail like this:

Yep - that's an AARP membership letter. What the heck!!!!! (I can tell you my initial response wasn't quite as sensored.) Last time I checked I'm still 35 - NOT 50!!!! And 35 is old enough - thank you very much! Geez! I'm also definitely NOT retired. If this is retirement, then someone send me back to work!!! I guess I had better start paying attention to those funeral insurance commercials, buy me one of those chairs that will mechanically take me up and down the stairs, and see if I can get an acting job on the next "Clapper" commercial. Mercy!

Thankfully - after my horrendous day yesterday - may husband came home with dinner and these.

I'm normally not a flower kind of girl, but these were exactly what I needed. Way to go honey. I love you!

also known as

Know the name of these things?

Sucker - A.K.A. Shelley

Why, OH WHY, did I EVER agree to be a Room Mom!!!!????!!!!

More to this story as soon as I get my children to come down from their sugar high (Pre-K Valentine's Day Tea Party - no, really - and read as much sarcasm into this entire post as you can possible imagine).

Pics from the Party!

Finally! The pics from the girls' party at Pump It Up have been downloaded into a slide show. I even added a little music to livin' things up. I still have pics to download from the mini-party on the Saturday after their birthday and will try to get that done today (we'll see).

Enjoy these in the meantime...

James Taylor can always bring a tear to my eye...

It has taken me a while, but I finally figured out how to do this. I literally cried when I realized my new Photoshop Elements gives me the ability to make my own slideshow with my own music - just the way I want it.

I still have party photos to post, but this has been my priority lately.

Enjoy.

It is a blur...literally

See this picture...



That is what the girls' party was like on Wednesday night at Pump It Up - a BIG BLUR. I have MANY more pictures to post (we took 197!), but I'm still editing those. I promise to only post the good ones - if I can find any that aren't a blur. Those critters were running back and forth so much, we were barely able to get any decent pictures. It was like watching a movie in fast forward motion.

Pass the tissues...

...our babies are 5!!!!

Yep - it all started with this:

Stay tuned. There will be more later.

Finally Catching Up

I know I promised a New Year's Update, so - now 25 days later - I'm providing one. I guess that resolution about punctuality has flown out the window!

These are listed randomly as I'm going with train of thought here. That will explain why you will probably read part of my grocery list at some point during this post. My train of thought can be a bit nutty at times.

To start off, I have been writing for a mommy running blog for a couple of months. I know, you are thinking, "what are these mommies running away from?" Actually, it is a blog for mothers that run/jog on a regular basis. Ok - those of you that know me well - stop laughing. I actually do love to run even though there is NO chance I'll be winning any races soon (I'm 5'1" and have the stride of a wiener dog). I'm the type that always likes to be around others, but running gives me the solitary "me time" that I apparently need. Plus, it is a LOT cheaper than therapy.

There are actually several Mommies that like to run and/or exercise (only when the bon-bons run out and the soap operas are over) - many of them are in POTATO. In fact, there are a few of us that have been talking about running the Country Music 1/2 Marathon in April. This year we decided to suck it up and sign up for it. As part of that endeavor, we have been chosen as one of about 20 teams sponsored by the See Mommy Run website. They assist us with our training and provide us with our own blog (you have to check it ou purely for the pictures) to help keep track of our training program and keep each other motivated (with bon-bons and promises of free babysitting - I WISH).

We've been "training" for a few weeks now and actually have our first 5K today at the Nashville Zoo today. I think I should be able to run the whole thing - especially if they release a tiger or two to chase after me. I can guarantee I'll beat my record time then!
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Dear parent of UNCONTROLLABLE child at our Preschool;

"Several people have asked me that lately."


