Oh Toodles!

Just in case you don’t know who or what Toodles is, it’s a gadget from one of Mackenzie’s favorite shows Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Toodles is the gadget that holds tools needed to help Mickey and his friends solve problems that arise on their adventures.

So, tonight as we put Mackenzie down for bed, she was protesting on why it wasn’t bedtime. She just didn’t want to go to bed, but being good parents, Ron and I told she had to because “we said so”. LOL. She finally quieted down after a few minutes and we were sitting in the living room enjoying the peace and quiet when we hear her sweet little voice going “Oh Toodles”. Apparently she thought that by calling for Toodles it would have a tool to help her get out of bed.

Family Photo

Since all three of us were dressed up for Mark and Lisa's wedding we decide to have someone (Joell) snap a photo of us. Ron, Mackenzie and I

Ron and I on his bike.

Mackenzie in her dress.

Valentine's Day and a Wedding

So… Saturday was Valentine’s Day. It was also Mark and Lisa’s wedding day. Lisa was a beautiful bride. I am glad Mark has found someone as wonderful as Lisa. I am happy for them both.

Mr. & Mrs. Mark and Lisa Phipps

We spent most of the day getting ready for the wedding. I had a hair appointment, and Ron had to be at the church at noon for photos and the wedding was at two. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was lots of fun. After the reception, we came home with the plans of going out since we were all dressed up but our beautiful little girl fell asleep on the way home.

Mackenzie asleep in the car.

So I laid my tired danced out little girl down for the night and my wonderful husband drove to Millington to get Chili’s take out. We had a candlelit dinner in our pajamas.

Our take-out.

It was the perfect end to a wonderful day.

Painting

I have been telling Ron for months how much I have missed drawing and painting and how I wish I had time to devote to it. Well yesterday I painted a portrait of Mackenzie. It's the first portrait I have done since taking an oil painting class in the spring of 2004. I normally start a painting and end up painting over it several times and then just forgetting about it because I can't seem to get it the way I want. So I was completely surprised when I actually finished it and actually liked it. I even signed my name. Ron told me when we were dating and I was attending Memphis College of Art that if I signed my name it was finished and I could NOT paint over it. (there is a great story behind the painting in his office that I would LOVE to paint over but I can't because I signed my name to it.) So here is a photograph of the painting of Mackenzie. (Acrylic on Canvas - 8X10)

Here's the original photograph I used.

Drawing Fun

Kenzie and I had a blast yesterday. We did outline drawings then colored them. At first Kenzie was a bit nervous about laying on the paper but once I started tracing her, it tickled too much for her not to enjoy it. She laughed so much that Ron adventured out of his office to see what was going on.

Shopping for Dresses

Yesterday, Joell (my sister-in-law) and I went shopping for dresses to wear the Mark and Lisa’s wedding. I already had a dress but wasn’t sure if I really liked it. It’s was a kid free day. We spent the day at the mall. We had a blast trying on the craziest dresses and of course we took photos. So I hope you guys enjoy the photos has much as we enjoyed taking them. Thanks Joell for an amazing afternoon.

January recap.

We brought in 2009 with The Bells at their annual New Year’s Eve Party. The Girls trying to take a cute photo.

Ron and I

Grandma (Trudy - Ron’s mom) came to visit and Kenzie decided that Grandma needed to learn to play Guitar Hero or in Kenzie language “ROCK Grandma ROCK!”

Trudy and Mackenzie rocking.

James Paul (my cousin) received a TN driver’s license, and it didn’t even come out of a Cracker Jack box.

James Paul and his truck. Photo taken in the October.

Ryan (my nephew) wrecked David’s car, thankfully the only thing hurt was the car.

David's Mustang.

Ron celebrated one year with J2, he has been working from home a year and we haven’t killed each other yet.

Trudy had her 21st birthday (again). It’s kind of funny that her children are older than her.

I convinced my Aunt Trish to join Curves with me. We meet 3 days a week and so far so good. I want to drop 2 sizes. I hope to blog more about this later.

We attended Mark and Lisa’s Bridal shower. They are such a cute couple. I am truly happy for both of them. They are getting married this weekend, on Valentine's Day.

Ron attended the AC/DC concert at the FedEx Forum. He had a great time with his brother and friends. He came home and he could barely speak.

And let’s not forget the SNOW. Kenzie was so excited about the snow, she wanted to build a snowman but the snow wasn’t wet enough to pack together to make one. So her and her father threw snowballs at me.

My Poor Laptop

So I am a bad blogger. I haven’t posted anything in over a month. A lots been going on and I have had tons of things to write about, I just don’t seem to find enough time in the day to blog. I am going to try to do better.

Last week my wonderful daughter, accidently hit her head on my laptop, it didn’t phase her but my poor laptop was a different story. The impact of her head hitting the computer messed up the hard drive; to make it worse I had 4 months of photos it. I could care less about my word docs, or any of my Photoshop designs, but my photos…AHH. It's my fault because I should have back them up (like I know to do), but it’s one of those life lessons, I guess. The good news is there is HOPE. My wonderful hubby found a place in Illinois that does data recovery. So Friday afternoon I packed my broken hard drive and sent it to them in hopes that they can recover some of the photos. Here is the website if you want to check it out http://www.aerodr.com/default.asp. So with the broken hard drive on its way to IL, Ron installed a new hard drive in my laptop, thankfully there was no damage to the motherboard. He is such a wonderful hubby. So this is just a friendly reminder to BACK UP your photos.