Look what I just did!!!

Ok I never cease to amaze myself! After looking at several sites to update my blog background I finally picked one that I like! The only problem was that my header that I made from a kit that I downloaded didn't match. I got to thinking that these people make their blog backgrounds from scrapbook paper and I have tons of scrapbook paper laying around here. I picked a few that matched my blog and used my Paint.net program to make my header. I know it isn't as complex as some I've seen but it's a start who knows I may be getting myself into a new little job here LOL! I will definitely have more to come and as soon as I learn how to make the backgrounds you better believe I'll be making my own.

Mississippi Christmas...and Mississippi Ghosts too!!!

Merry Christmas!!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful one...I know we have. We had a typical Mississippi Christmas this year...WET! It rained so hard Christmas Eve that I thought we might have a floating Christmas, but by bed time it had slacked off. We enjoyed our usual traditions. Pop, Grammy, and D'nana came over for dinner. This year we had a roast and I was able to make a pumpkin pie complete with egg less meringue that Bryce could eat. After our tummies settled we opened gifts. Pop got his usual house shoes, gift cards, and hickory farms cheese. I painted canvases for Grammy and D'nana and also got some hand towels for them from a friend of mine. I you'd like to see her stuff go to http://www.ordesigns.blogspot.com/ . Eric got two poker instructional books one by Gus Hansen (which happens to be his nickname at work) and the other by Barry Greenstein. There should be no reason why he should ever loose another poker tournament LOL! I got a scrapbook rolling case (I had gotten one of these earlier in the week, but all my stuff didn't fit, so I'm glad I got another one), shoes and jewelery. The last present I opened was from Eric and the boys. Now Eric normally wraps gifts in the walmart bag, but this time it was too big for a bag, so he wrapped it in my favorite blanket! Bryce made the gift tag which will forever be a keepsake and added the bow...here's the pic. It was Guitar Hero World Tour! I know it sounds silly for a grown woman to love such a game but it is sooooo fun! Bryce got some really good stuff too. D'nana got him just what he wanted...a spy gear remote control thingy, and Pop got him his first BB gun. It was almost like Ralphie and his red rider on the Christmas Story. He was pointing that gun every which way. I'm glad the store was out of BB's or someone would have ended up with their "eye shot out"!

This morning we woke to find that Bryce's gift from D'nana was possessed!! Before everyone else got up, me D'nana, and Pop were visiting and all of a sudden this remote controlled ATV starts moving! The remote control was cut off, the ATV was cut off, there was no good explanation as to how this thing was moving, but it was going for a joyride in my living room! It kinda looked like one of those roomba vacuum cleaners. It's a shame it didn't have a built in vacuum :( .

In all the commotion of the haunted ATV, we also noticed that Santa had indeed visited. Bryce opened his gifts and loved them all...Thanks Santa for doing such a great job!

Tyler never gets to spend Christmas morning with us, so he opened his gifts this evening when he got here. He really enjoyed all his gifts. We later decided to play Guitar Hero and dad gum if the guitar wasn't working...so Eric and I took it back to Walmart and I will be making a final decision on my gift later.

Christmas is Upon us

Well, it's that time again. Shopping, eating and spending time with family. It's one of my favorite times of the year. I love giving to other people...the getting is nice too. The food seems to always be better at Christmas than any other time of the year, and you get to make up for lost time with the ones you love. Today we had the Cantrell Christmas at Grandmother's. This shindig was always at our house until we moved to Tupelo. This year we had it at Grandmother's and I was a bit worried about being able to have plenty of room. She lives in a small apartment, and our family has gotten bigger in the past year. Dalton (my nephew) and Tyler are both over 6 ft tall now, Nicholett (my niece) is taller than me...of course that's not saying much, and Bryce is growing by leaps and bounds, and we've had a new addition in the 4th generation...Miss Keona Leigh! Things were much quieter this year than in the past. Dalton, Tyler, and Nicholett are teenagers now and they aren't running around and playing like in the past, they are joining in on the adult conversation, and Bryce thinks he's just as old as they are. Cody and Kelly surprised us by coming and bringing Keona. She was born 5 weeks premature and we didn't think they would get her out today. I made a Krispy Kreme cheesecake and thought it was pretty good, but Eric said it tasted like crap, so I don't guess I'll share the recipe tonight. It was kinda hard on Bryce today to be around all the food that he loves and normally would have pigged out on. This year since his EGE I knew he wouldn't be able to eat much, so I made him a meatloaf and an orange cake. He was also able to eat the ham too, but he still had a small break down when we first got there. It was kinda sad to watch him but at one time during the night he was sitting at the table with a bowl full of chocolate candy playing with it. The poor baby couldn't eat it so he just made the most and used it as action figures. Well I do have to go back to work tomorrow and Tuesday then I am off until the 2nd of Jan. I have a few pics to post and I will post back after the big S.C. comes to visit.
Keona really liked her cousin Eric!


