Marvelous...

As soon as Lily woke up, she had to get out of bed and see if Marvelous knew they were spending the night at Uncle Rays and Aunt Brooke's house.  Marvelous found them all right...and Lily can't believe what Marvelous did especially since Marvelous is not usually mischievous!  I guess she knows Lily and Layne have Aunt Brooke wrapped around their little finger and she wouldn't get upset with her late night prank!  She also left Kit Kat bars (Lily's favorite) and a marshmallow pop with a elf size santa hat just in case there wasn't anything Lily liked for breakfast!

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Time

Gets away from me these days! We are loving our new house and getting more settled each day. This past weekend was the GROW Saturday Christmas party. All of the kid were excited to see Santa!


And super excited about him giving them each a gift!


I even got to talk to Santa a bit!


Then on Sunday, we stopped to check on Marvelous (and Lily and Layne) on our way to see Grandma. Marvelous was busy zip lining which Lily and Layne thought was so funny! I hear Monday was an easier day for Marvelous...she enjoyed a bubble bath in marshmallows!


Grandma seemed to be doing well. As an added bonus, we got to visit with Aunt Marca, Uncle Mike and Peyton!


Why do the weekends go by so fast?
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Location:Harbor Common Dr,Memphis,United States

Celebrating!

Sunday night we celebrated Emily's Birthday with a family party at our house! Sunday also happened to be the Harbor Town Christmas Parade and tree lighting...waiting for the parade to start!
I think everyone enjoyed themselves...Lily and Layne especially loved the horses!
I had a hot chocolate bar, but too bad it was 70 degrees!
Look at Emily's cute Christmas owl that Molly had made for her!  

Lily was very into helping her momma open her presents and 

 blow out and eat her cake!

Lily wanted to end the night was a dance party in what she calls the 'man dance room'!

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This weekend...

Was filled with a little unpacking and cleaning, some decorating and a lot of fun! Remember my cafe table I bought at a garage sale about 8 years ago? It was yellow and I painted it black...


Now, it 'Birthday Party' colors and I love it!


I could hang out in the sunroom all day and night! I think Ray might love this room even more...he just thinks we need to add a tv, but I'm not so sure just yet.
On Saturday night, we decorated our tree...


I always love our tree, but this year may just be my favorite yet. All of our ornaments are so special and many were ours when we were kids. Mom gave us this ornament this weekend and I love it!


Look at this beautiful rose that bloomed in our back yard. Plus, we have 3 different red berries growing that I enjoyed decorating with. I'm loving our new house and if it would just cool off a bit, I would be loving this Holiday Season!


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Our 2012 Christmas Tree

Once again we stopped at Mehaffey Tree Farm for our tree. Such nice people!


We had over 2,000 to choose from...


Can't wait to get it up in our new house! Now lets hope it makes it on the 8 hour drive home...


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The turkey had been carved...

And our hearts and bellies are full! Everything was delicious! I'm so blessed and have so much to be Thankful for!


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Celebration of 92 years...

Ray's Grandmother passed away over the weekend, so we headed to Kingsport on Tuesday morning.  During the funeral last night, both preachers preached on the Love that Georgia Ruth Nickels showed to her family, her students and really everyone over the past 92 years.  The funeral and the graveside service delivered such beautiful, warm messages.  This has really has upset Ray as he is worried for his Granddaddy, who was married to Ray's grandmother for 64years and was quoted in one of the services as saying "Without Georgia he wouldn't have been anything at all." I'm honored to have known her for the past 12 years and pray for everyone who feels this loss.

These turkeys...

Warm my heart! I love seeing what our GROW Children are thankful for!


Especially exciting to see so many are thankful for their teachers! This is huge given these kids go to a school that was taken over by a Charter school that is part of the Achievement School District. Everything about their school is night and day different from last year!


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2 Men and A Truck

Turned into 4 Men and Two Trucks! I still don't know where all this stuff came from, but we have some more cleaning out to do!


