Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

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I feel so out of the loop in the blog world, but I have been busy with the hustle and bustle of the season, the best season, that is!  Christmas is a holiday filled with many different traditions and meanings...

This has been my best but busiest Christmas ever... 

Usually by this time, I've watched a dozen Christmas movies and sat and looked at my Christmas decorations for hours at a time.  I'm one of those people who loves Christmas lights and looking at my tree to just soak up the holiday.  I just realized that I haven't had a chance to do any of those things, and I can honestly say that this has been the best one yet, even though it was a little different.

I've spent my Christmas chasing around a toddler and viewing this holiday season through his eyes (and we've been fighting a double ear infection... *tear*).  Even though I may be a little exhausted, I am blissfully happy and so very thankful for him and for all he teaches me every single day.  Here's what I've enjoyed and learned this Christmas...

1.  Christmas is a time for lights, Santa, presents, decorations, etc, but more importantly, it's a time to worship Jesus and teach your children about Jesus.  Manning loves to read his Christmas story books, and he always brings me the one about the first Christmas story.  I'm so thankful that he does.  It kept us from overlooking the most important person in the entire world, Jesus!  A couple of our friends from Wilson celebrate today by having a birthday party for Jesus.  I think that's a wonderful idea, and I'm planning on borrowing the idea for next year, if they don't mind.  Thanks, Nickie & Kaci!

2.  I no longer care about presents for myself... I only care about those belonging to a precious little boy.  When Manning's face lights up, I'm reminded that he is my special gift!  Thank you, Lord, for him!

3.  Christmas is a time of thanksgiving.  I am so very thankful for my family and my Manning.  Children make Christmas so much more fun!

4.  I just thought that Christmas was exciting when I was a kid... Just wait 'til you're on the opposite end.  I never dreamed I'd be too excited to sleep waiting on Santa at the age of 27... :o)

Santa came!

5.  I think I'll end my list with #5.  I'm even more thankful today that I'm a mother than I ever have been before.  I get emotional thinking about how blessed I truly am to have Manning.  I think I'll go check on him right now and whisper to him that he's the best thing that has ever happened to me.  

I love Santa!!!

P.s....I have so many pictures of Manning's second Christmas, but I'm just going to post a few tonight.  I'll be putting some more up soon.  I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas, and that you thanked Jesus for being the very first gift to all of us!  Happy Birthday, Jesus!

'Tis the season



Christmas is my favorite! :)

Well, as promised, here is a picture of my finished tree before the presents.  I took this a couple of weeks ago.  Now, I have tons of presents around it, because... drum roll please... I'm finally done with all of my Christmas shopping! :o)  I'm happy to be done, but I love Christmas and shopping so much, that I get a little sad when it's all over.

I feel like I have fallen off of the face of the planet because I haven't blogged in so long... I have been super duper busy.  Cody has been away for work in a snowy little town in Michigan for 2 weeks, so it's just been me and my little man at home.  I love Manning and cherish every single moment I get with him, but that little stinker wears me out, especially when I'm a single-parent due to work trips.  I am so very thankful, though, that I am the one that gets to stay home and be with him every single minute of every day, instead of being the one thousands of miles away for work.  Thanks, Cody, for all that you do for our family!  We love you and miss you VERY much!

I am thankful...

Well, I haven't posted in forever for a couple of reasons...

Playing @ Chick-fil-A on our way to Columbia for Thanksgiving

1.  I am off of work for the winter, so I'm now a stay-at-home-mommy until March.  Don't get me wrong, I'm loving every single second with Manning, but my free time is pretty much nonexistent.  :o)  He keeps me BUSY!

2.  My internet has been completely messed up for over 4 weeks now.  I've felt soooo disconnected.  Thank goodness for my I-phone and my parents' internet service. 

You haven't missed a whole whole lot in the life of the Moore's these days.  We had a pretty good Thanksgiving holiday....minus the rotten dumplins.  Yes, leave it to me and Cody to get food poisoning on Thanksgiving.  After a full day and a half of being sick, we rebounded just in time for Black Friday!  We decided to head out bright and early to hit up those sales.  We made it to the first stop at about 4 am and didn't stop until 2 pm.  Cody was such a trooper, and we really had a great time together shopping for our family & little man.  It's a tradition that I think we'll continue from year to year. 

Since Thanksgiving, we've really been focusing all of our time on preparing for Christmas.  I finally have the inside of my house looking great (not clean, but decorated nicely lol).  Stay tuned... I will take some pics of my decor and post them within the next couple of days for those of you who like looking at that sort of thing.

Up in a cloud of smoke...

Well, the Arkansas vs. Ole Miss game has come and gone now, and for once, I can honestly say that I don't care about the end result.  Can you believe I just said that?  That is sooo out of character for me, but lots of bad things happened that day other than our loss to the pigs.