She looks just like her daddy

She liked looking at Viki when she talked to her.

The Girls...Jada, Keona, Kelly, Me, Ginger, Nicholett, Grandmother, and Viki.

The Guys...Dalton, Heath, Bryce, Cody, Eric, and Tyler.

Dalton, Tyler and Bryce


My niece Nicholett.

Little Blessings

Bryce was sick again this morning. It really worried me since he should have already been over the stomach virus. All I could think was that he was allergic to something he's been getting and his stomach was not healing. I took the morning off so I could take him to see Dr. Nabors. She said his color looked great! He doesn't still have the stomach virus he is just still a little queezy and not quite ready to hit the hard foods. She went ahead and checked his hemoglobin...it was 12.9!!!!! His hemoglobin was 7 just 4 weeks ago. He only has to take the iron 1 time a day instead of 3 now but he still has to stay on the restricted diet for at least the next 6 months then we will go back to see Dr. Blaisse. We go for another checkup to Dr. Nabors in 6 weeks and maybe he can stop taking the iron all together. Thank you friends and family for praying so hard for my baby boy to be healed. Our next big prayer request is that if it's God's will the EGE will be taken from Bryce's body and he can start to live a perfectly normal life. I finished two more paintings today and am posting them. I'm thinking about starting a blog for my paintings so that I can keep personal and business seperate. (at least I hope it can be a business for me soon!)

Unplanned 4 day weekend.

I had a very unexpected and somewhat unwanted 4 day weekend. I was off work Thursday and had a very productive day: went to walmart, made meatloaf, chicken dumplings, and a roast and also made homemade wheat bread for Bryce. On top of that I was able to wash all the laundry and get everything dried and put away before picking up Bryce from school. I was on a roll! I had our Christmas cards done at walmart this year and their one hour photo machine was broken, so me and Bryce went to pick up the cards after school. He told me his stomach was hurting, but I made him go with me in the store. We got in the car and all of a sudden he started gagging. He couldn't get the car door open so I had a huge mess in my floor board. He does have that disease and I just thought he may have had something that he shouldn't have so I started questioning him. We got home and I thought he was just fine and then all of a sudden the diarrhea started. OH NO it was the stomach virus! I opted to stay home with him Friday to keep my dad from getting sick and to keep from bringing the virus in to work so Frank wouldn't take it to Will...that's the last thing they need. Well Friday night me and Eric were practically fighting over the bathroom. We both thought we were gonna die! If Bryce felt as bad as we did he did a good job of hiding it! We are still recuperating. Can't get up too fast or do a whole lot of work at one time, but I have managed to get the whole house lysoled so I think we are ready for company now. Friday before the virus hit me I was able to get some more work done. Here are a few pics.

To make short of it...

Ok, in a nutshell here's what's been going on...

We had a feast at church and Bryce's friend Aleigha came with us. (I swear I think she's my future daughter in law)

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner, Ham Breast (inside joke), corn casserole, chicken dumplings and stuffing and a spice cake.

Hit the mall Saturday and it was so peaceful and calm to be the holiday season.

Went back to work...first week on my new job position...I work in the clinic again and Katie has taken the records coordinator position...less stress for me!

Painting Christmas presents cuz money's tight this year.

Put up Christmas Tree and strung lights outside. The tree looks great, but apparently my outdoor plug isn't working, so the lights outside don't look so good! LOL

Here are some pics of some of what I've been doing. I will post more as I get them finished.
Ok, so this one is not my original idea, I copied it from another blog I saw.

This is one of Tyler's Christmas surprises.

This is my Aunt Donna's door hanger. I've had it made for months and just haven't gotten around to putting the ribbon on it.

This one is for Bryce's teacher. I thought it would be cute either for her classroom door or for her home.