The Blizzard of 2009!

Nothing like a white Christmas! Try 14 inches of white on top of a few inches of sleet...welcome to an Oklahoma winter wonderland! The children enjoyed the weather - managed a few snowball fights, but being from South Georgia, they couldn't take the wind! We had to postpone Christmas because all the highways were closed. You can tell by the roads and those attempting travel, it was rather tricky. We did not even attempt to tackle the roads in the minivan!

Happy Birthday!

Caelan and Camden have done it again! Caelan celebrated her 8th birthday with her bookclub friends and Camden is officially old enough to watch his sisters for at least two hours without adult supervision! His parents are thrilled - he is not. We managed to pull of Camden's favorite Oklahoma meal - hot tamales with beans and rice and had a cake (no thanks to Wal Mart - the bane of my existence!). All-in-all, the birthdays were a success!

From December_2009_birthdays

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

greetings from the Blizzard of 09 in Oklahoma! No, the picture displayed was not taken from my grandparents backdoor (you know there are no trees in Oklahoma!). However, I did receive a wonderful new camera from Santa (because I have been so amazingly good this year) so truly stunning pictures will be posted when we return - and I finish reading the 230 page manual that arrived with the camera. Marshall did take a picture with his phone, but I don't have enough gray matter capable of transferring the picture from the phone-email to the blog...oh well, just imagine snow falling sidewides - we are having wind gusts up to 59 miles an hour and snow drifts of several feet...looks like a quiet evening at home waiting on Santa...Happy Christmas to all!

Yes Virginia, there is a penny...

The girls took this toy to Uncle Cranky and Aunt Pendy's house to entertain themselves during the recent Georgia/Georgia Tech battle. Actually the adults (specifically Erick) were more interested in finding all of the treasures. After what seemed like hours, (not really, but time stands still when you are in the midst of a treasure hunt) Erick declared that "there was no penny." Marshall agreed as he had already spent numerous hours attempting to find the elusive penny.

Well, the boys couldn't take it, so Marshall sawed the tube open only to discover that there was, in fact, a penny after all...so all is well with the universe!

Project 1-2-3!

We just thought we were finished with projects! After two weeks of Civil War activity for Camden's project, Mary Mauldin took to the table to create the perfect gingerbread house. I don't know the name of the technique (using tissue paper, a pencil, and glue) we used, but she mastered it very quickly. My only contribution was the snow on the chimney - the rest is Mary Mauldin's work. She can't wait to show Miss Mary Ann (her amazing art teacher) her holiday creation!

From Mary_project

T'was the night before Christmas...

actually many nights before Christmas, but I spent the day after Thanksgiving getting ready for the big event. All the trees are dressed and the teapots have special places of honor...at least my house will look good for the season before the madness of parties, gifts, cards, and baking hits full force!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Once again the turkey was roasted (by Esco's, thank you very much) and the family rolled out for the annual Collins Family Feast! The children enjoyed the warm Southern weather and the adults did their best to clean their plates. We were especially pleased to have Miss Marshall, a.k.a. Great Mama, in attendance this year. Can you believe she is 95??? At 42 I have more wrinkles that she does! And please take note of the so-very-festive table decorations...Sandra Lee doesn't have anything on me! Happy Thanksgiving to all...