I'm going to do my best to catch you up rather quickly, so here's the story in a nutshell.  On game day, during the first rain delay, my mother-in-law started yelling for us to get out of the house because our propane tank and fence were on fire.  Yep, on FIRE!  So, of course in a huge panicked rush, we all ran outside barefoot.  I had Gigi in one arm and my cell phone in the other.  After calling 911 and EVERY fire dept within a 20 mile radius, we watched as our fence and storage building went up in flames.  I've never seen such big flames, and honestly, I was scared to death.  I just knew that our house was going to be gone, but somehow, I remained somewhat calm.  I sat on the sidewalk shoeless at our neighbor's house and just prayed that God would protect my family and my house too (if it was His will).  Sure enough, miraculously, my house didn't burn and the fire was stopped literally as it reached my roof.  Of course, our privacy fence and the storage building and all of the contents are gone, but our house survived, and we couldn't be any more thankful!  We lost a lot, but we could've lost so much more.  The only things I'm really gonna miss are my custom-built dollhouse that Mom and Dad gave me on my 5th Christmas, all of Manning's baby clothes and memorabilia, and of course, my gorgeous Christmas decorations.  The rest, we can live without.  They are just "things," after all.

With that being said, we do have a little trouble sleeping at night.  I've installed fire detectors all over our house, and I now have a phobia of fires.  But, I do know that God protected us and our home for a reason, and that I don't need to worry.  He will take care of us.  Some nights, I just can't help but pray 'til I fall asleep for God to watch over my sweet baby boy and protect him all the time. 

As I mentioned earlier, ALL of my Christmas decor is gone... and if you know me very well, you know how much I love Christmas.  If you don't know me, here's a short recap.  I love anything and everything Christmas, seriously.  My tree goes up the day after Halloween every year, if not before....  With this being Manning's second Christmas, but the first one that he'll actually be able to take part in, of course I had to continue with my tradition.  No fire is going to dampen my Christmas spirit and take away from all of our traditions.  So, Manning and I have been shopping up a storm trying to replace everything.  After 5 shopping trips and a lot of time spent online, I have finally finished.  I bought lots of beautiful ornaments like these...

And got a gorgeous new tree skirt...

And, of course, I lined the stockings up in Pier 1 to make sure I liked them before I purchased them...

When my packages arrive, my Christmas decor will be complete and all will be right with the world.  :o)  Enjoy the pics of our shopping adventures....

We bought a sock-monkey @ Wolfchase in Memphis...

Mommy's lil' elf :)

Shopping is a tough job!

Of course, we stopped for dinner after one of our many trips...

Now, my backyard is a different story... it looks like a junkyard.  I can't wait for the insurance adjustor to give us the go-ahead so we can get all of our burned memories off of our lawn.  Until next time, have you decorated for Christmas yet?  Why wait?! Stay tuned for some photos of my finished tree. 

Do you smell that HOG stench?

Praise in the Park



Fun in the park with Ella

Well, first and foremost, let me say Happy 11 months to my Manning today!  In one short month, my little baby boy is going to be a 1-year-old.... WOW!!!  I so can't believe it.  I am having a blast though planning his first birthday party.  It's going to be such a fun day!! :o) 

Fun in the leaves

For all of you Ole Miss fans, the HOG stench is getting pretty strong in our little town... We woke up yesterday morning to find a surprise on our lawn.  Cody went to the door to leave for work, and I heard "Marci, you might want to come to the door."  We found our Colonel Reb statue had been "hogged"... See for yourself...

Later, when Mamaw Joyce showed up.  She informed me that not only our Colonel had been tampered with... Turns out, Mom's and Melissa's got a new look as well.

Mom's Statue

Melissa's Statue

As for the neighborhood pranks, I'll post more about this after this weekend.  As you all know by now, I'm a pretty humble Ole Miss fan.  I know our faults and know that we have the tendency to make major mistakes.  But, oh how I'd love to WIN this weekend!  This is the most important game to me of the whole season because I'm surrounded by so many HOGS and have to listen to the jokes year-round.  As fun as it may be to have this ongoing SEC rivalry, a win would just make this football season spectacular for me.  So, Rebels, Masoli, and my boy Melvin Harris, don't let me down, ok?!  HOTTY TODDY!  Go Rebels! 

You probably noticed that I haven't mentioned our mascot change.  I purposely don't want to elaborate on it.  Colonel Reb will always be the Moore family's mascot.  Here's a picture to explain how I feel about those black bears.....

Wrap it up, Wednesday!

Well, I'm going to call today's post 'Wrap it up, Wednesday' because I realized that there are many random things that I haven't blogged about.  So here it goes...

First of all, meet Rosie!  She's a lab that someone dropped off at the office a couple of months ago.  Dad's workers named her, and she is the sweetest little ol' thing!  Seriously, she's one of the most kind, friendly dogs I've ever seen.  I love her so much that I tried to take her home with me.  After a few nights of hearing her cry, I brought her back to the office.  She just loves it here, so she's now our Girdley Flying Service/Girdley Brothers Farm dog.  Look at her sweet face.....

We also celebrated Cody's birthday recently. Here are a couple of pics of his birthday dinner (obviously before we started our Jamaica diets)...

Yummy

                                                

Birthday cookies for Cody... thanks to Marci Crocker ;o)

I made them in the shape of footballs, helmets, jerseys, and megaphones b/c Cody loves him some football!

