Our Thanksgiving weekend.

Since we just got back from Alabama days before the Thanksgiving holiday we shopped for all the traditional meal necessities, tried to catch up on our sleep and throw a little relaxation all in our Thanksgiving week/weekend. I know Brooke was glad to be home, but she was mostly glad to see her Daddy. Anytime he is home she follows him and is pretty demanding of his attention, well this week.....it was so much more intense. She would throw FITS if her Daddy wasn't in the room with her. I know he is ready to get cotton stripping over with, but for Brooke's sake I am quite glad they had a few days with weather not allowing so she could get her fix in. ;o)

Daddy was dressed to go to the farm, but Miss Brooke did not want him to leave so he sat down and cuddled while watching the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving with her.

On Thanksgiving Day Steven's parents drove from Plainview to spend the day with us. It was just the five of us (not counting two dogs), so Brooke enjoyed getting to monopolize all of the adults attention. Nana will hate me for the picture, but hey....I already made my own Momma mad. ;o) The picture is of Nana with her neck brace sitting on Brooke's bed. Brooke managed to talk other adults into getting every single stuffed animal out of her wall net for her. The scene reminded me a lot of E.T. As a side note, Nana is doing really well after her surgery and even behaving!

After everyone left Brooke decided to find out what was at the bottom of her toy box, as you can tell by the stacks of thrown toys behind her on the floor.

Every morning since we got home Brooke has been wanting to wake her Daddy up. The morning after Thanksgiving she suckered him into going back to bed with her so she could wake him up over and over.....AND over.

The fact that this is December 1st has really made me realize the holidays are upon us! I have not done any Christmas shopping, and still have a scarecrow from Halloween in our front yard. I do believe I will attempt to use this week to catch up at least a little!

Alabama Fun, Part III (last one guys)

These are the last pictures of the Alabama trip I will post, I promise. This first picture means a lot to me because it is our four generation picture with Mamaw. I know we are never promised tomorrow, so I like to document all memories with tons of pictures! I am so thrilled we got to spend so much time with her, and I loved every single time Brooke would walk up to Mamaw and grab her hand. Seeing the two of them interact was my favorite part of the trip. I know the picture of Brooke isn't exactly the most flattering, but you know what.....she is 2-1/2 and I think it looks great! ;o)

My Momma in my place.

My mother will get on to me for posting this big ole picture of her on the blog, but the day we were all there to celebrate my grandmother's 92nd birthday just so happened to be my own Mother's 60th birthday, and it was kind of over shadowed. So, HAPPY BELATED 60TH BIRTHDAY BEAUTIFUL MOMMA!!

Brooke and our little cousin Nicholas....isn't this picture precious?! The real story behind the picture is I had our DVD player playing a My Friends Tigger and Pooh dvd, and I told them if they touched the screen one more time I was turning it off. This was the two of them holding onto each other making sure neither one touched it!

Be Thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving All!

Two of the wonderful people in my life I am thankful for......

Alabama Fun, Part II

I am very proud of my entire family....all sides, in laws, everything. But, every once in a while you have to brag on at least one family member right?! Growing up and spending summers in Alabama I was closest to my cousins John and Joseph. We played and played, used our wild imaginations and were just very close even though we lived SO far away from one another. I missed getting to see Joseph, but I got to see John and was thrilled to see him. He has grown into a very handsome man, who is wonderful to be around just as he always has been. He is attending Faulkner University and is a member of an all male A capella Quartet called Cornerstone (you can purchase their awesome cd for only $15 through this website). Now, as I mentioned earlier everyone in the Tuggle family can sing.....and well at that.....well, you will have to listen to at least one of the songs from this group. John is the WONDERFUL bass voice you hear (here). Makes me grin from ear to ear every single time I hear it! Update: I have been trying to put the song on this post, but it's not working right. If you click on the word 'here' above it should take you to a page where you can download it and listen.....if not, back to the drawing board using blogspot!

Here is the group shot on the front of their cd. John is the second from the left.

You have to be told the last time I saw John he was 11, then he walked in with a full grown beard that was quite shocking to me!