When you are moving and lots of stairs are involved a moving company is the best money spent. Seriously, it was worth every penny for Ray's weights and tools alone! I'm sure these guys slept well last night!


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Getting ready...

To move is a lot of work! We said goodbye to the gold and burgundy and hello to Grey and Gray last weekend!





We ate many of meals outside with our helpers (which is one of my favorite features of the new house!)





New carpet got laid on Friday...good bye old (now wet due to the unexpected sprinkler system) carpet!


And we said hello to a house full of boxes!


Moving is not an easy task, but we know it will be worth it when we are finally get settled and are renting our current home!! Maybe by 2014,I'll be ready for a house warming!

Painted wallpaper???

Who does that? Apparently whoever lived in our house before us! I was able to get it right off. Something I didn't notice in our multiple walk throughs!



Already loving the neighborhood...why yes I think I'll just walk right over to Miss Cordelia's for their Christmas open house! They had tastings off all the local goods...that new chicken salad I have been eyeing...yes I think I'll be buying that soon. Oh and Momma Rosa's tamales, made from scratch cookies, the boys and girls club banana chocolate chip bread and my favorite Sweet Magnolia's pumpkin gelato!


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I 'heart' weekends!

We had a busy, but relaxing weekend! Emily and Layne were in Town and we went over for breakfast with them this morning...mom made banana pancakes and chocolate chip pancakes! Yum...I had been wanting them for years!! Layne was most interested in the bacon!


And in trying on his Poppa's boots! So much fun!


Last night we took a friend who was in town to the track to bet the dogs! I had forgotten how much fun it is to bet and cheer on your favorite dogs!
We missed Lily, but she had a super fun weekend with her daddy at deer camp for the Youth Hunt! She might not have gotten her first deer, but she sure looks happy about what they did kill!


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Harvest Fest Time Again...

Got up early and came to Molly's to help mom with Lily and Layne...while Molly helped Emily and Neil at Lily's Greenhouse booth at the Corning Harvest Festival.
We took the kids to the festival for a bit! They both loved the ponies...





How cute are these two in their fall shirts that Aunt Marca made! Love these two so much!


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All about the paint...

Last weekend at GROW we painted canvases! Who knew these kids would be so excited to paint! So much creativity in the walls of Lester Community Center!


She affectionately called hers Blue Dog (it was awesome and I totally would have bought it from her if I could have!)





Thursday night we carried on the painting theme with the 6-12 year olds...pumpkin painting! We had several 'girlie' pumpkins, Lil Wayne, a red M&M, and a Happy and Sad Grizz fan to name a few!









I hate I didn't get a picture of all 9 of them, but my iPhone camera has been acting up.


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Why didn't I think of this??

Friends,  This weekend is Merry Marketplace (MMP) which is the largest fundraiser for the Junior League of Memphis.  The Junior League funds the GROW program (that I am so passionate about) at Lester Community Center and Lester Elementary. 

 

This year Lester Elementary became a charter school, Cornerstone Prep at Lester Campus, to help them get up to standards.   I'm excited to say that you can already see a difference in the children!  However, Cornerstone requires each student to wear one of their logoed shirts and they are $18 each (which adds up).  So, we have teamed up with an amazing local organization, Agape North, who provides a uniform shirt for every shirt they sell. 

 

Now to the exciting part...for every shirt they sell at MMP or every shirt ordered from their website this week (polo/t-shirt) a uniform shirt will be donated to a child at Cornerstone Prep at Lester Campus!  Visit www.agapenorth.com  to place your order.  When checking out use the coupon code jlmemphis to designate your shirt to Cornerstone as well as get 15% off your order.  So, you get a new shirt with a cool lion logo and a child gets a new uniform shirt!  How cool!  Please pass along to anyone you think might be interested.  Thanks,  Brooke

 

Surprise Time...

Happy Birthday to Michael...these 30 year olds are keeping us young! Glad Jeri married young ;)



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