SSHHH!!! Mr. Nanny is sleeping.......

Here is the tree in our bedroom! It's decorated in greens, purples, and gold!

Should I be RUNNING backwards?

I am so far behind on posting on my blog! So I will make baby steps and at least post pictures of my decorated kitchen and eating area. Please ignore the unfinished fireplace, it really drives Mr. Nanny CRAZY! I just haven't decided how I want to finish it out and yes, I know, it's been 3 years! In this picture you can see the teacup ornaments! I love this tree!

Mom, I wish you were here to have coffee with me in the mornings!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

How It ALL Started.....

I think I'm finally getting in the Christmas spirit since we are home from Houston, where my forever friend received good news! I have been decorating my house for the holidays and have wanted to post all the work that I have done so my Mom can see it! I have been telling her but pictures sure do help! So the biggest tree in our house and I do mean big was decorated by my family. This is the one tree that we do together. The ornament below was one that my Mom gave me when I left home. This hung on my tree as a little girl. It meant so much to me, to be so far from home and from my Mom, to have some of the ornaments of my childhood. Then, to add to that, my Mom was the first person ever to buy me an ornament She gave this one to Kenneth and I on our wedding day, August 26, 1978! Once again, my Mom was instrumental in my love of ornaments and then the decorating! This is for you, MOM!

These are the cute little elves that come over to help decorate that really tall tree!

Keep in mind that the big guy is close to 7 foot and you still can't see the top of that tree!

Here's some more cute elves that help out at Handy Nanny's house! Great worker bees, let me tell you.........

Mr. Nanny and I like some snuggle time with these cuties!

Here is some of the Christmas decorations in this room with the big tree!

Another angle.........

The tree in all it's glory!

You may wonder how do I get all these elves to my house to decorate. Simple.....I feed them! They are suckers for my chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, & corn! Notice my Dad at the table...he rarely passes this menu up! I don't make him work, he raised me!

I will try to post the rest of the house in the next few days! It won't be much longer and I will be taking all of this down, agh!

#1 Grand baby!

Can you believe this is "The 1st Grand baby"? He has grown into such a handsome young man! Tomorrow when he wakes up at my house he will be a TEENAGER! Mr. Nanny, Hunter, and I went to his favorite restaurant tonight (Ocean Zen)! It truly is a dining experience. Equally an experience that we had to have him read the check because we are too old to see the fine print! I can't believe that it has been 13 years since this little guy changed our world! We are so proud of the nice young man he has become. We love you Hunter!

P.S. Can we say spoiled? He will be celebrating tomorrow evening with his Mom and little brother and on Saturday with his Dad, Step-mom, sister and some friends! The celebrations never end!!!!

This is who my daughter is named after......

Miss Mary (who is quite contrary) deserves her very own post! Yes, this beautiful girl is who our daughter is named after! We started playing together when my family moved down the street from her family in August of 1969. We lived 2 houses and a church apart. We literally grew up together like sisters. If I wasn't at her house, she was at mine. We preferred her house because she didn't have to share a bedroom! I'd like to add at this point that I did learn how to dust properly due to her mother's great instruction! Thanks, Joyce! Oh the stories I could tell about our childhood.... I digress. So, while we were visiting my Mom & Tom for Thanksgiving we were able to run to Miss Mary's house for an evening of fun! She has the most handsome husband and the yummiest girls you ever did see! She is truly BLESSED! Did I mention that she didn't get married until she was 40 and THEN started having children? I can't even describe how I feel when I'm in this home! So let me take you on a tour of this beautiful, house full of love, home!

This is the tree in her family room! My favorite room! The view out this window is of the lake on the golf course. Beautiful!!!

Miss Mary's hunky husband has his own office with his very own tree!

This tree is in her kitchen/dining area! She's inspiring me....

Yes, even a tree on the screened in back porch!

Tree in Formal Living Room!

Tree in Formal Dining Room

Dark headed Beauty's tree in her bedroom!

The tree in Nana's room! I think it's my room but the girls said it was Nana's.

This tree is in the upstairs sitting room, the girls called it "The Loft"! So uptown!

This is Miss Mary's bedroom! Absolutely gorgeous! Love, love, love it!

Blonde headed Beauty's PURPLE tree in her bedroom!

This is blonde hair beauty.....

and this is her little sister, dark hair beauty!

This is a very long post and I didn't even show you her basement! Of course, it's decorated in grand style, too! I'm just so proud of those 2 little girls that played together on Pembroke street! That would be me and Miss Mary! We followed in great footsteps, though! Love and miss you, MC!

Thanksgiving with my Momma!

This was an extra special Thanksgiving for me this year. We had Thanksgiving with my Mom and my stepfather, Tom! So what makes this so special? Well, I haven't had Thanksgiving with my Mom since I was 17. Yes, 32 years have gone by without being with my Mom. I remember in the beginning it was truly unbearable to be without her. Oh, the tears that I shed..... I married soon after high school and Mr. Nanny just happens to be from Oklahoma, where his family's' tradition runs deep! We also lived within 3 hours of his parents and Mom was in Florida. So it was great tradition that all of Mr. Nanny's family would get together and the women would cook, the men would hunt, and the children would play. Years went by and the male children started hunting and the girls would help in the kitchen. This was the way that it was and we never considered another option. Last year was the first year we didn't go to Oklahoma. Things change.......the children now are married with their own children. The distance is greater than 3 hours. They have in-laws that would like to see them (mostly the babies). Mr. Nanny and I decided that we wouldn't start the Thanksgiving tradition at our house because our kids do have in-laws and this definitely makes things easier for them to not have to be everywhere. We get together with our kids almost every week. But, most importantly, I missed my Mom! My mom has always been a mom and a best friend. I never wanted to disappoint her and I still don't. I just love being in her presence. Spending time with her I'm in awe that she is 72! She does not look 72! She has never looked her age, always a beauty and boy, was I ever so proud to call her my Mom! She is a woman of strength, that's where I get mine. A woman of faith, I watched her pray a lot when my 3 siblings and I were teenagers! My mother was born to nurture! I witnessed this once again when we had to run into town before we had our Thanksgiving meal to take food to an elderly lady who doesn't have anyone. She is a customer of my mothers and she is all alone. So I guess to sum it all up....I am my Mother's child! We used to finish each other's sentences, share clothes and hang out on dateless weekends together watching TV, playing cards or coloring with paint pens (yes, it really is an adult thing)! I knew that someday when I had a daughter I wanted to have that same special relationship with her that I had with my mother. I think I accomplished this because Chrissy and I are inseparable! Now how about some pictures of that hot great-grammy and our ever so handsome PaPa Tom........

This BABY changed EVERYTHING!

Today I was driving Drew to his preschool and we were listening to our new favorite Christmas song, "A Baby Changes Everything" by Faith Hill. A beautiful song about the birth of Jesus! We turn this song way up loud to get the full benefits, that's just what we do. When I hear this song, I think about Mary and what she was going through and how Joseph stood by her. Truly a miracle and I love miracles! Drew yelled "Nanny" so I quickly lowered the volume and said, "Yes, baby doll".

"I was a baby once. And I changed everything".

I can't even begin to tell you the thoughts that went through my head about how true that statement was and for many many people! Life has never been the same since November 16, 2004. I choked out a "Yes, you did". The rest of the way to school tears just streamed down my face and I couldn't stop them. I will never listen to this song again and not think of all the children in my life that have changed everything for me, baby Jesus included!

Angels do Exist!

Today when we got home from our trip, more details later, we walked in and this is what we found:

The music was playing in the kitchen.......
This is the tree in the kitchen!

This is the tree in the Formal Living Room!

This is the tree in our bedroom!

This is the tree in the Media Room!

So who did all this for me? This girl http://www.stephsgonnawin.blogspot.com/ and her awesome husband! Thank you so much, Steph! I know how rough last week was for you, following chemo and I appreciate this more than you will ever know! I love you, forever!

God Blessed Me Today, I Promise!

Today started early with a very cute smiling guy waking up very early ready to start his day! I was trying to convince him to whisper so he wouldn't wake his sister but he wanted to love on her, too! Can I just tell you this kid loves coffee! Wow, I have to guard my coffee with my life! We all ate breakfast at 7:30 and had snack at 9:30. My Dad, PaPa Melvin, came over to visit and he enjoyed the kids so much. He was very impressed when I was looking at the Sunday fliers and I asked Cohen what this picture was and Cohen replied, "Ipod"! The kids were wonderful while I worked on laundry and picking up the upstairs. They played together and then went their separate ways. Claire played on the computer and Cohen kicked back on his Mommy's old bed with the small DVD player watching JoJo's Circus. We had lunch and then Cohen and I laid down for a nap. He protested but I started singing my "Night Night CoCo song" and within 3 minutes he was out! Truly!! They played outside with PaPa after Cohen's nap and when they came inside PaPa scooped them up some cherry ice cream! Claire and I worked on puzzles for quite some time and by 5:00 they were in the bathtub! Cohen was so proud because he washed his hiney, pits, neck, & his belly all by himself. We had dinner by 6:00 and by 7:00 Claire asked to go to bed. So we loaded upstairs after getting milk and Claire's medicine and crawled into their Mommy's old bed to look at the stars left from Mommy and her best friend, Kimmy! I'm so sentimental I can't take them down! Cohen immediately started saying, "Sing Night Night song, Nanny"! Tonight he sang along with me! Precious!!! Cohen fell asleep at 8:00, Claire about 5 minutes later. This is good because we have Mother's Day Out tomorrow and Drew will be here by 7:00. I had a wonderful day and feel extremely blessed today for many reasons. Chrissy, I hope you read this soon! Know that we are doing great here, your mother-in-law is wonderful (she called and offered to help like she always does) and when I asked Cohen where his mommy and daddy are he said, "went bye-bye" and just smiles! I'm so happy that they are happy! Enjoy your away time!!! Kisses to you and my handsome son-in-law!

Cohen enjoying his bath!














Claire with her mouth full of bath water!

Cohen immediately grabbed Claire when he choked on the water!

















Cohen and Claire eating their dinner! Cohen couldn't shovel it in fast enough. I have never seen him eat so fast!



























Good Night!



Sleep Tight!