Happenings....

So much lately and I have not been blogging....shame shame!

Some highlights....

The arrival of sweet William Louis W.....Frannie and I went by the hospital the Monday after his Sunday debut....he is just the cutest sweetest little guy ever....his mommy is doing GREAT and his daddy was the proudest of all proud fathers. It was really amazing to watch them instantly become a family. I had a great time lunching with Frannie....shopping for something blue and spending the time with Will....what a fun day!

Grace is no longer friends with her dog bowl.....
She has one of those beautiful iron dog dishes that is elevated off the ground. I love it! Well, the other Saturday I am getting dressed and I hear crash, boom, shatter, crash, boom, boom, crash, whimper....I freak out and run to the kitchen thinking Orie has just fallen to the ground and died....what do I find....yeah....Grace and the dog dish were no longer friends. You see.....the dog dish has some iron scroll work at the top of it and sometimes her dangling tags get stuck in it (yes, it has happened before....I am a terrible mother....the things you do for beauty!) This particular day when they got stuck she freaked out and started hurling the dog dish around the kitchen with her....going completely around our kitchen table and bumping into Pierre our wine man....the bump knocked off his glass tray (the shatter sound) and that is where she settled....stuck to the bowl....Orie went to get her tags out of it and she was really ticked.....that was the end of the beautiful relationship with her dog dish. She now eats out of the ugly stainless bowls on the floor:(

Business....Orie had a very successful year with his company....his review went really well and they are really proud of his accomplishments and professionalism over the last year. I just knew they would love him....how could one not?

Home front....we cleaned out our garage this past weekend....it is amazingly organized which puts me on cloud 9! grace enjoyed spending the whole day outside since we had gorgeous 60degree weather.....
Christmas and lights are put away - tear.....I wish lights were appropriate all year!

Jen and Rodney made their way over to Dallas for Jen's birthday weekend. We were able to join them for a birthday dinner at Javier's....delicious and good times as usual!

the birthday girl and rodney

jennifer and amy

amy and joe

orie and di

Afterwards we partied at Hotel Palomar like rock stars.....out until almost 11:00.....!

I'm having a hard time of thinking what else we have been up to.....we have been having some awesome jam sessions....it's pretty much karaoke time around here a lot....we make up songs, sing pop songs, even rock out to a little Phantom and Wicked.....what would we do without music?

We hope your world is full of fun and laughter.....enjoy each day!

Cotton Bowl

Better late than never.....

We had a blast at the Cotton Bowl this year! LSU beat Texas A&M and it was just a perfect weekend! We had tons of friends and family in town for the big game and had the best tailgate in the history of our Cotton Bowl tailgates (who cares that it was our first one!!!!)

Everyone did an awesome job helping bring stuff, setting up, cleaning up and making it such a festive day. I was really impressed with our ability to tailgate within the strict Cowboys stadium guidelines too....we showed them!

I think everyone had a blast.....tailgating, post game, and post game after party at the house! We were up until 3:00 in the morning....girls inside chatting away (staying warm) and the boys outside playing basketball....and possibly polishing off the remainder of the tailgating supplies! We had a fun Saturday too....I sure wish the Saints had won...but oh well....at least one of our teams won....I would hate to have been an A&M fan and a Saints fan - pretty crummy weekend!

I can hardly believe I was able to hang until 3:00 in the morning....it was totally worth it but my body definitely crashed Saturday night when it was just the two of us. I didn't move on Sunday....pretty sure I got out of the bed for about 30 minutes and then got right back in...it was great!

Here are some pics from our super fun day of celebration....

the girls....di, marissa, kimberly, katherine


di and orie

di and marissa....gorgeous sunset!

di and orie

marissa and chad

coin toss...

pre game huddle - really gets you in the spirit!

they're about to run out....i was so excited....it was amazing....nothing like Tiger Stadium but it was our only game of the season...so we'll take it!

The Kilgore Rangerettes for Grandma....Orie's grandmother was a Rangerette....so fun!

she was really into it...

post game....boys in deep thought....

chad and brooks...

chad....practicing his balancing act?

one of my favorite pics of Orie....:)

more pics.....

Kodak Album

Kim and Jarrod's Blog

Hope you enjoyed! We're so sad college football is over and the end of the NFL season is approaching....whatever will we do with ourselves? I guess just have a countdown to the start of college football!!!

just a thought....

