he's definitely got gamble genes.

people say collin looks like me- and he does. but what i've been saying all along is that he REALLY looks like my brother alan.
my aunt sandy posted this on facebook today. i give you exhibit A people. that's a strong gene pool we're pulling from!

high school

oh, high school. you couldn't help but love it, or hate it :) for the most part, i loved it. when i think about high school i mostly think about being on the danceline. we were such fabulous girls! on friday nights there were no stars who shown brighter than us- with our silver pom poms flashing and gold hooplas swooshing. we had the high kicks, the stunts, big matching rhinestone earrings and HAIR. boy we knew how to work the hair.

top pic: danceline banquet, senior year, me and my dearies. i had some pretty friends for sure. and my mom made that suit- i couldn't wear clothes like a normal girl because i was a muscle wrapped around a bone, so my mom made all my stuff. she was awesome like that. plus nobody had the same outfit i did.

bottom pic: before a game, sophomore year. our costumes changed every year, this one had been the standard for like four years until we got a new sponsor and she changed it all up. those white boots sure did look great all kicking in unison. i loved the contagion we did where we kicked and then the person next to us caught our leg and then we fell like dominoes into a split (all 25 of us in a straiiiiggght line). did i say we were fabulous?

pic 1: i was always the stunt girl. not quite sure why it took five girls to hold me up, but we moved in a circle and around the field for this little stunt. this one was taken at dance camp. at camp we dressed exactly alike. we had the same earrings, hairbows and shoes. we took it very seriously, and usually, we won in our competitions. we had style.

pic 2: me with my new plum colored honda civic. i loved that car, i got it senior year. my bff's teal pontiac was behind mine. y'all just take a gander at those cut-offs i'm sporting, cause you'll be seeing them a lot in this here post.

the hair! the first picture is me in junior high, or maybe freshman? and the second i think is the danceline my sophomore year after the christmas parade. we could rock the hair even with santa hats! we also had red pom poms to be festive :) see what i mean about matching to the "T"?


first pic, homecoming senior or junior year.. not quite sure.

second pic: after the ballgames on friday nights me and my two bffs... sometimes three bffs would head to my house to spend the night. we'd watch the video my dad took of our performance, check to see if we made the sports reel on the ten o'clock news and then finally crash. i had a daybed with a trundle, and we'd push the trundle up against the bed and lie long ways, sometimes four across. and yes, that's my bathroom we were in- if you look closely you can see my andre agassi calendar, and elvis poster over the toilet (because he was the king, get it?) and even closer my friend's caboodle. or maybe it was mine? either way we were big time hair and makeup girls for sure. and i know this for sure too, i miss having my own bathroom (and my caboodle)!

GLAMOUR SHOTS! i thought i was sooo cool back then. lord help me, if my grandmother doesn't take down the one with me in the hat that's in her hallway...

and the second pic was taken spring break my senior year. i think i loved those shorts because a secret crush of mine gave them to me. or maybe i borrowed them and never gave them back? #promiseiwasn'tastalker.

anyway, spring break is when my senior year started to kind of suck. i had a falling out with my two bffs over #1 a secret, and #2 a boy. the worst in high school drama for sure. in high school, you either have friends who love you no matter what or friends who love you no matter what until you cross them, and then they will make your life hell. those are the kind of friends i had. looking back though, i'm not sure i wouldn't have treated them the same way. we're friends on facebook now, so i guess all is forgiven :)

pic 1: i can't remember where we were going. or whether our hair was going with us. check the acid washed jeans! i loved those jeans, they were guess? with zippers on the sides- and you didn't have to tight roll them. (as if y'all can't figure out how old i am by looking at these pictures... yes, i tight rolled my jeans!)

pic 2: prom, junior year.

like i said, high school... you either loved it, or not. i'm just glad i survived it with fond memories is all i can say.

C's class


C and his sweet teacher, mrs. mistie

yep, still wearing the jacket!




finally, enjoying a snack

butter (makes my heart melt like!)

found this old picture of cdawg when he was just a bitty. makes me sad to look at it seeing as how he'll be FOUR stinkin' years old the week after next. i was a little sad last year when he turned 3, but 4, i just can't hardly stand it.

no matter how big he gets, he'll still be my baby.

** and just so y'all know, it's taken thirty minutes to upload this one photo!! it's worth it, but SERIOUSLY.

yummy

i was watching some of the videos i have on the blog with little cman and i noticed how he's grown SO much in the past year. he was just yummy in those videos- so stinkin' cute and little. i love that he's getting big, but i miss my little guy too. even though i'm with him 24/7 it still goes by way too fast. here's a little flashback from july of last year- sniff.

those were the days....

THIS precious little baby informed me this morning that he "wike (like) my Daddy to give me a kiss, not Mama."
And then, "I don't want to wear dat gween shirt Mama, I want to wear dose two shirts". Whatever that means. He wore the green shirt.
"I NOT tee tee in da potty. I tee tee in dat diaper." "NO, I don wanna get my cwothes on. I wanna jus wear dees bwitches."
And then, "NO MAMA, don put my shoes on. I put my shoes on. And I put my socks on tooo".
But the clencher was, "I don hafta hold youwr hand in da pawkin' lot. I can jus do it myself. I wanna go see Mrs. Betsy (his teacher)".

