THE ARRIVAL OF LAYNEE ANN HAMPTON

My sister Tiffany has been expecting her second little girl and called me Tuesday evening to inform me she was scheduled for induction on Wednesday morning. We had a nice visit and I really made me wish I could be there for the big day. We had been eagerly awaiting the phone call to let us know she was here and it came at 7:30pm Wednesday evening. Little Miss Laynee Ann Hampton was born at 7:05pm. She weighed 8lbs and was 20inches long with tons of dark hair. Welcome to the family sweet little girl!!

LAYNEE ANN HAMPTON

Here is Vayda proudly displaying her "Big Sister" shirt.

My gorgeous sister Tiffany and her newest daughter, Laynee Ann. Look at all of that dark hair on that baby girl.

The first family photo of Tiffany's beautiful family. Vayda looks so excited in this photo.

CONGRATULATIONS RICHIE, TIFFANY AND VAYDA!!!

MORE PETS.....FIDDLER CRABS

The summer we moved down here the boys had been begging for a pet. They say Riley is great, but they want a pet they can take care of. We looked at gerbils, hamsters, fish and well, the list goes on and on. I had decided if we could find small turtles or small frogs then that would be ok. Well, last July Larry, Joe's dad, found a small land terrapin on his farm in Hoosier. Needless to say we brought it back to Alabama with us and it became our new pet. Soon after Larry found another for Jackson. I'll post photos of them soon. This brings me to today....a few weeks ago Bay's science class had the opportunity to adopt a millipede or fiddler crab. I had the chance to be there with him when he picked them out and we came home with a girl and a boy. The boy has a large claw and the girl has two small claws. So far they are great pets.

This is their home complete with a tree for climbing and a reservoir of salt water. The crabs are in the upper right corner of the photo.

It is much easier to see Bubba and Bubbles in this shot.

MUSCLE SHOALS CHRISTMAS PARADE

Last year we missed the Muscle Shoals Christmas Parade because we were in Huntsville for the Rocket City Marathon. This year we took the boys and watched the parade with our friends and neighbors, the Rudolphs. The weather was perfectly chilly!

Officially ushering in the Christmas season is Santa and Mrs.Claus. It was a beautiful float and very festive.

Bayley, Joe R. and Jackson waiting for the parade to start.

A GLIMPSE OF WINTER WEATHER

One day last week the weather surprised us and got a little chilly. The predicted possible snow was all over the weather forecasts for the day. It was a welcome familiar sight and sound. There was more ice than snow, so it was making "tinging" sounds. I took a photo of our neighbor's roof so that you could see just how much "accumulation" we got. HA! Luckily the roads were no where near slick since it was long gone and melted by the time to pick up the boys from school.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VAYDA AND ELLA!!

Not only do we have lots of girls in our family, but two of them share a birthday. November 30th saw Ella turn 1 year old and Vayda turn 3 years old. Tiffany had a birthday party for Vayda and we were able to stay for a while before leaving for Alabama. I love helping with parties so I was very excited to get to make the cupcakes and some of the food. It's nice to be able to be a part of my family's activities.

Ella Rose with her Daddy, Ryan, on her 1st birthday. That's adorable little Ava down in the lower left corner.

Vayda blowing out her birthday candles.

A sweet little princess sitting among all of her birthday gifts.

Tiffany and her oldest daughter Vayda at the party. Her second daughter is due anytime now. We think she will be named Lainee Anne....We'll see.

BEAUTIFUL THINGS

I didn't have very many photos from the Thanksgiving weekend, but I did snap a couple of cute shot of my nieces. The last photo was a welcome sight....cheap gas!! I seriously thought I would never see gas under $2 a gallon. Ok, so now I am talking about "old people stuff" like the price of gas and the weather. When you drive as far to visit family as we do, you pay attention to things like that. I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend full of food and family!

Maya Grace Ann 1 year old.

Little Miss Vayda Lee turned 3 this weekend. She looked so sweet and behaved so well while at Grandma's. She is really growing up and becoming quite a little lady.

Yeah, cheap gas!!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

A few years ago I made turkeys for the kids in Bayley's class so, of course I had to make them for Jackson while he is in the young grades. I saw the turkeys in a magazine and put my own spin on them. I like the colorful pretzel feathers and the chocolate eyes. They are super yummy! The body is made of coco krispies....gooey goodness! Jackson gave these to his class and some of Bay's friends right before the Thanksgiving break.