It's Christmas!

December 25, 2010 I didn't take any pictures on Christmas! I know, you all can't believe it but I just forgot! I got up Christmas morning and baked a Cherry Pie for Lonnie & Francie and then cut fabric for the rag blankets I am making. Brandon finally got up at 1:00 pm and watched TV..... lazy bones! It was nice to just have nothing to do for a Saturday morning! We went over to Lonnie & Francie's house (Brandon's dad and step mom) and had an excellent meal with them and visited for awhile. I really enjoy being with them.... they are so fun! When then stopped by Marty & Stan's house (Brandon's mom and her boyfriend) and helped her fix Christmas dinner. She is having a total knee replacement Thursday and can't get around very well so I warmed everything up so she could sit down and relax. We had a good time and ready to tackle the New Year!

A white Christmas!

December 24, 2010 I am so glad it snowed! I don't like the cold very well but I do love the snow! Everything is so pretty and each branch on the trees is outlined and it's simply beautiful! We were open at work today but with the snow we couldn't get the vans out because if we wrecked them we couldn't replace them or fix them in a days wage so it was a quite day around the shop! I did bake 2 Cherry Pies, 2 Chocolate Pies and 2 Pumpkin Pies for family. I also made a batch of homemade old fashioned fudge for Uncle Terry.... it turned out perfect! We had Christmas dinner with the Spry family (a tradition we did with Grandma Ruby where everyone went to her house on Christmas Eve) and went to Uncle Terry & Aunt Debbie's house. We didn't get there until 4:00 pm but we still had a good time. Many good laughs and we even made snow ice-cream! Yum!

Our entrance to Midway Electric, Inc.

Well I got another hair-brained idea to re-pot my plants that are in the front entrance. I have a pony-tail palm plant (center) that I love! It was outgrowing it's original planter and needed room to grow so I stopped by Westlake's and found a couple of really nice pots. I also had 3 benches that my dad made and wanted to do something fun with them and this is what I came up with.... it's totally me.... different and country! The big plant on the left was a gift from one of our parts houses when Grandma Ruby died and it was only half as big (it's been a year and 3 months) so we got a big ol' pot for it too. I have a few more plants to re-pot and need to get some more potting soil to finish but it's a work in progress. (no worries....my OCD won't let me walk away until this project is finished) These are just some of my random acts of craftiness!

Kinly's 1st Birthday!

December 22, 2010 marked the 1st birthday for Kinly. It's hard to believe that a year ago we were waiting patiently for her to arrive and yesterday was her birthday! Where does time go? She recently started walking and it's so cute to watch her go after something she wants much faster now. She was a little cranky for her birthday party. It was last night around 6:00 pm and there were lots of people there.... really messes with a baby girls schedule during the week. Overall she did really good and got lots of cute gifts. It's so fun to see how much she is changing over this past year. She's got so much personality!

Bailey Girl

Bailey is our beagle/Heinz 57 mix dog that we got as a puppy. One of mom and dads friends, Keith House, was working in Fulton, MO and this little puppy was on the side of the road. He was afraid she would get hit so he placed her in someone's fenced in yard. She whined for him to come back and he couldn't take it so he took her home with him. I happened to be at their house and I told him I would take her. That's been 9 years ago and she is the best dog ever! We taught her to go get the newspaper at the end of our driveway and she just couldn't wait for Brandon to let her out to go get it. She was so small and the newspaper was so big but she was so happy. She loves to be around us and Brandon takes her for a quick ride in the truck each morning. She looks forward to the mornings for sure! I have taught her to "smile" when we get home and it's so cute because she will show her teeth and wag her whole butt in excitement.

She also loves to play ball. We have taught her how to "toss" the ball to us. She is so cute and can't wait for us to get home and play. She is such a good dog and I can't imagine not having her! She loves to mess with Max and Mattie but as they are getting older they can't keep up with her...... She watches over them and I ask her to go get Max (aka: bubby) or Mattie (aka: sissy) and she will go find them and make them come into whatever room we are in. She's like the momma.  :) 

My niece Olivia!