That was your comment when I asked you where your child was zoned for elementary school. You might want to consider that as a clue that none of us want our children in your child's class when kindergarten starts. You have been oblivious to this fact for the two years I have known you and your child. Maybe you should consider home-schooling.
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I did not make a New Year's Resolution this year. Frankly, I can't handle the pressure. I have enough stress to deal with on a daily basis. I don't need to add a resolution to that mega-pile. So - I have a new attitude regarding resolutions. I stole this from Jennsylvania, but I just couldn't put it any better myself:

I resolve to be self-aware enough to spot potential problems within myself and to begin to work on them immediately, without making a public announcement or waiting to start the improvements on an entirely arbitrary date.
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I bought the MOST ADORABLE gift for one of my best friend's little girl. Her 1st Birthday was this month and I have a blogger buddy (man, that sounds cheesy) that makes these amazing tutus. This is the one I purchased and I have a feeling "High Maintenance" doesn't even begin to describe this little girl. I have no doubt my friend and her daughter will LOVE it!

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That's all I have for now. I've had tons of stuff I've wanted to post, but I can't seem to think of many of them right now. Hopefully I'll have more entertaining stuff soon.

January + Hunger = Picnic!

Sure - that makes perfect sense. What better way to celebrate a slightly warm (low 60's) January day than by having a picnic. We are big picnic-ers! I mean, next to the cartoon bears at Yosemite we are close to the top of all picnic fans.

Here are a few pics from our picnic in Downtown Nashville (we picked Daddy up on the way) a couple weeks ago. Anna has on the blue jacket and Ashlyn is wearing the cream one. We also did a little rock climbing while at the park because nothing ends a winter picnic better than a little rock climbing.

Slacker Blogger

I just haven't found the time to do a full New Year's blog post. So - til then - enjoy these pics of the critters doing random stuff.

Daddy and the girls hanging out and having fun.

Ashlyn, Mimi (my maternal grandmother) and Anna in Mississippi.

Anna's twisted version of Wyatt Earp.

I don't even know how to explain this one of Ashlyn. Scary in so many ways!

Feeling Stupid & Unloved

I was all excited! The girls were excited! Today was supposed to be the 1st day back at preschool for the girls. "Supposed to be" is the phrase of the day around here.

Preschool doesn't start back til next Tuesday. Dang it! (That's the "family" version of what I probably actually said.) My friend confirmed this horrific truth with me yesterday. Evil woman!

And do you know what one of my loving critters told me this morning (after throwing a DOOZY of a fit because her thumb was cold - seriously - her THUMB was cold!!!!)?

"Mommy, I'm tired of you!"

Love you too honey. Now go to your room while mommy tries to find the Excedrin.

Under Construction

Pardon the mess while I reconstruct the blog.

I have wonderfully profound things to blog about regarding the New Year. I plan on posting them as soon as I finish off this bottle of champagne - tee hee. Should make for an interesting read...

I have NO clue what I'm doing!

Nana & Pappy gave me Photoshop Elements 6 for Christmas. I was so excited! Now I'm trying to figure out how to work it. The first thing I figured out how to do was take wrinkles and other unpleasant facial features off. I swear I look years younger (ok - at least a few days younger).

I also figured out how to do this (ooohhhhhh....aaaahhhhhh):

That's all I'm up to so far. I just loaded it on my computer this morning so give me some time.

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We're off to the Music City Bowl Game today! Yoohoo! Go UK!

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Happy New Year everyone! We're heading over to the Lawrence's after the game for some crazy game playing to celebrate the New Year. Not sure if I'll make it to midnight or not.

Holiday Recap

I'm just going to list these rants, raves and reviews in no specific order. I'm so dedicated to this blog that I want to make sure I get all the details down so as not to forget anything and disappoint our readers. Well - that and I am postponing the whole take-down-the-Christmas-decorations thing. ICK!

1. I have bronchitis. Lovely. Because what is a holiday without a little sickness. The girls and I have had the sniffles for about a week and mine turned into a sinus infection which then became bronchitis (I'm such an over achiever). I went to the doctor yesterday and received two wonderful shots that are making feel dramatically better today. Thank goodness. As an added benefit, the steroid shot made me SUPER hyper yesterday afternoon so I was able to get some things done around the house before becoming a dizzy freak and passing out on the floor.