I saw this last week and immediately thought of a sweet friend....:)

think about it....

"Patience is trusting in God's timing"

Christmas Vacation....

We had so much fun heading home for Christmas. There was never a dull moment....free moment....or moment not full of fun!

We enjoyed a wonderful birthday lunch with Dad at Bistro Byronz.....We were so excited he had his fill of golf before his birthday and could celebrate at lunch with all of us. It was great!

That evening we had a Christmas get together with some friends.....it is always a special night. I love seeing everyone and it's really one of the few nights over Christmas vacation you get to visit with family friends. Thanks mom and dad for always having such a fun shindig!

Christmas Eve day found Orie hanging out with his mom and dad and I went to a girls lunch with my high school girlfriends. It was such a fun outing and I'm glad we all gather to celebrate and catch up....even if sometimes it can only happen once a year. After lunch we got to run by Carie's and see sweet Charlie....I think he was a big hit for the all the ladies!

Christmas Eve we gathered for church at the new children's service. We went with an open mind....Jen had heard great things about it and I was excited that we would all be in church together....even E and C.....well the service was a children's service and that was about it. We hustled through the carols....heard a quick story about baby Jesus being born and that was a wrap! I think we were parked, in, out, back in car in less than an hour. It just didn't feel quite like our regular Christmas Eve church tradition....I think we will have to negotiate this next year!

Christmas Eve night we had a fun celebration of homemade Christmas craft, a wonderful dinner prepared by Mom, and exchanged gifts as a family. The boys made it for a little while and then left their cookies and milk for Santa and were off to dreamland. It was a great evening!

trying to pose for a cute picture in the presents....

playing with Papa....

round 2 of posing....

Rodney and Orie are really concerned about the family picture....

we got one!

Di and Orie....Christmas Eve 2010

Christmas Day we all woke up in great anticipation of what Santa left for us in our stockings. The faces were priceless and we had a great morning oohing and ahhing over Santa's great finds! Dad fixed delicious french toast and we ended our Christmas celebration together and went on to our next round of festivities.

Cooper with his slinky....

Cooper with his new fireman rain coat....

Ethan with his Knight castle...

Tess and Papa...Christmas morning

Di and Orie...Christmas morning

Jen and Rod....Christmas morning

Kat and Josh...Christmas morning

We headed over to Orie's parents for our next Christmas celebration. We exchanged gifts as a family and watched basketball by the fire. It was another great day.....we even snuck in an excellent nap! That night we went to Aunt Deborah's for a delicious Christmas dinner. We're always grateful when we can see so much of both families each year. The evening was lovely....thanks for including us!

The next day we were off to Arkansas for one last hoorah....we headed up that morning with Kat and Josh. As soon as we arrived we started a game of Train....I was in the lead...by quite a bit I might add....but we never finished...oh well....I'm sure my bragging rights will come one day! Mom and Mama Tee made a great Christmas lunch and then we had our Christmas game celebration. We won great ornaments and Orie won the bonus prize Christmas Penguin....it was a big hit. We Ho Ho Ho'd waiting for Santa to make an appearance and he did! I won the bonus coin prize....another $5 bill from jolly ole' Saint Nick....this is my second $5 bill to win from him in my lifetime.....if you know our Santa in Arkansas....he does NOT go around giving people money.....I now have $10 off him! After our party we exchanged gifts and sang Christmas carols.....what a fun day!

We drove back to Shreveport that night and Orie had to head back to Dallas...tear....I was kidnapped for the week! It was a fun week of Christmas sale shopping, playing with the boys, celebrating E's 4th birthday and lots of other good times! Thanks Orie for letting me stay and thanks mom and Kat for bringing me home!

Di and Tess have Monjuni's lunch....Ethan joins after his 4th birthday lunch with his mom and dad

Back to Dallas on Thursday meant back to reality......Christmas decorations all over the house that were losing their luster.....Christmas gifts and things from Shreveport piled on both dining tables.....and laundry from the last 10 days of my vacation....yikes!

We worked a little bit on the not so fun stuff but took a break to celebrate the New Year. Orie planned a great dinner at Toulouse....it was a new restaurant for us and was really fun. The food was excellent and I just loved the French Bistro atmosphere. It was a great NYE!

Now we're just regular people on a Sunday. I'm sure we will watch the Saints play and finish putting away that never ending laundry from yesterday!

We hope your day and your 2011 are full of fun! We hope ours is!

Happy New Year!

a little bit of catch up before Christmas....

So much going on lately....as always!

We have enjoyed the Christmas spirit this December in Dallas....doing lots of fun things!

Orie's office had their annual Christmas party....it was a lovely seated dinner at the Ritz Carlton. The food was exceptional and it's always nice to visit with the people in his world. They don't have a very large office so it was an intimate dinner of about 14 people. While we were seated there we realized that Orie is kind of the lone ranger at work....he is one of only two men and he was the only male employee present at the dinner! Poor Orie....having to work with such lovely ladies!

I headed out one evening to a friend's housewarming party. Her new place is adorable and it was a great evening to catch up with some girl friends.....Thanks LT for the get together! It was a fun night!

Orie and I headed out one evening to look at Christmas lights through the Park Cities....WOW....the lights were amazing. We had Grace in tow and she had a blast. She wasn't too sure about the horse drawn carriages though....mainly the horses. She would shake and whimper every time we got near one...it was hysterical! We tried to just meander the streeets and take a gamble on which way to turn....as soon as we saw a buggy we knew to follow it though....surely they knew the way to the best houses! If you are in Dallas this Christmas season go check out the lights.....also make sure to drive through Highland Park Village and check out their beautifully lit trees....AMAZING!

We also celebrated Christmas with Audrey and Chris at Uncle Julio's Mexican Restaurant. It was a fun evening full family and laughter. We tried to exchange gifts in the CVS parking lot afterwards (our gift was a little bit too large to bring in to a restaurant) but were run off by a man struggling to find money and his Christmas spirit. So....what to do in this situation....why head across the street to the classier Burger King parking lot! So that's just what we did! Our gift exchange was super fun and the evening was perfect!

Orie and I did pretty well this year with getting our shopping and stuff done early so that we weren't stressed out right before Christmas. I had my presents nicely wrapped under the tree and had lots of wrapping supplies waiting for Orie when he was ready. So one day he brings home his gifts to wrap.....I got to watch! Now don't worry....I couldn't tell what anything was or where it was from. Y'all....this was the funniest site I have ever seen. It took Orie about 2.5 hours to wrap about 4 packages. He had ribbon and stuff everywhere and used more wrapping paper than I probably did for all of our packages already under the tree. I told him next year he didn't need to buy me anything....watching him wrap empty boxes would be all that I wanted! It was sweet though to see him work so hard on my packages....he chose each color of ribbon with a purpose and put lots of extra flare on his packages too. Thanks Orie for wrapping so pretty....it makes my day!

We now think we are ready for Christmas.....presents are wrapped....items are baked/cooked....we have our home made Christmas crafts ready to go....and we are ready for family and friends!

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A Holiday Treat

Our sweet friend at PSG brought us over a very special holiday treat. I was thrilled when I learned she put the recipe on her website.....here is the link!

Pink Slip Gourmet - Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream Sandwiches

It is one of the most delicious treats I can think of for Christmas time.....I'm so glad mine were delivered though and I don't have to bake them! Happy baking to you though!

The Poinsettia....

I lost this year in the battle of the poinsettia. I tried really hard to give them a loving home but the conditions were just not right. Farewell good friends....you have seen better days. I am forever grateful that I no longer have to pick up the hundreds of leaves that fall off of you each day!

Guess Who?....again.....

4 show i watch

CSI

NCIS

Good Wife

NCIS Los Angeles

4 phrases I say a lot

hello buddy

I love you boys

Up we go

How was golf

4 things I've learned

Dogs are always eager to see you

some people are never pleased

children are the best entertainment

you get from life what you give to it

places I would like to go
Europe

Maine

Hilton Head

New Orleans in the spring time

4 things I did yesterday

bought Christmas gifts

bought Christmas gifts

bought Christmas gifts

Had a nice lunch out and evening out

4 things I'm look forward to

having my family here for the holidays

seeing the faces of my grandchildren on Christmas morning

hosting a party with my grown up children

celebrating John's birthday

Merry Christmas Blog Friends.....

and the winner is....

Josh wins!

He guessed that it was his sweet wife Kat in the guess who game! Way to go Josh....you faithful blog reader!

Here's a pic of the newlyweds.....enjoy!