This is my beautiful niece, Olivia McKee! She had a recital last night at Gentry Middle School and plays the clarinet. Aunt Shell wasn't able to be in two places at once and when I showed up she was done. I felt horrible but I was able to see her! Her mother, Misty and I have been best friends since 1992. I love the McKee family as they all treat me like family! Aunt Shell loves you Olivia Paige! :) 

"My Favorite Things" :)

Last night at the Women's Network "My Favorite Things" party I won 2 gifts! I won a Bacardi Rum Cake made by Jan Grossman, a past President of Women's Network. We cut into it this morning for breakfast and I am pretty sure I could get a DWI from one piece! Holy mother of Bacardi!!! Wow! Jan, you are a wild woman! I also won a $25.00 gift card to Bennigan's! It was a great time and I love visiting with everyone! Great job Women's Network and everyone involved in the planning of this great party! Hope this tradition keeps going!

CTO Ornament Exchange.....

Yesterday we had an ornament exchange with a committee that I co-chaired from 2008-2010 (Changing The Odds) and it was so fun! We had 17 people there and each person brought an ornament wrapped. It was the traditional game of the first person gets an ornament and opens it. Person number 2 can steal the first person's or take a new one.... you know the drill. Well the best part (besides being together and having a wonderful breakfast) was I got my first ornament stolen and picked a new one. Little did I know when I took this ornament out of the bag it "appeared" to be a Santa coming out of the chimney.... as I am holding it up for everyone to see I get a glimpse of the front of this Santa.... I know the look on my face was priceless and I never knew Santa was so good looking! Ha! It was eventually taken from me as others really liked him too! It was a great time with an amazing committee..... thanks for the memories girls! :)

My Favorite Things...

Women's Network is gearing up for their "My Favorite Things" holiday party on December 9, 2010 and I have taken my things to them! This year I created 3 give away items that all have some of my favorite things. The box/basket above is probably my favorite of all.... It's old stuff that came from my personal collection and I debated on giving it up but I want someone else to enjoy these things like I do! Interested in attending? It's tomorrow night at the Stephens College Kimball Ballroom from 5:30 - 8:30 pm. Lot's of networking and catching up with friends, great food and drinks and you get a chance to win someone's favorite things! Hope to see you there!

Country Humor for my friends...

So this is more of an inside joke for my Columbia Leadership guys more so than anyone else. Everyone who knows me knows I am a "What you see is what you get" kind of girl. There's not a lot of frill but there is a lot of bull! I think this all started when our class of 30 people were together and I was hot (temperature) so I said  "I'm hotter than a burnt biscuit!" and ever since then started the Midway-ism's..... I was in Barnes & Noble picking up a cookbook and just happened to walk past these cute calendars. I found one for my momma and then right there in a shining kind of light there was the perfect gift for Tom Trabue, Lindsay Young-Lopez, Shelly Devore, Barb King and Sarah Dubbert! A calendar full of Michele-isms! I was happier than a bear in hibernation! :)

What Would Wonder Woman Do?

What a nice surprise to open the mail Monday December 6, 2010 to find this in it! My good friend, Heather Stewart (aka: DJ Sparkle), loves Wonder Woman! I try to find random things that she doesn't have in her collection and she found this for me.... I love it! This book reminds me of how special she is in my life and I will always wonder.... What Would Wonder Woman Do? Thanks Heather!

The Magic Tree

I love the magic tree this year! This marked the 16th year that the magic tree has been around and this year it's location had changed to the Village of Cherry Hill! I love all the colors and how the gentleman that does this is able to get each branch covered in lights! We went over Sunday December 4, 2010 to try and get a picture..... It was cold and my camera just couldn't get the beautiful colors as some nicer cameras can.... oh well, I love this picture!

Winter Card Contest Assembly

December 3, 2010 Today was the Awards Assembly for the Winter Card Contest at Midway Heights Elementary School. The Partners In Education (us and D&H Drugstore) created this contest for all current students of Midway Heights to participate and enter their favortie winter scene. The grand prize winner would recieve their picture on our holiday cards that were sent to our customers!

 

This is the winning picture for all of Kindergarten! 

 

This is the winning picture for all of 1st Grade!

 

This is the winning picture for all of 2nd Grade!

 

This is the winning picture for all of 3rd Grade!

 

This is the winning picture for all of 4th Grade!

 

This was the winning picture for all of 5th Grade AND our Grand Prize Winner! 

What a wonderful time we had being a part of this and all winners (pictures above) got to eat pizza with the Partners In Education as well as received an art kit to keep up with their drawings!