Thanksgiving

Well I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, didnt eat too much, and got a lot of shopping done. We went to my grandmothers Wednesday night for dinner, John's parents on Thanksgiving Day for breakfast, and then my Aunt Sissy's Thanksgiving nigiht for dinner. So we had a lot of good eating and fun.
Mitchell wasn't himself all last week though, he started with a fever Tuesday night, but was never really tugging at his ear, so I thought it was just a bug, well he still wasn't himself by Friday, so we took him to the doctor Friday morning and he had a viral and an ear infection. He was really good though to have both of those. He just got a little fussy around supper time two nights and was more clingy towards John and I. But he's getting better!
I went out Friday arouund 10:30 in the morning and did some shopping. It was great. I didn't have to stand in long lines, people weren't fighting, AND the sales were still going on for the things that I wanted. We also went to Opry Mills yesterday and did some shopping, so I would say I'm about 80% done, which is great for me. HAHA
Yesterday we had some visitors to our front yard. I counted about 86 turkeys at one point and they were all moving around, so there may have been more than that. I think John is throwing food out there for them, trying to start a safe haven for them. HAHA
Our front yard! The picture doesnt do it justice. I couldn't get them all in one picture because they were so spread out.

Maddie all dressed up in her knickers!

Cousin Maddie and Mitchell. They could have been twins.

Carrying around some dirty laundry. Look very closely inside the basket.

What can I say, they both love looking at theirselves! HAHA

My girl cousins on my dad's side. The (blood) sisters I never had! Chelsea, Jessica, and Maggie! I love you girls!

Classic "take the picture yourself photo". We finally got it right after 3 tries! LOL

Cousin Jessica saying, would you PLEASE hurry up and take the picture, this guy weighs as much as I do!

Like Father, Like Son, and Grandson. This is my dad, Pappy, and Craig hanging out on the couch at my aunts on Thanksgiving!

My nephew, Trevor, the cutest little cowboy I've ever seen!

These turkeys are smart. They all came out after Thanksgiving!

Our albino turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone eats a lot of turkey and watches out for all of the crazy people Friday if you are out shopping! I'm not a big shopper, so unless there is a sale that I can't pass up, I'm pretty sure I'll be in bed at 4AM when people are at Kohl's waiting to get in. My mother-in-law said that they went to Wal-Mart last year later on in the day and the place was deader than they had ever seen it and all of the sales were still going on, so I'm thinking lunch or after will be a good time for me to head out. When everyone is in bed asleep, since they woke up at 3AM. HAHA

With it being Thanksgiving, I just thought I would share a few things that I am thankful for.

1.) Jesus Christ, for dying on the cross for us all, so they we may be forgiven of our sins and have an enternal life in heaven!
2.) My family: An awesome husband who is very caring, giving, and a very loving father. A healthy son. Although he keeps me and everyone else on our toes, I wouldn't change anything about him. My parents. For always being there for us, supporting us, and especially for feeding us every Thursday night HAHA. My grandparents. Same things as above. My brother/his family. Craig has helped us so much with our addition at our house and we can't thank him enough. Thanks for letting us borrow your husband, Jamie! My in-laws. Mike/Terry are always willing to keep Mitchell whenever we need them. Mike has also helped us tremendously with the addition. I just always remind John to watch what his dad does carefully so he can learn. I don't think there has ever been anything that Mike couldn't build or figure out. Thanks to you too Terry for letting us borrow your husband. ;0) Susie, who is always willing to come keep Mitchell. Even if she is at the house until 10:30 at night...thanks! I am thankful for my brother and sister-in-laws too. And all of my nephews and niece. And can't forget all of my aunts/uncles, cousins. I love you all! (Hope I didn't leave anyone out)
3.) My mom for keeping Mitchell. I am SO thankful that I am able to work at my mom's while Mitchell is right upstairs keeping my mom busy. I am so fortunate to have this and i am ever so thankful for my mom keeping him. I guess we'll have to space the second kid out so that Mitchell is in Kindergarten LOL
4.) Grandmother and Pawpaw. John and I don't know what we would have done had grandmother and Pawpaw not helped us with the construction going on at our house the past 6 months. I like to call grandmother my supervisor, because she knows how to get things done and she does them right. Usually correcting Pawpaw after he has done something! HAHA My wish is to be as healthy as they are when I am that age, so that John and I can help our grandkids out like they help all of us grandkids!
5.) My health and my family's health.
6.) For the new space at our house. Although we don't have heat in our new addition yet, we have been really enjoying it.

There are so many other things that I am thankful for, but I would be typing for days and I don't want to bore you too much! HAHA HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

Happy Birthday John!