This past Friday night, Cody and I lucked up and got FREE fifth row tickets to the Hank Williams, Jr. concert.  He called me and told me the news at work, so we got so excited about having a date and such a fun concert to go to.  After work, we got ready and headed on our way....  Now, before I continue with the story, please know that I'm one of the most accident-prone, awkward people in the world.  In true Marci fashion, I started itching and my neck started semi-closing up on our way to the concert.  I just tried to tough it out and not even tell Cody until we made our way into Mississippi.   Then, I started getting worse...  I seriously couldn't breathe and had no idea why.  After popping a few Benadryls, we headed to the Desoto Baptist emergency room.  After sitting there for a while, the Benadryls started working and I could breathe again, so we left.  I was bound and determined to enjoy this date, so we went to the concert and actually got to see all of Hank Williams, Jr.  We just missed the 3 opening acts.  Oh well....just another day in the life of Marci. ;o)  We did have a great time, though, minus the ER visit.  Turns out, I'm allergic to Burt's Bees chapstick... I learned this the following day when I put the same chapstick on and had another allergic reaction. 

Hank Williams, Jr. Concert

My little man is almost 11 months old now and learning so many new things each and every day.  In the past week, he's learned to clap his hands, make a clicking noise with his tongue, and he's almost running now.  He's walking EVERYWHERE!  My little boy is almost 1!!!  I so can't believe it............

@ Denso's Family Picnic/Cody's Work Picnic

Love his cute lil' teeth

Tons of photoshoots....

Boo!



Ready for Halloween...

You'd think I thought of myself as a photographer by seeing how many photos I've taken lately... but I am just a picture person.  I feel that you can NEVER have too many pictures.  

I wish I were in the land of cotton.......

Cotton Photo Shoot, 2010

Sorry I haven't posted in a while for those of you who really like to keep up!  We've just been pretty busy.  Between Ole Miss football games on Saturdays, harvest, Burch's football games on Thursdays, planning for Manning's first bday party, and all of the photo shoots in between, I haven't had a whole lot of extra time.

Since I blogged last, Daddy has had back surgery and is on the mend.  Thankfully, he's feeling much better.  He just called me randomly one night and asked me to come to the air strip to help him.  He was in the floor and couldn't get up.  This event ended with him being escorted to the hospital in an ambulance and having surgery the next morning.  He's much better now, though, thank the Lord!



Picking out our pumpkins @ the pumpkin patch

Work is great... We are about 2 days away from being completely finished with our harvest.  I've been spending a lot of time driving Daddy's truck from field to field and doing what little bit I can to help.  I've really learned a lot about farming, and I LOVE it.  Not my personality at all, but it's kinda fun to get dirty every once in a while!! :o)

Ok, I'll stop boring you with all of this and get onto to what you all probably want to hear about and that is Manning!  He's 10.5 months old now and learning new things every day.  Here are the latest stats on my little man...

*weighs 26 pounds

*size 4 diaper

*loves table food now

*waves bye bye all the time

*walks ALL over the place

*claps his hands

*has 7 teeth

*can say "bye bye" "mama" "dada" "nana" "rah rah rah (cheering)" "ball" "bath" "hey"

*love love loves the outdoors and getting dirty... and loves to climb on anything and everything



A real photographer actually did these...



Until next time....

Grab your camera and do some photo shoots of your own!  They're so much fun! :o)



Mommy's little pumpkin



Happy Fall, y'all!

This past weekend, we were very busy, but very happy and entertained!  I love getting to experience things all over again through the eyes of my son.  It's so much fun seeing him have a good time and to sit and think about the way he perceives different places and experiences.  It makes me appreciate simple things...like how beautiful fair lights are!

Friday night, Cody and I enjoyed Manning's first trip to the fair.  He loved seeing the lights and all of the people.  The hubs and I had a blast, too.  We rode the carousel and the train over and over.  Who knew kiddie rides could be so fun?!

Saturday, we got ready for Manning's next "first" experience...his first Ole Miss football game.  We were a little nervous that he wouldn't like it and were prepared to leave whenever he decided it was time.  After a rocky start and a few terrified cries when he heard the opening hotty toddy, he got accustomed to the noise within about 15 minutes.  Before long, he was bouncing up and down, and waving a pom pom.  I was so proud! :o) 

While at the game, I also noticed something else... people are so nice to you when you have a baby. I made all kinds of friends because they wanted to talk to Manning...and of course, everyone LOVED his name.  Wonder why?!  ;o)  Once when I took him to the restroom for a diaper change, a girl grabbed my arm and said "Oh my gosh... the cutest baby EVERRRRR!"  She said it with that much expression, and that Delta Gamma sorority girl made my night!  

Happy Fall, y'all!  I am so loving this cool, fall weather.  I can't wait to decorate the outside of our house for Halloween.  The inside has been decorated for weeks now.  I love to get a jumpstart.  I feel like I get to enjoy the holiday more if I start early.  Enjoy the pics!  Have you decorated yet?  Why wait?

My spooky fireplace

Happy Halloween!!