2. The girls picked out their own gift for each other this year. You could literally hear the wheels in their heads turning as the deliberated what to get each other - Do I get what I want vs. Do I get something Sissy will like? Oh the conflict! Ashlyn's choice for Anna was actually pretty easy as Anna (our dainty flower) is ALL into Spiderman and Superheros in general (GIRL POWER), so Ashlyn gave her a "bad man" (as Anna likes to call the villains) for Anna's Spiderman to battle. Anna chose a more interesting present for Ashlyn (see photo). Matel's sick version of this Barbie (called Pooper Scooper Barbie - I kid you not) has a dog that not only eats real food, but also poops real poop. And to make the whole process even more disturbing - the "pellets" the dog eats are the same one the dog poops. This means when you want to feed the dog you are actually feeding him his own poop. Lovely. The geniuses that came up with this product need to have their noses rubbed in poop, or - at the very least - they need to come over here and keep up with the 10 itty-bitty pieces of food/poop that came with this stupid doll.

Side note: Went to Wal-Mart yesterday for some after-Christmas sales and saw a bazillion of these Barbies in the otherwise picked-over toy section. hmmmm....not surprising...

3. My children have become members of the paparazzi. They received kiddie digital cameras for Christmas (thanks Nana). After we got the suckers out of the box (who makes that plastic packaging anyway? They should have their noses rubbed in Barbie's dog's poop as well. Let's just line these product creators up and take them out one-by-one), the girls started snapping away. Nonstop. We felt like Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan with all the flashing (without the psychotic episodes or baldness) . I plan on downloading some of their pics, but they keep deleting them all before I can get to the cameras.

4. My mom and I went after-Christmas shopping to get some deals on next year's Christmas decorations. I always buy my Christmas cards for the next year at this time too. Found some cards I loved. See anything wrong with them? Take your time...look a little closer....

The freakin' year!!!! I can't believe I bought these cards (with my mother also telling me how nice they were) without either one of us noticing the "2007" at the bottom. It isn't like they are small numbers! Geez I'm an idiot!

5. We are going to the Music City Bowl Game on Monday to watch my UK Wildcats beat Florida State to a pulp. Of course, since FSU won't have many players left to play they may have to recruit some people from the stands to play. Pitiful! We still plan on having a good time.

6. Write it down in your record books people - my parents got the girls a toy for Christmas that requires batteries. This literally makes me bend over laughing as I was not allowed ANY toys that required batteries growing up. In fact, I think the first item I had that required batteries was a calculator my calculus class required in high school. So sad...I'm surprised Child Services wasn't beating down our door to save me from such a horrible living situation (ha). They did have a good time playing "store" with the girls though. Maybe they will turn from the dark side and cross over to battery utopia now.

7. I make calendars for all the grandparents and great-grandparents for Christmas each year with pics of the girls. I accidentally forgot to send Mimi's (my mom's mom) calendar in the package I mailed two weeks ago and didn't realize it til the presents started dwindling down Christmas morning. Oops. She was NOT happy with me and made no qualms telling me about it on the phone that afternoon. "Shelley, I'm missing something in my package. WHERE IS MY CALENDAR!" That package is going out today! Yes ma'am!

8. My 17-year-old brother-in-law recently ran up his family's cell phone bill. I won't even divulge the amount as it is ASTRONOMICAL. Let's just say Verizon is making him their new spokesperson and having a parade in his honor. Anyway, we always tend to give him money or a gift card for Christmas. This year we decided to have a little fun with the whole phone bill situation. Chris picked out a great card that basically said he had been a "naughty boy" and then we enclosed a check. The check was made out to his mom. Took him a minute to catch on to that, but it finally hit him. Priceless moment, simply priceless. His mom (Nana) thoroughly enjoyed it.

