The Blog is ALIVE

Merry Christmas 2011
If I had sent cards, this would have been the picture!

After three years, I want to bring this blog back to life.  it made me smile as I scrolled through and looked at all the pictures and read the post.  Back when I started the blog I was a stay at home mom with a son in sixth grade and twin daughters in fourth!  Today, Nathan is in 9th grade at the High School (15) and the girls are in 7th grade in middle school (12 about to be 13).
I went back to grad school and got my Masters and I am currently teaching 2nd grade for the second year in a row.  I found so many things on the web that I wanted to use at school  so I started a 2nd grade blog to house all of the resources.  I do not post regularly on there, but enjoy putting things on there for school use.
FORTUNATELY, God has been good over the past several years and we have not had any MAJOR drama.  Therefor Drama Mama has been silent.  I am going to make a goal of posting at least four times a month so I can have the diary for the children.
My current goal is to go back and capture the highlights from the past three years!  Since I am so annal organized with my photos, this should not be that hard!
Happy Reading!

Christmas 2011

Christmas Eve with the Smith's and Mama Donna!

Mama Donna Handed out the $2 bills that Mama Lou sent from Charlotte!

Skip Captain America and I

SPIDER MAN and Umble Chris Showing off their moves.

Catherine, Abby, Maddie, Baylee and Riley
waiting to open their gifts!

Cory got his very own iPad!
Except it was not the right thing...the darn thing had wings.

What a beautiful time of the year!  We went to the 4:00 PM candlelit service at the church.  We took up an entire pew.  Afterwards we ate dinner and opened presents.  I tried to cook a HUGE roast, but I overcooked it.  Everyone said it was good, but I was disappointed.  The children made homemade pizzas and had Christmas tree shaped jello.  I also made green beans like Mama Sene used to make and Tabbouleh.  It was great!

Christmas at The Patton's

Every year we go over the Patton's the Saturday before Christmas.  It works for the family since everyone has extended family and we also go to Cheryl's on Christmas day.  This year Uncle Jerry came without Aunt Martha.  She is now in a nursing home.  Jerry has been ill this year and was not able to drive, so they sent someone up to get him.

David and his new girlfriend, Lauren were there as well as Rebecca Cramer, Jerry's granddaughter.  We gathered, ate and opened presents.  Then we ate some more... and some more....

Jean, Catherine, Nathan, Maddie, Caroline.
Wade, Andy, Luke and Ann Thomas.
Bo and Mike in the middle.

40th Birthday Celebration

Chris will tell you that this is the birthday that would never end.  It started at Thanksgiving and lasted until his birthday on December 20th.


He gave me a trip to JAMAICA in January!  We are going  MLK weekend!  I cannot wait!  I have lost 20 pounds since last December and cannot wait to get on the beach!
I also got a Gypsy for my Cricut!  I LUV this machine!  He gave me the Cricut two years ago for my classroom and I adore it!  It can do amazing things!  The Gypsy is a huge score!!

At school they had decorated the classroom!  I had to take the day before my birthday off to take the girls to the orthodontist and then shopping!  Therefore they had the whole day to get ready- it was great!
I have to explain that I teach with two 26 year-olds.  I am an old maid in their eyes.  They said, "Happy Grandparent's Day" on the board... no comment.

My "Fabulous Five" Friends took me to Callaway Gardens to see the lights, out to dinner - TWICE and we went ice skating!  That was hilariously funny and so much fun!  We left at 3:00pm and returned at 11:00 PM!  It was so much fun shopping together!  They helped me pick out a pair of SIZE 6 Skinny Jeans!  Oh What BIG fun!

A Fodel Thanksgiving

We went to Charlotte to Aunt DiDi's for Thanksgiving.  The girls had a basketball game on Saturday at 2Pm and were not able to go, so Chris stayed home to take them.  Nathan and I picked up Mama Donna and went to Charlotte.  We went for the party and came back!  

It was so good

to see everyone.  All of the GIRL cousins vowed to get together this summer.  Janet's in-laws have a place at Myrtle Beach so maybe it will work this summer.

Aunt Dianne was diagnosed with cancer this summer.  Heather and Mom went to visit her and she did not look good.  They had started her on new meds and she was doing great over Thanksgiving.  She said she would crash for several days after that.  :(  I love that lady.  She is a fighter and I know she can beat it!  I love you Aunt Didi!

Patton Pumpkin Patch

 Every year Mike and Jean host a fall party!  We roast hot dogs and marshmallows and the children paint pumpkins.  This started when the girls were two or three years old.  That was the first time I had ever carved a pumpkin.  This year they painted the pumpkins!

 This is a favorite Patton Tradition!!!  Thanks Grandpa Mike and Grandma Jean!

GNMS Cross Country - 7th Grade

Cross Country for the girls was such a pleasant surprise.  They said they wanted to run because all of their friends were running.  We agreed and it actually worked out great.  The bus would drive them to Granger everyday except Friday and they would practice until 5:30.  This was great since Nathan's football practice was until 5:45.  I could work late at school or run errands and then pick everyone up!

 
 The second meet was the LaGrange invitational at First Tee.

 The girls BLEW US AWAY!  Now up until this point all we had seen was them running at practice, and half the time we spotted them they were walking.  They had traveled near Athens for their first meet and Maddie placed 62nd and Catherine 90th.  These did not sound like numbers to brag about.
    At First Tee, Catherine got 2nd and Maddie got 3rd.  We were ecstatic!!!!  We were so proud of them.  honestly we did not think they had that in them!

We went to Carrolton for a meet.
We went to Chic-fil-a afterwards and then
shopping for Halloween costumes.

For the rest of the season they continued to place at every meet!!!  They are amazing runners with those long legs!  (oops, I used an adjective to describe their body parts...)

Fall Soccer 2011

Maddie, Jeremy and Catherine

The girls played Rec Ball in the U15 league.  It was the full field this season with 15 man teams.  They had a great time and their team won the division. 

LHS Freshman Football - Go Grangers

 Nathan started going to workouts over the summer for the freshman football team - Go Grangers.

He has always played soccer so this was his first year on a football team.  They were not sure what position he would play until the season was about to begin.  A friend of his, Gus was not able to kick due to an injury so Nathan proudly took his place.  He was able to start EVERY game!  

 It was great watching him!
He loved every minute of it.

I am one proud mama!!!

Summer Vacation to Chicago Part Two

We had a full week of activities planned.

We went to Navy Pier and walked around; ate lunch at Bubba Gumps; iMax movie; Ferris Wheel.

The children and I went to LegoLand and saw some amazing things!  

It was crazy what they built out of legos - Skyline of Chicago, Batman, Obama...

One of our favorite events was attending a Cubs game at Wriggly Field.

It was H O T at 12 noon!!!

We drove back to Georgia through Tennessee and stayed in Nashville.

It was a FAMILY VACATION!

Summer Vacation to Chicago Part One

 Chris had a business trip to Chicago and we decided to make a family trip out of it.

We took a van off the lot and drove and drove!  

First stop St. Louis.  We stayed on the Cincinnati Riverfront and visited the Creation Museum.

We learned about dinosaurs - they were wiped out by the Great Flood (Noah and the Ark).

Catherine and Maddie (12); Nathan (14)

 We got up close and personal with a S N A K E!  

No, I did not touch it.  Chris got to see how terrified I really am of snakes.