Girl's Christmas lunch

Saturday, we had our annual Girls (plus Banks) Christmas lunch at Primos. We had such a great time telling each other news of what's been going on in each of our lives the past 2 weeks (since our last lunch). These girls are the best. God has truly blessed me with these friendships, and I am forever grateful for what the girls have meant to me over the years. We had LOTS of presents that pretty much covered our whole table. Amelia made friends with some of the waiters by waving at them with her Miss America wave. Thanks girls for all the presents and fun. We love you!!

Christmas decorations

Don't you love those crazy green walls? I painted the room just for Christmas....just kidding, but it does make the house look festive during the holidays (and all year long). We love our Belhaven home! It's so much fun to decorate at Christmas.

Amelia turns 1

Valerie's little girl, Amelia, turned 1 several weeks ago. We went to her birthday party at Val and Glen's new home. She wore the cutest little tutu that Val made for her. She was precious!

Val made her cakes too!

Amelia greets Banks Banks is wondering where all the pink came from!

where is Aunt Carol Anne?? Amelia's cute tights!

yard work

I must give a shout out to my sweet husband. Yesterday after church, he went outside and didn't come back until late in the afternoon. We love our cute house and neighborhood, but our trees can cause many problems when it comes to this time of year. We have 2 huge Sycamore trees in our front and back yard and their big leaves cover almost every inch of our yard, deck, porch, flower bed, shrubs, etc.. We have a creek to the right of our house with a fence that lines it. So when there is a good wind, every leaf in the neighborhood blows to our house and gets stuck on the fence. It's amazing how many leaves there are. Our gutter guards that were on when I bought the house weren't in the best condition. Most have blown off during storms. So Rob bought new gutter guards and spent the afternoon cleaning out the gutters and installing new guards. After that he started raking leaves, so I came out to help. We didn't even get to the backyard...It's like swimming in kudzo back there. We are hoping some young kid who wants some "easy" cash will come knocking on our door so we can give him that great responsibility. After Rob finished the gutters and raked the front yard leaves, he cut back our "out-of-control" shrubs. The house looks so much better. The only problem we are running into is all the leaves in the flower bed. Back in the Spring, we put down mulch (recycled rubber tires). We got it for free from one of Rob's co-workers so it really worked out great for us financially. It also looked SO good!! The problem though, that we didn't realize then, is that the leaves are covering the mulch and there are so many that it will take forever to get through it all where you can see the mulch again. I don't want to rake them, b/c the mulch will go with it. So, I got down on my hands and knees and picked up as many leaves as I could by hand. Maybe that's just something that little old ladies who have a green thumb enjoy doing, but I don't. I gave up and Rob and I went inside. Other than that, it was a very productive day!

New Orleans

This past weekend, we went to New Orleans for our "3rd annual" Saints game weekend. Our friends Todd and Tate are big Saints fans and we have had so much fun getting together with them each year. We were kind of worried, because going into the game this year, Todd had a 0-9 record watching the Saints. We were hoping this would be his year....and it was!! The Saints beat the Falcons 29-25. I was excited to get to see my fellow Ole Miss alum Deuce McAllister play, however, he was only in for one play. It looks like Deuce's pro-football days are numbered. He has had two knee surgeries and it's amazing that he is still playing. Todd told me that the average "life" of a running back in the pros in 2 years. So, I guess Deuce is extraordinary in that he has played for 8. Here are a few pics from our weekend.

dancing in the street! these guys were really good!We went to the aquarium on Saturday. I got to pet some sting rays! I almost dropped my purse in the water, so we didn't take any pictures of that.Todd, Emily, Shane, Tate, Rob tall, taller, tallestReggie Bush and his autograph

Drew Brees
Todd and Emily

DEUCE!!

well look who it is!! It's Coach O

Todd's losing streak is OVER!!

The Egg Bowl!!!

Ole Miss 45 - MS State 0

my favorite player, Michael Oherwe have great seats!

this is MS State's band dancing to "Thriller"

after the game!!

mom holding some COTTON!!

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving was so much fun as usual for my family. We always find a way to have a good time. Rob and I drove up that morning and we had Thanksgiving lunch at Me-Mama's. This year was the first time in many years that all three Caulfield children were at home at the same time. It was nice but went by way too fast. There weren't as many faces around the table this year and they were greatly missed. After lunch, Rob, Barry, my dad, and I went to feed the cows...actually, daddy did and we just watched. We go out to the farm as much as we can when we are in Water Valley. It's just so peaceful and brings me back to the "small town" kinda life....now that I'm a city girl and all!! That night, we watched the movie Ratatouille. It was really cute! Then we played Cranium...girls against boys. The girls were victorious!

My family!

me with my sweet grandmothers

Daddy fattening up the new bull!

Daddy showing us his "new" tractor
Rob posing with the cows.

girls in deep thought...

guys in deep thought...

not quite sure what Rob is doing??

This is what Barry sculpted out of clay...it was suppose to be a radio!

celebrating our victory!!