best ever

best thanksgiving -- ever.
precious family time - it had been months and months!
yesterday was our first FREE-of-obligations saturday since the last weekend in JUNE.

i will not allow that to happen ever again.

here are a few highlights...

countless football games were played - and i do mean countless. here little man tackled daddy and was in the process of stripping the ball.

coach with silly smile peeling potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner.

this was our centerpiece at thanksgiving dinner. note: mommy didn't make the cut for what little man was thankful for this year...though "losing" did? find me ONE spartan thankful for losing.

i had a craving one morning...biscuit donuts! take a can of biscuits, deep fry 'em, cover them with powdered sugar or powdered sugar icing. just like ruthie use to make!

here was our tailgate saturday evening. grilled sirloin (amazing!), several cheeses, crackers, warm bread dipped in olive oil and parmesan.

we watched about 10 hours of football yesterday (no exaggeration).
just the 3 of us. loved every minute of it.

additional weekend highlights - got my Christmas up! i'd fix the picture below if i thought anyone was reading the blog. oh! and we saw the movie, blind side.

wow. go. see. it. now.

loved it. a real feel-good.

p.s. don't make fun the skinny tree.

an excerpt...

"If I'm convinced that God really loves me and has certain priorities for me that may take precedence at times, then I am "safe" to walk by faith. I am freed to know that my God is huge and my God is able and that if I don't get what I asked, if I'll cooperate, I'll get something bigger. I'm going to believe Him to do anything His Word says He can, then if He chooses not to, I don't have to assume...

> He doesn't like me.

> He doesn't answer by prayers like He does others'.

> He hardly knows I am alive.

> He can't do it.

> He's never willing to do it.

> I didn't have enough faith.

> I wavered for a split second.

> I have that sin in my past.

> I'm a failure.

> I've made a fool of myself.

Instead I get to know that a greater yes is in progress, and I can count on the bigger miracle.

Beloved, we are safe with God."

Believing God, Beth Moore, page 80-81

This paragraph caught and kept my eye when reading (and re-reading) my fav of all favs Believing God by BM. How many times have we thought one of those lies? Believed one of those lies? And, which lie seems to have the most power over you? Those are all lies from the enemy. We must BELIEVE GOD.

warning: completely frivious post

i'm not a land's end gal.

but then again i was not a j. crew girl until creative genius Jenna Lyons

stepped onto the scene and forever altered the face of j. crew.
oh, if you only knew the number of j. crack bags

i have discreetly snuck into this house without coach knowing none the better.
(none the better - you can take the girl out of the south but...)

recently, i read that land's end launched a new line called Canvas and

that it was worth checking out.

wow.

the collection is small but they have some great pieces and

the prices are very friendly.

here are a few of my favorites.

love everything about this...the trench, the cuffed jeans the scarf that pops

i would live in this piece!

whoever styled this photo NAILED it. love, love, love this look

p.s. now, i'm super excited.
when writing this little diddy i stumbled upon a site called
jcrewaholics.
it's been a long day, i think i'll indulge a little.

bowl bound, baby!

what a wonderful place to spend a fall morning...

i love this photo. so sophisticated. so european.

in looking at it, i wonder...what is that gorgeous woman thinking about? her parisian lover, perhaps? what i can certainly guarantee is that she's not thinking about the same things i was thinking about when i was looking out a coffee shop window this morning. (sorry that was horrible run on sentence...but work with me, i'm going somewhere with this.)

in my far away, a half-awake gawk (as opposed to her poised, relaxed, very sexy gaze), i was...

...wondering if i should start making my hair do that flippy thing. i gotta bad case of "old lady" hair right now.

...realizing i gotta call my girl jenna!

...knowing that i need to talk to little man about nose-picking without cracking up.

...hoping that last night's chips on little man's dinner plate qualified as a true side dish.

...anticipating wearing my new chucks!

stupid cleaners.

...wondering how those people that research bed bugs ever get a good night's sleep! you know those people exist -- they look at 'em under microscopes and actually study 'em. THEN, they go home and crawl between the sheets. seriously. how? (this random thought was precipitated by the initial thought: i need to strip the bed tonight).

...and, the number one thing i was thinking as i gawked out the coffee shop window in my less than poised, relaxed, very sexy gaze was...i wonder if we'll win this week? Lordy, we gotta win this week.

WHERE'S MY COFFEE?!

market totes

little man was home sick last week - ALL week. yes, a fever that would not go away. momma was scrambling trying to get him taken care of and finish up some projects at work. craaaazy.

however, i must share when i was home with him on day, i got a great deal of Christmas shopping done! oh, yes i did!

my goal for this holiday season was twofold 1.) to never do to myself what i did to myself last year thus goal #2.) to have my Christmas shopping done by halloween. well, that didn't happen....BUT, much of it is now done and my calendar says it's not quite mid-november.

here's a favorite find - i ordered several as christmas gifts!

i love these! a friend has one and i have coveted it for more than a year now. she uses it ALL the time! i found these (aren't they fancy?) at one of my favorite little southern on-line shops whitney caroline designs.

oh! and sorry, i must brag a tiny bit more...i even ordered my Christmas cards (via snapfish) and they arrived today!

exhale.

our first

our first parent teacher conference was last night. little man earned glowing remarks from his teachers. one teacher had this little tale to tell:

on the day before the michigan state/michigan game, it appears little man was out of the room for a few moments when the teacher asked the class who they thought would win the big game. the votes were close! the race too close to call.

enter little man.

when he was asked he said,"the SPARTANS will win for sure!"

"okay," said the teacher, "it looks like the spartans will win tomorrow."

here's where i get tickled.

about an hour later, when the kids were lining up to go to gym, little man cornered his teacher! he wanted the names of the kids who said michigan was going to win.

the teacher - perhaps scared for the kids (wink) - told little man that she simply could not remember! that didn't sit too well with him, but he did let it go.



here's that sweet baby on the first day of kindergarten.

perspective and pruning

football has me down. i haven't been feeling inspired or particularly chatty lately.

funny, the difference losing makes in our life. i started to draw the analogy that losing feels like a wet blanket covering everything in our life - for the week, sometimes week to week - but its much, much more subtle than that. it's more like an undercurrent - a strong undercurrent - that exists in our day-to-day living. saturday is never far from our mind. more specifically, hoping and wondering about saturday's outcome is never far from our mind. boy, oh boy, do saturdays matter.

make me ask the question: what would our life look like if each saturday didn't bring a host of emotions, pressure, stress (and - to be fair - a huge dose of excitement). really, what would it look like? would dw and i be doing yard work? running to the grocery store? taking in a movie with little man?

hmmm....

hmmm....

ya know, i just discovered i don't want to find out. just writing this has been therapeutic. in thinking this whole thing through, i realize i don't particularly like yard work, i despise the grocery store, we're really not movie people.

yes, i think i am...i'm feeling better. i'm even feeling grateful.

as our dear head coach's wife said to me on the sunday morning following our loss to notre dame, "one thing about it, leigh ann, we're living this thing!"

and, we are.

our lives are full of emotion, hope, faith, wins and losses that stretches us and pulls out of us strength, patience, confidence, poise and even perspective.

we may be experiencing a pruning season...ahhh...but think of the harvest to come!