9. I made the girls waffles on my new George Forman Grill this morning (thanks Papaw & Mamaw). They turned out great! Chris and I are now thinking about opening our own Waffle House now. YUM!

That's all I can think of for now. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Ok - if you are not family you may not be interested in this post, but feel free to check out the pictures from our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations. I plan on posting full details of the last few days' events including some product reviews and general "rants & raves". That will be a bit more entertaining (I hope) - especially for those out there reading this that aren't swimming in our families' gene pools.

Quick review and time frame...we celebrated Christmas with the Riggs side of the family on Saturday (those pics are on the previous post). On Christmas Eve my parents came down from Kentucky and Chris' Mom's side of the family (Sloans) came over for dinner (yes - be shocked - I prepared TWO holiday dinners - alert the media - Food Network is already calling me to host my own show). My parents then went to Opryland to see the gazillion decorations there and we had Christmas with the Sloans. The Sloans headed home after the festivities and my parents hung around for the chaos that was to be our Christmas at home on Christmas morning.

The first set of slides is from Christmas Eve and the second set is from Christmas morning.

Enjoy!

On the 3rd Day of Christmas...

Yes, yes, yes...a day off again...blah, blah, blah...

Yesterday we celebrated Christmas with the Riggs side of the family - Papaw, Mamaw, Travis and Yayoi. We had a wonderful dinner (if I do say so myself - I cooked it!) and then proceeded to the gift opening.

We received some great presents, but the hit of the day for the girls was their new Leapsters. Holy cow these things are amazing. And they beat the heck out of the Atari hubby and I used to play. In fact, the reason I can post this is because they are upstairs completely oblivious of anything but those games. Amazing!

Oh - and since Mamaw & Papaw gave us the new and improved George Forman Grill (with handy-dandy removable, dishwash-able plates), we had a funeral ceremony for our old GF Grill that we've had since we were married. That sucker was a beast to clean and I would curse George Forman every time I got it out. We hummed "Taps" as we walked it out to the garbage bin and then I hurled it in there as quickly as possible.

Here are a few pics from the day. Anna has the green bow in and Ashlyn has the red bow in.

On the 4th Day of Christmas...

Dang it! I knew we were too lucky not to have someone get sick before Christmas! Ashlyn woke up with that seal barking cough of Croup. Lovely - just lovely.

Luckily, she doesn't have the fever that can sometimes go along with it which usually means it was brought on by allergies (a lovely trait handed down MANY generations of my family). Unfortunately, she feels a little icky which will keep us inside today. We had planned on a full day of cookie baking with a friend and her little girls, but that will have to wait til after the holidays.

Actually, that is probably a blessing in disguise as a good friend of mine and Chris' uncle & aunt sent us these LARGE boxes of beautiful cookies. I'm sure every one of those gorgeous cookies have less than 10 calories - right? Right? C'mon - someone throw me a bone here and tell me that they are the new & exciting fat-free, calorie-free version of cookies. No? Dang it!

As I prepare for a day of pitifulness from Ashlyn being sick and jealous whining from Anna, I leave you with a picture I forgot we took the morning after we put up the Christmas tree. Notice the stuffed bears are kissing too. See, they really do show love for each other - sometimes!

On the 5th Day of Christmas...

This pretty much speaks for itself. And NO snowball fight is complete without a little George Clooney.

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

On the 6th Day of Christmas...

Yeah - I'm caught up again! And who cares that I missed the 9th Day?!? That 9th day is over-rated anyway. As much as my hubby would like to have "nine ladies dancing", he can just get over it.


And "your welcome" honey.


Want to know why?


The girls and I went shopping for your Christmas gifts from them today. Let's just say you are lucky you WILL NOT be opening a Barbie baseball cap (with attached pink hair) and a Harley Davidson cigarette lighter that lights up when "flicked".