When did this come about? No kisses or hand holding? I can handle the "ME DO IT", but no lovin? Well, I can tell you one thing. Naptime is coming my friends and I will be sneakin' me some kisses and lovin'.
Of course, fickle as the little man is, tomorrow he will cry for me to put his shoes on and not like Daddy kisses and want me to hold him all day.
Which will be okay by me!

**UPDATED TO ADD: took the booger to lunch with me and my dear friend Robin after his MMO today. Not only did he get a spanking because he hit me (oh yes!) and was spitting (gross!) on the seat behind him- BUT he colored on my face with a marker. Yep. You know how it feels, not sure whether to beat him or laugh at him or both. We just did the beating thing today :) I'm sure the laughter will come when he wakes up!!

**UPDATED TO ADD: so i didn't really beat him. y'all know that, right?

just for fun

So I saw this on another blog and just thought it was fun (apparently I have way too much time on my hands today... desperately need a nap, but I'll explain more on that in a minute)

ANYWAY, here's what you do:
You go to your picture folder, open the fourth folder, and then choose the fourth picture, post it, and then explain why it's significant.

And this is what you get my friends.... my two sweet mens. This is Cdawg in August '06 wearing my very favorite Paty gown that our counselor at school gave him. LOVED that little gown. He was such a beautiful baby... and such a Daddy's boy even then.

So now I must tell you that that darling little baby screamed and cried and threw the mother of all temper tantrums at Wal-Mart this afternoon. I abandoned my buggy and half held/drug the child out as quickly as I could. I got lots of (unexpected!) sympathetic looks from people as we were leaving. I think they were being nice because I was leaving and was NOT standing in the check-out line or continuing to shop while he was screaming AT. THE. TOP. OF. HIS. LUNGS. We've been having this problem lots lately- at the library, park, etc. When I say it's time to go/do something different- it's time to run around away from mommy and act all oblivious like you don't hear her. YEAH. Time to regulate my friends. So my solution is to leave that fun movie on the counter at the library we were gonna check out and immediately go straight to the car. I thought 2 or 3 times of this would be enough to get my point across- last time he was traumatized and cried himself to sleep on the way home. Apparently he has more of my genes than I thought and is just PLAIN HARD-HEADED. So that leads me to playing on the computer- Cdawg is still crying in his room, Mama is doing her time out on the computer. I think I'm having more fun, y'all. But not by much.

AnyHOO- now, I tag Carey, Allison, Valerie, and Danielle B.
If you've never been tagged you have to post 4th folder, 4th picture, explain and then tag 4 more friends. QUICKLY cause I'm impatient.

AND if I didn't tag you but you want to do this CONSIDER yourself tagged.
Not sure WHY I'm so big on ALL caps today- must be something to do with all the LOUD screaming I endured earlier.

Halloween Flashback

ARRGH! Blogger frustrates me. These should be reversed- meaning bottom on top. But oh well. It's getting late and I'm just not all about fixing it.
The top picture is Pirate Polk October of '07. Costume made by who else but Meme! My favorite part is the earring :)

October 2006 and Cdawg is, YES, BIG AL. My Mom is a genius! She made this too. You can't see it but BIG AL is embroidered on the costume. So cute.

So,

I'm not normally one who's talkin' a bunch of smack. I'm fanatical, but I'm ok with you being crazy about your team too. If you think your team's better, then I'm okay with that- I won't argue.
BUT, you gotta admit, that's one cute baby.
Yeah, my husband puts up with a LOT out of me :)

this pic was taken a year ago! look how much he's grown!

you see there's this boy. i'm crazy about him. he calls me "mama"

because i am a photo slacker this month....

here's an old school (11 months) picture of the adorableness that i'm blessed to live with everyday.

Just bein' all nostalgic again....

I know, what is up with the baby pics? I miss my baby being a baby.
Here's me, Cman, and my nephew John Hayes on his birthday- which is coming up this weekend. He and Caleb are 4 months apart. Check my cutie in his lil' gangsta hat. AND, do you see my sis-in-law all knocked out in the background? They had given her some meds that made her all loopy. I'm sure she'll love this picture.

Just a cute baby pic before you read the following posts....

Missing those baby days.... a little bit

I've been going through old photos a lot lately- I guess I just can't believe how much my little baby has turned into such a big boy. Here's a photo of Cdawg taken November 2006 in my parent's backyard. I could just eat that sweet thing up!

the eyes have it....

I found this first picture, and of course decided to take a walk
down memory lane. These were taken in June, July, and August 2006.

Happy Birthday Caleb!!

Two years ago today I woke up feeling great. 6 weeks of bedrest had ended, my doctor said I could get around and do little things. No more shots, no more pills every 4 hours to keep my labor at bay. Well, "little things" just weren't going to get it. I was determined to get my house into order. I was determined to get my house spic and span for all the guests I knew we'd have when the baby arrived. I had four more weeks to get it all done. At 9:30 am I bent over to pick up some laundry and felt a pop. My water had broken and Caleb was on his way. I remember telling God all the time, "This is my Isaac. I give him to you. You love him more than me. Take care of him". For a worrier, this totally got me through. We called all the friends and family and they gathered outside my hospital room waiting expectantly. And waited. At 11:05pm Cman made it into this world. He was small, 5 lbs. 10 ozs. and 18 1/2". Not very many loud cries, but absolutely perfect. And then, honestly, I feel like my real life began.
I love you little man!