THE CIRCLE OF FRIENDSHIP

"A Friend Loveth At All Times"

Proverbs 17:17

WELCOMING THE NEW YEAR AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES..

Happy New Year friends! My family and I are very excited about the new year and all the NEW wonderful opportunities that wait us! Let old acquaintances, or should I say old habits be forgotten!!I will get into that later!

Our family had a great New Year's Eve. We started the night of with Some Micky D's. I had cooked so much in the last 2 weeks, that I just told everyone that I was taking a break! For I would be soon cooking AGAIN, New Year's Day. Everyone agreed on some eating out, so Jerry so kindly got McDonald's for us.

After eating, We watched Our LSU Tigers pull out a GREAT and WELL DESERVED victory in the Chick-fil-a, eat more chick in Bowl! We are so proud of them Tigers! We enjoyed the game so much. Bailee at one point had to leave the living room because I was yelling so loud, sorry Bailee you know how Momma loves her Tigers!!

Jerry and Bailee chose a wonder variety of fireworks. When they got home them, we had to pull everyone out and look at them. Caiden was so excited, and he was deciding on with one to do first!

Great job Tigers!!

We had to wait till after the game to pop all the fireworks. We invited the Knight family over to pop firecrackers. They also brought with them lots of fireworks!

Caiden and Bo lit most of them, the girls were so cold, and I thought my hands were going to freeze off!

The girls!!

Leslie and I were having a great time making fun of Jerry and Larry!

Isn't that so pretty!! I love fireworks! Jerry and I decided to wait and do fireworks for New Years Eve instead of Christmas, and I am glad we waited, it was so much more exciting!

The men, looking all tough!

Caiden and his best buddy Bo, They were really having fun! I was jealous of Bo, He had a flashlight attached to his head, and he was lighting them fireworks with no problem!

Sparkler time!

Megan, Emily, and Bailee

The day after...thanks to my Bailee for picking up the BIG mess!! I love you and thank you for being such a BIG help, your kindness does not go unnoticed!

New Year Day, was a great one, I woke up very early to start cooking my New Years Day Dinner. I put on a ham to bake, and started cooking black eyed peas. Peas take forever to cook, and Jerry likes his peas well-done, LOL! Everyone got up a little later, and we all wished everyone a happy new year, and promised each other that we would all be kind to one another, mainly Caiden and Bailee! This was the beginning to a new year, and a new time, so lets make a special effort to say at least one kind word of sisterly/brotherly love! That lasted till maybe 4pm, but at least they tried!!

Bailee helped me out in the kitchen, and I am so grateful for that. Not only for her help, but for her wanting to, she loves to help me cook, she really wants to learn, and I am so glad she does.

How often do you see a man in the kitchen?! Well, Jerry is great about using the electric knife! He is always the one who cuts and carves the game, I mean,the main course! HA HA! Seriously, he does help me out a lot!He often asks "can I do anything?!" but he knows how I am in the kitchen, I want to do it all myself, thanks Jerry for being so considerate, but knowing you are glad when I say " I got it, go play games with Caiden." I love seeing the look of RELIEF on his face!!

We had a great Dinner. I cooked the traditional New Years Day dinner.

We had Spiral ham. butter beans, cabbage, (which only I ate) fried okra,turnip greens, with some hot pepper sauce, crescent rolls, and of course black eyed peas!

My helpers in the kitchen

And some cornbread! I learned a lot from Jerry from the first time I saw him! I can remember soon after we were married , He asked me for mayonnaise to put on his peas. At first, I thought gross, But I tried it and it was great! I cannot eat peas without it now!

Bailee was the one who put the dime in the peas. Jerry is such a clean fanatic,and so I am, so I boiled the mess out of the dime, and then let Bailee drop it in the peas.

My New Years meal, that took about 5 hours to prepare

My family is so grateful for my home-cooked meals, Jerry does not get this when he travels, so when he is home, I cook the most I can.

After a great meal, Bo came over to play and Caiden and him popped more fireworks.
I love watching them together. They were lighting the firecrackers and then throwing them into the water to see how far water would go up into the air.

We had a great time. I know how I go on and on about how thankful I am that Jerry is here, but its just a simple thought of gratitude, for we are not always together, and I do thank the Lord for every moment we have with him. When you are away from the one you love the most, you come to a realization that every moment you have together, whether it be just sitting near them on the sofa, or having a conversation with them, is a blessing. I used to take this for granted, not any more. His job has made me realize the importance of family, and that every moment you have with one another is a humbling experience. As far as New Years resolutions, why make them? Shouldn't we strive all year long to make our life better, to make a commitment to ensure a better life for ourselves, even more our family. Everyone wants to lose weight, exercise, become a little more debt free. One day out of the year, we make resolutions, to try to make one day be the center of the best intentions, the best of a year of sometimes unrealistic commitments, why not make it a daily thing. Asking the Lord for his guidance in our life, us living life to the fullest is actually a daily thing, this is something for me to really think about. Happy New Year everyone! May God Bless every good intention we have! And more than that , make it a reality, and a blessing to Him!