Love ya - mean it!

On the 7th Day of Christmas....

I know, I know - I'm a day behind again. I'll get to it eventually.

So for today...

THIS STORY is what gives my home state of Kentucky a bad name. Why, oh why must Kentuckians give the rest of the free world reasons to make fun of us!

GEEZ!

On the 8th Day of Christmas...

I'm skipping the freakin' 9th day darn it! Just deal with it and move on. Ho! Ho! Ho!

This stuff here...



...works like a charm to get your 4-year-old (Anna) to stop sucking her thumb. It tastes horrible!!!!! Want to know how I know how bad it tastes?

1. I tried a TINY dab of it before using it on her thumbnail the first time. Icky.

2. My husband flung his arm my way while I was holding an open bottle of the stuff (totally an accident - I think) yesterday. I'm thinking at least a teaspoon of the stuff landed in my mouth coating the entire inside of it. This was NOT GOOD! I spent the rest of the day trying to get the stuff out of my mouth. Even after a shower (as it was on my hands and neck too) and brushing the inside of my mouth with my toothbrush, I could STILL taste it.

And the taste...think nail polish remover, meets bleach, meets some sort of furniture lacquer. NASTY doesn't even begin to describe. Plus - it lingers - a LLLLLOOOONNNNNGGGGG time. I swear I can still taste it today.

On the 10th Day of Christmas...

Yes - I'm STILL one day behind! Stop judging me! I'll catch up eventually.

We went to a birthday party yesterday - a rolling skating birthday party - my girls have never been on roller skates - hmmm....makes for an interesting adventure, doesn't it.

They had a ball. The birthday girl was Bella - a girl from their soccer team. And there was enough sugar there (cake, candy, cookies) that we would have been able to make about a million gingerbread houses - literally. Nothing like loading up a bunch of 5-year-olds with sugar and putting them on some wheels. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Chris and I are a little sore from acting as a catch net for two hours, but we had a good time.

Here are the little skaters (I threw the helmets in the van at the last minute - thank goodness). Anna's in brown and Ashlyn's in pink

And now a few open letters...

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Dear oblivious mother in the Target concessions line,

I want to know what kind of ear plugs you have that you do not hear the incessant whining of your 6-year-old child the ENTIRE time you are in line (busy day - long line). They must work pretty well as you didn't even turn your head when he looked at my daughter and said "stupid" while sticking his tongue out at her. You didn't even so much as bat an eye when I told your son (again, we are RIGHT behind them), "OH NO! You will NOT talk to her that way!" while I stepped up a few steps to get closer to his face. You are lucky that I had more concern for my daughter (who was crying at this point because of your son's actions) because if I would have had my way I would have picked him up by his ear lobes and shoved him in the popcorn popper. Then I would have come back to you and woken you up from your obvious oblivion by shoving you face down into nacho cheese sauce.

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Dear well-meaning elderly couple,

When I am trying to wrestle my crying children into the van because they are now hysterical over not going to the pet store (another story for another day), it is probably not the best time for you to pull up beside me and tell me how precious they are or ask me what it is like to have twins. You are lucky all I did was smile and turn around because what I wanted to do was say a few choice words about your impeccable timing and lack of a brain.

On the 11th Day of Christmas (one day late - again)

Dang it! I had the best intentions to do another post yesterday to catch me up to the right day of Christmas - oh well. Just deal with it!

So, do you know what this is...

One of my most vivid Christmas memories was helping my Grandma Cook (my Dad's mother) make Christmas candy and cookies. She was an amazing cook and loved putting together goodies for friends and family. She used to make these "haystacks" and I always thought they were neat looking - not like all the other cookies all decorated and pretty. They were messy - perfect for a little kid to help make.

And that is what I did this year. My girls and I made these yesterday. Even the smell of the butterscotch melting brought back such wonderful memories with my Grandma.

