Details! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

We are down to 3 months and 6 days till the wedding.  The more we get done, the more we remember needs to be done.  Our list seems to grow by the minute.  But tonight we had dinner with Randy's parents and grandparents and talked about the wedding planning.  Earlier today I received a text message from my friend, Maria, who lives in our neighborhood, volunteering to help with whatever we need her for....even offering her house for a shower!  I am so blessed to have her as a friend!  I was so touched!  She has great taste so we are looking forward to her input on our decorating stuff.

After getting home from dinner, I watched the end of the butt kicking Alabama gave Notre Dame!  Gotta love the SEC!  I am not an Alabama fan and I especially don't care for Nick Saban but I am glad they are in the SEC and brought home another win for us!!  Now comes the 8 month drought of no college football.  :-(

The wedding dress is in the house!

Yesterday Brittanie, her maid of honor, Elizabeth, and I went to Atlanta and picked up Brittanie's wedding dress from the Alfred Angelo store.  The store manager is absolutely wonderful and made the entire experience, from picking out the dress last time to picking up the dress yesterday, absolutely wonderful.  Brittanie also had the added surprise of finding out that she had dropped a dress size since we ordered the dress.  Since she is still working out with her personal trainer, we are going to wait till the last possible minute before we head back to Atlanta to meet with the seamstress to have the dress altered.  In the meantime, the dress is home with us.  I see it hanging in my closet and can't help but wonder where the time has gone.  Seems like only yesterday I was picking out an outfit to bring her home from the hospital when she was born.  Now her wedding dress is in my closet.  It is definitely a bittersweet feeling!

After leaving Alfred Angelo, we had lunch at Pappadeaux's in Norcross, GA.  Other than the deer carcasses on the wall, we loved it!  The food was the closest to authentic Cajun food that I have ever had outside of Louisiana!  The service was great as well.  Brittanie and I are looking forward to going back the next time we are in Atlanta!  Below is a picture of a link of boudin we had.  It was delicious!! 

This afternoon, my awesome godson, Jonathan, his beautiful and equally awesome wife, Jessica, came over with their two daughters.  We don't see them nearly enough.  We had such a good time catching up and making plans for Easter.   They had some left over fireworks from New Year's eve in their car so we finished them off in our front yard.  It was cold out there but it was worth it.  After the fireworks, we were inside talking when Katie asked if the girls could ride the new scooter she got for Christmas.  She was told no.  She asked me if she could show them her scooter.  I said yes.  When Jonathan and Jessica started to leave, we realized the girls weren't here....and the scooter was gone.  It was 9pm and three girls ages 7, 9, and 10 were gone!  Needless to say, we were worried.  Randy jumped in his car and ran around the neighborhood to find them but they came around the corner heading home before Randy could find them.  Katie was riding the scooter and the girls were running beside her.  Their explanation?  Jonathan said they couldn't ride the scooter.....so they weren't riding the scooter!  They were running beside it.  hahaha  (As parents, if you aren't absolutely specific, your kids will always pull that!  LOL)  Katie's excuse was one of those things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmm!  She said "Mom said I could show them my scooter."  Yes.  I did tell her she could show them the scooter.  I didn't mean show them how you ride it.  I meant "See!  There is my scooter."  But again, I wasn't specific and the result was her riding around our neighborhood after 9pm!  So after they left, I sat down and was very specific.  I told her unless dad or I specifically say "Yes Katie, you may ride your scooter after dark, you are NEVER to ride that scooter after dark.  And if we ever give you permission to do it, it will be a permission for that time only.....not a forever permission.  You will ALWAYS have to ask and don't be surprised if you ALWAYS get a NO!"  Kids!  They keep you on your toes!  

Happy 2013!!!

I'm back!  Katie has been reading my old blog posts and really enjoying reading stories about things she didn't remember because she was so young.  She has asked that I start blogging again, so I promised her I would start again in 2013.

We have been a very busy family.  Between school and wedding planning, the holidays were kind of a blur!  Brittanie and Randy will be getting married in just 3 1/2 months!  We are trying to tie up any loose ends while Brittanie is out of school on Christmas break.  I am really excited that my family and friends from Louisiana and Mississippi will be coming here for the wedding!  For anyone interested in updates on the wedding, check out their wedding website:  Brittanie & Randy's wedding website

Tom is getting all of his visa stuff done in preparation for his trip to St. Petersburg, Russia at the end of January.  I hate to be away from him for a whole week but I am very excited that he is able to go to Russia!  He received his invitation letter from the Russian consulate yesterday.  That was really cool.  It was neat seeing Tom's name in Russian!

We started this year off with a Gamecock win over Michigan in the Outback Bowl!  Jadaveon Clowney is so fun to watch!  We are really going to miss him when he graduates!!  Now that the game is over, we are going to be taking down all of our Christmas decorations.   Katie goes back to school tomorrow so it is time to get things back to normal and settle back into our routine.

Hope all of my readers have a very happy 2013!!!