Mitchell and I just wanted to tell his daddy Happy Birthday too! We wanted both birthday boys to have their own blogs! He's the big 2-7 now! Getting closer and closer to 30! Mitchell woke up at 6:30 so he didn't get to tell him Happy Birthday this morning, so we thought this would be a good way to tell him. John wants to go to CiCi's pizza for his birthday HAHA So we'll be making a trip there tonight! Just thought I would share a few pics of John growing up through now! Enjoy! I tried leaving the embarrassing pics out!
John with his late-mom, Dianne! THAT'S where Mitchell gets his chunkiness from!

With his daddy's high school jersey on.

He definetly got her smile!

John, his dad, and brother (Clay)

I would guess this is his 5th grade picture, maybe 4th!

John with his good friend, Mr. Jack. He passed away a couple months ago! He lived right across from John in Hartsville and was like another grandfather to him. This picture was taken when John and I first started dating and Mr. Jack was turning 84, so John gave him his high school jersey!

Terry, John, and Mike! Terry is John's step-mom. Her and Mike got married after all of the kids had graduated from high school!

Just had to put a picture on here of us from like 6 years ago. I'm sure we'll never be this skinny again, but its nice to hope! HAHA

Engagement picture....awwwwww!

The new edition to the Carey family. Mitchell at 4 1/2 months old.

Daddy and Mitchell. I love this picture!

Family picture from the beach this year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY John!

Thank you for being such a good husband & dad! We couldn't ask for anything more! Have a great day at school, we are looking forward to pizza tonight!

Happy Birthday Nolen!

Just wanted to say a Happy Birthday to Nolen. He's three today and he told me yesterday that he was a big boy! LOL He had a fun party Saturday night. He of course couldn't wait to open his presents and he sang Happy Birthday to himself along with everyone! HAHA I forgot to get my camera out so I had to borrow a pick from the Sanford family blog! He got some nice toys and they were all his favorite!

Pre-Birthday Party

WOW, Have I really posted two days in a row now? Impressive! So if you haven't checked in a few days, be sure and check the other posts below out!
Last night we celebrated Nolen and John's birthday party a little early. We always eat at my mom's on Thursday nights, so we had dinne and a little cake for Nolen & John! Their birthdays are actually on Monday the 19th, along with the famous Mickey Mouse! :)
John got two (Adirondack chairs) outside chairs and ottomans from me, mom/dad, & grandmother/Pawpaw. They are the type chairs you would see on the beach, really low to the ground, but thats what he wanted. I think we are making a trip to Home Depot tonight to get some stain for them. Nolen is having a birthday party Saturday, so grandma just got him a couple new trucks for last night!
The Birthday Boys!

Their little pre-birthday cake!

The big boy table. Mitchell loves him some corn on the cob.

Playing ride the horsey on John's back! HAHA

Santa = disaster

I forgot to put this in the last post, but we attempted taking pictures with Santa yesterday...not a good thing! We met Craig, Jamie, Nolen, and Trevor to try and take a grandkid pic. Trevor and Nolen did great, Mitchell, not so great. Paul had his studio set up like Santa's workshop, it was so cute! So we all go in there (sidebar: Santa is not in the room yet) so Nolen runs straight over to the toys and start playing, Mitchell is sort of easing his way over there, then here comes Santa...you would have thought Mitchell had seen a ghost! LOL And he would NOT stop crying. I've been telling people that he hasn't cried that hard and for that long, even if you add up all of his shots that he's gotten. So we go into the other part of the studio and he's sort of walking light looking around every corner, looking for Santa. Then Paul said, well lets get a picture of all three of them, even if he is crying...well yes he was crying, hysterically! SO...this year isn't a good year for Santa! We pretty much knew he wasn't going to like him, because anything hairy or out of the ordinary that Mitchell sees, he just starts crying! But if you need a good laugh, go to www.paulwharton.com , click View and Order Pics online, then the password is Santa, choose the Nov. 14th session.

Our deck and Shannah's visit

Well we got a lot accomplished on the deck this past weekend. Pops, Daniel, David, and Pawpaw all came over Saturday and helped with the deck and back screen door. Then Sunday John and I put up all the spindels, so the deck is about 98% done. We just have to finish one of the handrails going down the steps and saw the posts off to where we want them, then it will be done. I'll take a finished product picture very soon. It's going to be awesome! Pawpaw is also working on some gates to put up on the steps, so we can just go out on the deck and not have to worry about where Mitchell is.
Shannah came in Saturday for a little girls night out. Me, her, and three other girls from CU all went to eat at a Mexican rest. downtown. It was great to see her and hang with the girls! It doesn't happen quite as much now that Mitchell has come along and Shannah is living three hours from me. Enjoy the pics!
The foreman of the deck project. I think he's telling me to get back to work!