She was quite a character and I miss her so much. I hate that she was never able to see the girls. On my last visit to her in the hospital, I just knew I wouldn't be seeing her again. I also had a "feeling" I was pregnant. I was right on both counts.

So these "haystacks" we made are dedicated to her. "Cookie" was her nickname - quite appropriate.

P.S. I wasn't able to complete one of her traditions associated with making holiday goodies - that would be accidentally sticking one of my breasts into the batter by mistake. She used to do it frequently. Let's just say my Grandma Cook was quite well endowed.

The 12 Days of Christmas - One Day Late

Okay - I have a new task for myself. I love Christmas time! I love every little part of it. Okay - maybe not the immense commercialism, but everything else works for me.

So I am going to do 12-Days of Christmas posts - starting today - yep, one day late. This first post will count as yesterday's post and I'll do another one by the end of the day.

My first post? Quite exciting actually! A picture of the girls with Santa Cow. Yes - you read right - Santa Cow. We LOVE Chick-Fil-A and who wouldn't with a Holly Jolly Santa Cow as your spokesperson. I mean, what Christmas isn't complete without a visit to the Santa Cow.

Santa Cow was at the local Chick-Fil-A this week, so we packed up the van and headed out to visit him - along with the rest of the children in this county. Can you say "crammed together like sardines"?

This picture made the crowd much more bearable. Anna's on the left - Ashlyn's on the right. Santa Cow is the one in middle - just in case you weren't sure - or are borderline blind.

Now let's sing some Christmas songs - O Holy Moo, Silent Moo, It Came Upon a Moo-night Clear, Little Moo-er Boy, Oh Come All We Moo-ful, Jingle Moos...Man, I'm cheesy!

A Caroling We Will Go

Because Heaven forbid I actually be able to enjoy a "Mother's Day Out", the girls' preschool/MDO made arrangements to visit the local senior citizen center to do some caroling. This has been a topic around our house for over a week and everyone was excited about it. (By "everyone" I mean the girls - I was just okay with it - I figured there would be treats so it was worth the trip for me.)

Yesterday was the day! The girls put on the little snowmen shirts I helped ALL the 4 & 5 year-olds make on an earlier day, put their bows in their head and warmed their vocal chords up all the way to school (you know, a little Celine Dion, a little Mariah Carey, a little Laurie Berkner...).

Here are a few of their performances (actually one as Blogger won't let me download more than one). Sorry - it is a LOT like watching a tennis match as it would have been just WAY too convenient for them to have put my girls together. Anna is in the black bow and Ashlyn is in the red bow. And pardon the elderly backs-of-the-head shots. I kept shoving them out of the way, but they were like weeble wobbles. I just couldn't knock'em down! Darn old people!

I'm cheating...kinda

I have nothing exciting to post today and I'm too much of a slacker to put together anything about the Mississippi road trip, so when my friend Courtney called me up and asked to write up something about a recent event in her life for her blog I jumped at the chance. For some reason, doing other people's blogs is inspiring to me - crazy!

So check THIS out. I hope you enjoy it.

Attention all Cracker Barrel Bathroom Visitors

I have a recap of the road trip the girls, my Dad and I made to Mississippi, but that will have to wait til I have a bit more time. Til then, please enjoy the dialogue below that happened in a Cracker Barrel bathroom somewhere between Nashville, TN & Jackson, MS.

Setting: Cracker Barrel bathroom - two other stalls occupied as well as mine.
Circumstances: Already made the girls go potty and am now taking my turn (I know, too much info, but this is VERY important to the story). Girls are standing outside my stall with feet under the stall door so I can make sure they don't run off, bust out the bathroom door and break all the Yankee Candles on the shaky shelf right there (WHY would you put that display there!!!!).

Ashlyn: Mommy, are you going pee-pee?
Anna: Mommy, are you going poo-poo too?
Me: Girls, I'll be out in a second - please be quiet.
Ashlyn: Well, are you going pee-pee or poo-poo?
Anna: Is it a big poo-poo Mommy? Are you wiping front to back?
Lady in stall next to me: (uncontrollable laughter)
Me: Girls, please keep your voices down.
Anna: Hi Mommy - I can see you through the crack! (crack in the stall door - she's waving)
Ashlyn: Mommy, I can see you too. You don't have any pants on!!!!
Anna: (peeking under the stall door) Hi Mommy! Look! I see you under the door. Are you still going pee-pee?
Lady in stall next to me: (literally snorting she is laughing so hard) I'm so sorry to be laughing, but they sound so cute.
Me: (as sarcastically as humanly possible) Yes - they are precious. Are you interested in one or both of them? They come free with a Yankee Candle purchase...

Can we say, "Stir Crazy"?

My mom (Grandma to the girls) has been in Mississippi for almost a year now helping with my grandmother. My grandmother has had surgery on her shoulder (all those gymnastics classes she's been taking lately) and then fell and broke her arm. Plus, my grandfather passed away during all this. Been a bit crazy for the Felten side of our family.

Anyway, my mother has about hit her limit on being away from her own home and is ready to leave now that my grandmother has received a good report from her doctor and she can drive again.

So, the girls, my Dad (Grandpa) and I headed down south (or at least further south) to Pearl, Mississippi (you have to sat that with a southern drawl to make it authentic) Wednesday and we are heading back tomorrow. The girls have had a good time with Grandma and Mimi (my grandmother). Maybe a bit too much fun...

I think we may have to admit my mother to a mental facility when she gets back home. So sad...such a wonderful mind...and now she has lost it...and I think she's dragging my children down with her.

***Those "things" they have in their mouths are some sort of sick style of shrinky dink thingies my uncle made when he was a little boy about 45-50 years ago. ICK! I'm sure he'll get a kick out of seeing them in use though.

Just Killin' Time...

Ah - the poetic lyrics of Clint Black. Also brings back memories of getting my big sister in my college sorority - she made me sing that song at the top of my lungs in front of quite a crowd of people (nooooo....there was NO hazing in sororities...wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

Anyway, I feel like time has gotten away from me. So let's see if I can catch everyone up on the goings on at the Riggs household. Hopefully I'll have some more things to post about after Thanksgiving.

1. Anna had the same AWFUL procedure Ashlyn had about 2 years ago to see if anything was wrong with her urinary tract. Poor girl kept getting UTI's. Fortunately, there is nothing anatomically wrong with her - she just inherited this lovely trait (frequent UTI's) from me - lovely. She was quite a trooper during the procedure - the girls are my heroes!

2. I'm a preschool mom pawn no more! After picking up 13 meals from McDonald's for my daughters' "Thanksgiving meal" I decided one of the other 12 mothers in each girls' class can step up and take over for a bit. I'm sure this will start some sort of cat fight when the Christmas party rolls around, but I'm ready. I'm thinking of getting one of those cute new pink stun guns and I just might be packin' at that party.

3. I'm in the midst of Christmas shopping. I had high hopes at the beginning of the year and actually bought a few gifts in the spring. That ambition died quickly and now I'm playing catch-up. I am almost done though - hooray!

4. I received a call from my old workplace to do a project - yeah! That will help offset the cost of Vanessa's Tummy Tuck/Boob Job. Now I just have to find the time to complete the project. It has been a while since I worked on a project for them and I'm not sure I have much of a work ethic now. Maybe I'll just sit at my computer and play solitaire - that seems about right.

5. The girls and I are planning a road trip with Grandpa (my Dad) to Mississippi to see Grandma and Mimi. The girls are already VERY excited. I think they are already working on a mixed tape with some road trip songs. Yoo hoo!

6. We're heading to the big town (MUCH sarcasm there) of McMinnville, TN to enjoy Thanksgiving with Mamaw & Papaw and Travis & Yayoi. Mamaw is a FANTASTIC cook so we can't wait to get there and latch on the feed bag. I asked if there was anything I could bring and they told me "no" - I'm definitely not going to argue with that. Plus, anything I might make would not even slightly compare to how good she could make something. I'm literally drooling already. Ah, sweet tryptophan, carry my off to dreamland.

7. I celebrated my 35th birthday this past Sunday. I'm old. Yeehaw! I share my birthday with Mickey Mouse - he's MUCH older than me. HA!

8. I can't believe I haven't taken ANY pictures in November! That is insane as I am such a camera slut. So here are a couple shots of the girls receiving their soccer trophies at the end-of-the-season celebration dinner/bowling event. Anna is in brown/Ashlyn is in orange.




Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Why, oh WHY didn't I take Auto Mechanics in School!?!

I hate vehicles! With as much fiery passion as I hate Wal-Mart (different post for a different day) I hate my minivan. Let me tell you it is definitely not the "minivan that drives like a sports car" right now (true sales pitch for the Mazda MPV Minivan when we bought the sucker about 6 years ago). More like a "minivan that moves like an old biddy with a walker" on the highway.

Last week I had the emissions test done on the minivan. This is something you have to do in Tennessee before paying the annual registration fee. I think it is all a farce and is a way for the state to embezzle $9 per vehicle - genius!

Anyway - all was fine til I started to get on the interstate. I was pressing the gas, the engine was "revving", but the speed was not increasing - lovely! I was able to get to about 50 miles per hour and had about 3 semis coming up behind me - again, lovely. Thankfully, my exit was the next one down so I was able to make it without too many people honking their horns at me (I've got your license plate numbers suckers - not sure what I'll do with them, but I'll figure something out).

So - after an hour long visit to the dealership the very nice head of the service department (not being a smart a** here, he really is nice - must be some sort of mutated dealership employee) told me the bad news. Vanessa (the girls' nickname for the minivan) needed a boob job and a tummy tuck - ok - not really - but that would be what I would consider the equivalent of a new transmission.

As the cost of this overhaul almost knocked me over, I thought I would be a bit more creative in retelling that part of the story. Here goes:

A new transmission for Vanessa equals:

1. 7 pairs of brand new Jimmy Choo shoes
2. 700 boxes of Starbuck's Refresh Tazo tea bags
3. 10 Kate Spade Tarrytown Samson purses
4. 40 American Girl dolls
5. 1 lower level 2008 Super Bowl ticket
6. 35 one-hour-long messages
7. 9 iPhones
8. 5 Wii Customer Choice Bundles

Happy Birthday, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year's, Happy Valentine's Day, Happy St. Patrick's Day, Happy Easter, Happy Mother's Day and Happy 4th of July 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2010 to me!

Why, oh why - didn't I go to a vocational school and learn the amazing skill of auto mechanics. I just HAD to have that Public Relations & Psychology degree! Dang it!

Dancin' Machines

We went to Ghouls at Grassmere (Halloween event at our local zoo) the weekend before Halloween and had a BLAST. As we were leaving, the zoo had a HUGE video screen playing slides taken from various areas of the zoo and had Halloween music blasting. This - of course - meant we had to break into dance. I swear these girls remind me more of their father every day. I think you'll see what I mean - love ya honey - mean it.


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Candy Overdose!!!

I'm working on another post with all sorts of stuff that I'm sure you could care less about, but I knew that if I didn't get Halloween pictures on this blog before the end of the day that all the grandparents would be calling and harrassing us - and I don't want to have to put a restraining order on all of them again (just kidding).

Ashlyn (L) & Anna (R) gearing up for Trick-or-Treating.

Ashlyn (L), Mommy & Anna (R) (yes, those are pigtails in my hair - don't laugh - I know I look like Eddie Munster)

Anna cheesing it up for the camera.

Ashlyn is striking fear in her football opponents (yeah, right).