Confessions

I sort of stole this idea from another blog but only cause it is a great idea. We so often on our blogs gab about how great life is and how awesome our kids are but thought I'd take a minute to be honest and confess some of my less then ideal attributes as of lately:

1) I don't work out- Why? I hate it. It hurts. I don't want to spend any part of my day in pain. I know I should do it for my health but I don't! Maybe one day I'll be insane and think it is a good idea, but that day isn't today.

2) I didn't wrap a single Christmas gift this year. Nope, every gift from the Rowell house was in a gift bag with white tissue paper that I stuffed in the bag right before the get together. I mean I am just not crafty in this area. Why spend hours making a present super cute only to have it ripped apart?

3) I hardly cook anymore. I have about 7-8 meals in my repertoire that I constantly rotate. Mostly it is tacos, meat/fish and veggies, or the occasional turkey burger. Cope has been very forgiving in this department. I love to cook but just don't much these days. With a sewing job that has be using up my creative juices I don't have any leftover at the end of the day to whip up miracles in the kitchen. I do plan to get back there one day.

4) I don't read. I don't want to take the time or brain power to do so. I would rather veg out in front of the TV and let my brain be mush during down time. Again, this is an area I hope to pursue later in life but not right now. I think I have read like 2 books in the past 5 years. Where do you people find the time?

5) I am not Mom of the year. I let that title slip from my resume so long ago I can't even remember when I let it get away. I love Ramsey. He knows that. I would give my life for his but on a daily basis I am not perfect as a mother. I find humor in my mistakes. I mean just this morning I got him to school 30 minutes late and forgot his backpack and snack. Smooth Move! So instead of beating myself up we just ran into the gas station and got apple juice and cheeze its. Problem solved. I want Ramsey to see I am not perfect and every issue has a solution. I also let him eat waayyy to much junk. He just loves sugar and sometimes instead of going head to head with him about it I just give in. I mean he plays me like a fiddle. I am not as strong willed as my kid. Shoot!

6) I don't keep my house all that clean. I have a house keeper and I am a work from home Mom. You would think I could find the time but nope, don't want to. I would rather work harder to pay someone else to do it. Just being honest. Also, during the day the inside of my house looks like a bomb exploded. Dishes are in the sink, toys are everywhere and I usually forget to make my bed. I mean my Mom raised me better. But when Cope calls to tell me he is on his way home from work I usually run around like mad woman picking up the whole house (not that Cope really cares) but when he walks through the door I want him to think I have it all together. He knows better but it a fun little dance I like to do each day.

So there are about a million more confessions from this stay at home mom but I won't give away all my secrets in one day.

Christmas 2011

We had just had the best Christmas this year. We went to my Mom and Morgans for our annual Christmas eve celebration. We always exchange our gifts and celebrate with them on Christmas eve. We have a snack supper with delicious foods. This year some of my favorites were Morgan's saucy wings, my buffalo chicken nachos, stuffed mushrooms made by mom and Paige brought hot Brie with preserves. There was also shrimp, veggies, cheeses and Champagne. Holla! It was super yummy!
We had 1,000 piece puzzle if the UGA stadium that we could work on, Ramsey had a game of Dominos going and we also played our favorite family game of Greedy, which is a dice game. There was also "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and the "Elf" movies playing in the background.
We opened presents which is always fun especially with a little boy who totally gets excited over gifts at this age. I got a new Coach purse and beautiful coat from Express. Cope got a hunting trip to Burnt Pines Plantation, and Ramsey got Legos and star wars galore along with a fire station play house.

Ramsey helping Nama make the meringue for the baked Alaska dessert:
The next morning after we had a little family time out our own house we headed to Church for the 11:00 service.
Cope and Ramsey at Church: After that we drove on to Cope's parents house in Bowdon. We got there and had a good lunch of soups and snacks. It was so good to see everyone and especially Cope's sister Julie and her family. Ramsey L-O-V-E-S his cousins Mattie and Caroline. They live in North Carolina right now so we haven't seen them since summer. They didn't miss a beat and were instant best buddies right away.