Mitchell just working on the deck, hitting a couple nails in!

Uhhhhhh, I don't think the siding needs any work!

A view of the deck, almost complete!

Pops, Daniel, and David came over Saturday to help work on the deck. David isn't in this picture because was an hour deep into his 2 hour phone conversation with Brent in this picture! LOL Thanks for the help Pops and D&D!

Shannah and I in front of the newly put back up mantle! woohooo!

Mitchell loves taking pictures with the ladies.

Not so much with his daddy! :0) John is always complaining about not making any pics on the blog, so I thought I would put this one up, even though Mitchell isn't looking.

FCA/Sherman Smith

Sherman Smith, Assistant Head Coach for the Titans

For those of you who may not know, John has taken over the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) at his high school (Trousdale County High School) This is his first year to be the "Huddle Coach" and he's doing a great job! I think they averaged 6-10 students each week at their meetings last year and this year since John has taken over he usually has at least 40. He actually had one kid accept Christ for the first time a couple months ago, suggested him to go to church with another young man and a couple weeks ago he got baptized! Isn't that awesome?? Sometimes other teachers/people of the community come in and speak, then other times John speaks. This week he spoke about God being our "rock" He told them about how people in other countries use rocks under their fire, so if their fire goes out, the rock will still hold the fire. He compared this to God. How he is always there for us no matter what we may be going through and he'll always be our "rock" Just thought I would brag on my husband a little! I know he's influencing so many of those young kids in a good way each day! It's so good for them to see a "younger" teacher who is setting the right example! I'm very proud of him!

Last night was the annual FCA Benefit Dinner. Mandisa was the special singer. Let me just tell you, God sure blessed her with a set of lungs. And she sings with such ease... she's awesome! I really liked her on American Idol, because she didn't look like your average American Idol, but more importantly because she wasn't afraid to talk about God and she actually sang a Christian song, "Shackles". Of course Simon said he didn't understand it! I don't understand him most of the time! HAHA Hope Hines was also there. He's a man of God too! The coach from Pearl-Cohn gave her testimony, then talked about how she took her basketball team to the same FCA camp that she went to 20 years before. There were a couple students who gave their testimony and talked about their experiences at camp too.

The main speaker for the night was Sherman Smith, Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs Coach for the Tennessee Titans. He was such an awesome speaker, one of those where nothing else could have distracted you! I think after his football coaching days are over he'll end up behind a pulpit somewhere. He talked about how the church has become underacheivers (content with being a Christian in the church, but not being the same outside of the church), how we are uncoachable (even though we have heard what the right thing to do is, we don't always do it), and how we are uncommitted (not giving our all to Christ) His speech was more of a gut check i would say, really made you think about what you are doing and what more you could be doing. Anyways, i just wanted everyone to know what a man of God this Titans coach is and I'm sure he has a profound influence on the players!

Defeated Camping Trip ' 07

We had our annual fall camping trip to Defeated Creek a couple weeks ago and had a great time and great weather. My aunt Sissy, her family, and a family friend, Vickie, and her family go each year. This year was a lot different than last years trip. Mitchell was about 3 months old last year, slept a lot, and wasn't mobile! HAHA We had a blast though. Mitchell really liked camping. (lots of things to get into and explore) He took really good naps too, thanks to grandma (my mom) One day she was pushing him in the stroller so he could take a nap and she ended up pushing him for almost three hours. Her legs were a little sore later on that day. By the way, it was probably the longest he had ever napped and grandma just happened to be pushing him around in a stroller! :0) Thanks to Grandma and Papaw for the trip and for feeding us. Here are a few pics from the trip.

Pretty boy!
Weeeeee, I got first place!

What?? You want some of this?? I'll knock you out!

This is our pumpkin this year. I usually get all into carving and try and make the most difficult one, but we had someone else that was pretty time consuming, so we just went with the Vandy "V", since we got a big win that day against South Carolina!

I LOVE mud!

What?? I didn't do anything.

(Future) Cousin-in-law, Tanisha, and Mitchell throwing rocks in the lake!

I love this picture. Nolen, second-cousin Drew, and Mitchell. They are all making their own little expression or arm movement! HAHA
Tanisha enjoying a ride by Nolen pulling and Mitchell pushing! Good teamwork guys!

This picture cracks me up. Click on it to make it larger and look at their expressions. Nolen is staring somebody down or is mad at someone one and Mitchell is in la-la land!