Brooke fell in love with John, and his girlfriend Jessica while we were there. To the point that I came in the door at Mamaw's house and Brooke ran to the door and said "Jessica's here!!!" then I turned around and she said "Oh, mom it's just you" Thanks a lot!!

John and Jessica playing cars with Brooke.

Alabama Fun, Part I

We're baaaaack! Brooke and I are both glad to be home and back in our normal routine, but we both thoroughly enjoyed our time in Alabama. It was Brooke's first trip to the beautiful state and my first trip back in almost 9 years.....which means it's been too long. The reason for the celebration was my grandmother Mamaw's 92nd birthday (yes, I said 93rd on an earlier posting....apparently a lot of us in the family were rushing her one year). The Tuggle Family uses this as an awesome reason to get together for an afternoon and have some fun.

Brooke and Grandad enjoying the pine needles and the COLD day. We have always been Roll Tide fans in our family, but after that horrible game Tech played (or didn't play) against Oklahoma, I was rather glad she was sporting an Alabama sweatshirt instead of her normal garb.

My family is so full of creative people, and they can ALL sing beautifully too. Here is the pumpkin cousin Randy carved for the day. I also heard several cousins say our version of Happy Birthday we all sang for Mamaw was by far the prettiest rendition they'd ever heard!

The Birthday Girl.

It was too cold Saturday to make Mamaw go out for pictures, and there were so many people there that we couldn't all fit in her living room at the same time.....so, I will share pictures of the group pictures we took. This is Mamaw and her four kids that came. She has 5, but not all could be there this year. The kids: My Aunt Joan, My Dad, My Uncle Clayton, and my Aunt Sylvia behind Mamaw.

The Grandkids that were there (a lot were missing):

The GREAT Grandkids that were there: We counted later and figured she has 20 great grandkids, but only 13 were there.

I will post more as I can. Brooke is working on her final two molars, so she goes from being independently happy as a lark, to wanting/needing my attention NOW!!

Bye.

My husband's been spending more time with a stripper than me, so I am leaving....

Now for those of you who don't know me very well, here is the real stripper Steven is hanging with right now.....heehee.

He is stripping cotton right now, which entails very long hours. BUT, the other part of the title is we are leaving. Brooke and I are going to Alabama to see my Dad's side of the family for a few days and to celebrate his mother's 93rd birthday! I have not been to see them in almost 10 years, so it will be a fun trip. And, none of them have met Brooke....so we have to take advantage of frequent flier miles offered to us when we can right?! Although, myself and all of my family members wish Steven was going with us.....we will enjoy the time either way.

My blog will be neglected for a few days because if your grandmother's house is anything like mine there is NO internet connection there. ;o) I assure you I will bombard you with pictures when we get back! I leave you with a picture of our ornery Brooke and hope you are amazed at the wonderful things we are teaching our child!

Have a great weekend!

Row, Row, Row your boat.....(updated)

In case you couldn't hear, Brooke's words are: "row, row the boat merry merry merry life is but a dream." She normally sings the whole song while rolling her arms like she is rowing a boat, but leave it to ME to get the first video of her right before her nap when all she can think about is the binky sitting on the window sill right beside her! ;o) Sorry it's so dark guys, I WILL get better at the video thing I assure you!

Today.....well, we are doing nothing but waiting. My wonderful mother in law was told to be at the hospital at 6 this morning to get prepped for her surgery (she is having 4 vetebrae fused in her neck), and Steven finally called and said they wheeled her into surgery about 1! So, I am sure they are all SO glad they got up at 5am to rush to the hospital. Right now Steven and his Dad are hanging out at the hospital waiting.....and I am trying to act like life is normal today and keeping Brooke at home because you all know the hospital is no place for a 2 year old! I will post an update when I hear it, but all I know now is that she will be in surgery until around 4 or 5 this afternoon, so please send up a few extra prayers for her!

You might have to mute the music on the blog down below to be able to hear her precious little voice.

UPDATE: Steven's mother got out of surgery at 5 this afternoon and is still in recovery. They said all went as planned, so we are all very relieved! Thank you for the prayers!! I know she has 4 to 6 weeks of recovery ahead of her, but I sure hope this eliminates her horrible pain!