Our New Year's Eve Firework Display

CHRISTMAS AT OUR HOME

We had a awesome Christmas! I was so happy that Jerry was here the whole Christmas, like I said before, he had to leave last Christmas for work. Thank you Lord for allowing him to be here! The Lord is always good!


After we got home Christmas Eve, from my grandparents house, the kids were playing with the gifts that they had received, and I started getting ready to make our Santa cookies.



Caiden and Jerry were playing PlayStation football on-line, and they were having a ball. But my Bailee Grace helped me in the kitchen, and she was taking little videos with her video camera that she just got.

I love cooking with my Bailee. She was really grown into a responsible girl over the last few months. I am so glad she is so eager to always help out in the kitchen, what would my life be without her??! I can't imagine.

She loves to help me with so much, she even helps me clean. And that night, she wanted to be the one to set out Santa's cookies.

Even though my children do not believe in Santa anymore, we still carry out the child tradition of milk and cookies. Jerry and I did not come out and tell them the truth, but when they came to us this year about the "realness " of Santa, we told them to search their hearts to find the real answer. We never lie to our children, for if they can't trust us, who can they trust? They know the real answer, so we left it as that.

We spent so much time at my grandparents that by the time we got home, it was close to 11 o'clock. Jerry and I stayed up a while, making sure everything was in place.

Jerry and I got into bed about 2:30, and the next thing we knew, the kids were running around the house at 5:45 am!! I was like.."I'M UP, LETS GO OPEN THEM GIFTS!!"

No matter how old they get, the excitement of their faces never gets old, and it never goes away, the more I think about, the better it gets!!

They had to check if Santa ate the cookies!!

looking at thier stockings

Caiden decided to take a picture with my new camera

I love watching them open gifts.

They each take turns ,and I love watching their faces when they unravel all that wrapping paper.

Caiden got LOTS of Bakugans! From games and cards to trade, to tiny tiny ones, I didn't know they could be the size of a quarter!

Bailee also asked for a tent for when her friends come over to spend the night

Caiden got a thing full of football cards

Caiden got a couple of board games

Bailee's favorite CD

One thing that Bailee really wanted was a game for her Nintendo DS. It is a personal trainer cooking. It shows how to cook certain recipes step by step. She wanted us to use it together. She loves to help me cook!

She also asked for a purse and a wallet

Caiden got lots of PlayStation games

Bailee's main gift was a pink digital camera, she was so glad to get it!

She also got big karaoke machine, for she LOVES to sing.

Caiden loves this game!

Bailee also got an i-pod radio to help get us up in the morning for school!

Jerry helping Caiden open his main gift

Caiden got a Guitar Hero world tour for Playstation 3

Caiden was so worried that they might be sold out, but we had him fooled!

Sorry, this is the morning of Christmas, I know you do not want to see my face, but hey, who puts make up on a 5 am!! Not me, this is real life poeople!!! Deal with it!! LOL

Caiden loves trading sports cards. Jerry often takes him to Jamie's Field of Dreams to buy cards.

Jerry and Caiden looking at his football cards

This certain pack came with 100 cards, and he got a real nice football binder to keep them in. Now Caiden and Bo can trade cards. They enjoy comparing cards with each other!

Jerry is such a great father, I am so glad that he is so involved with them. He always find time for them.

After opening gifts, Bailee and I started cooking our big breakfast. We cooked eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, toast, biscuits, and pancakes!

Jerry and Caiden was assembling the Guitar Hero.

We already had the first guitar hero, so it was cool to have 2 guitars, we could ALL play!

Jerry and I had so much fun playing it together!

Bailee decided to bring out the Guitar.

Bubba and Baxter I think had enough of the Christmas thing, so they decided to take a nap!

After hours of playing with all the gifts, I started to prepare our dinner. We skipped lunch since we had such a big breakfast. We had Fried turkey, dressing, broccoli rice casserole, homemade turnip greens, which I cooked the day before, cornbread, fried okra(Jerry's fav) butter beans, and macaroni n cheese.

It was so yummy! I love cooking for the holidays. Yes, it it alot to cook and clean up, but I don't mind!

After our wonderful dinner, Jerry decided to hook up or printer. I was so excited! Not just for me, but for the kids! They have to do so many projects for school and now we could get this projects done in a flash now!

Jerry and I usaully don't get each other gifts for Christmas. We get things for each other thourgh out the year. We feel that the kids are only young once, and we want the focus on them. So, the day after Christmas, Jerry decided to take the kids to town to let them spend thier money they got for Chrsitmas. I had some time to pick up alittle and clean the kicthen. They were gone for quite a while, and I got worried and called to check on them. Jerry told me that they were having a hard time finding one of the games that Caiden wanted. Jerry said that they would be home soon. They finally got home and I asked them what they got. They suprised me with a monitor for our computer!! I was so shocked and happy! Happy that they actually took a gift of thiers and turned around and gave a gift in return! Caiden, Bailee and Jerry pitched in and bought me a gift!! Thanks ya'll for being such thoughtful poeple and for blessing my heart, not with a gift, but with the giving from your heart! I love you all soo much!

We had a great Christmas, yes, the gifts are great, but the gift of being a family was the best of it all!