After lunch and some play time it was on to presents!!! Ramsey got Legos of course, a Tractor supply play set, a Lego Digital camera, and lots more goodies. I got a dirt devil, gift cards, coffee, a 31 purse, and more and Cope got bike stuff, gift cards, and more. Everyone is always so generous and we appreciate it so much.

After we played with our new loot and cleaned up it was time to set up for a big extended family party. One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the annual ornament exchange. There are some funny ornaments and the stealing can get pretty intense. We ended up with an Epcot and a cute crab ornament. We also had tons of snack type foods. Yummy!

After the party I gave Ramsey a bath and then it was upstairs to the kids room for he and the girls to settle in to bed. This was about 9:30. The had so much fun talking and talking and telling jokes that they didn't fall asleep until like 11:00pm. Oh well, he was so happy to be with his girls!

Thanks everyone for wonderful 2011 Christmas!

Odd n Ends

The week before Christmas Ramsey and I took an afternoon to go to Cope's work and see his new office and go out to lunch together. Here a few pictures I snapped of Ramsey at Cope's office. He was so happy to be at his Dad's work:

Decorating Daddy's white board:One of the place we can find Ramsey these days...Studying Lego and/or Star Wars:He was able to get this huge lego set (the Lego Police Station) with some of his birthday return money. Cope and I tag teamed putting it together. Ramsey is in L-O-V-E!

Christmas Celebration at Megan and Toms

Last Friday we went to Lawrenceville to celebrate Christmas with my Dad and Donna and Megan (Donna's daughter) and Tom (Megan's husband). Again, I could call them my step-sister and step-brother-in-law but they are more like friends and since we didn't grow up together I prefer to think of them as good quality friends who we always enjoy spending time with. Megan and Tom hosted at the fabulous house in Lawrenceville. We had a wonderful dinner that made by Tom. He's a great cook! The night was super fun and it is always just relaxing and easy to be around them.

Megan, Tom, and Harper the Bulldog: Megan, Paige (my sister), and Me:

Dad and Donna:

Dad and Ramsey. Dad had back surgery 2 weeks earlier (the second back surgery in 3 years) so he couldn't pick Ramsey up but still made him laugh:Donna, Dad, and Ramsey:Ramsey's Lego helicopter from Dad and Donna. He was stoked!:

Little Boy Christmas Exchange

Ramsey had a great group of little boy friends, some from pre-school and some from church. All of us mommies are good friends too so each Christmas we get the little boys together to exchange old toys they don't play with anymore. There are actually about 8 little boys in our group but we had to reschedule the original date (since I offered to host) due to Ramsey having pink eye and an ear infection. Unfortunately some of the little boys couldn't make it but we still had a blast.

Colin, Ramsey, Ty, and Kobey:

Opening a Thomas DVD:

Posing for the mommies:

Such sweet boys:

Christmas Morning

We had an awesome Christmas here at the Rowell house. Santa was certainly good to our little guy. Here is the plate Ramsey made to leave out for Santa. Guess he thinks Santa likes sugar?:

Santa Loot. Can you tell there was a lego theme this year?:

View from stairs:
We finally woke Ramsey up at 6:45 because Cope and I were so excited to see his reaction. He usually gets up by 6:30 but darn if he wasn't snoozing Christmas morning:

Checking out the goods:

Brunch with Akins

Last Saturday morning we had our annual Christmas celebration with Mom and Morgan and all their kids and grand kids. My sister, Paige hosted at her apartment which was super fun and each year it gets a little more WILD as the kids get bigger and more are added. I sort of love the chaos and the Christmas magic kiddos bring to the party. Here are Ramsey and Connor being big buddies:

Sweet Sophia (she's going to be a big sister in march!): Some of us at Paige's dining table:

Paige explaining the White Elephant swap rules:
Our whole crew with Will as a cardboard cut-out. He is in the navy and out at sea until Feb.:

So happy to see Cindy and hate that Will wasn't there but was in spirit:

The kiddos with Uncle Will:

Ramsey and Connor playing Star Wars:

Me and my hubby. Love him so much!: