We're Off

This break could not have come soon enough. Seriously, being a teacher has some perks, but getting two weeks off from Christmas is one of the tops. I am trying to get everything together before we venture home for the holidays. I cleaned our house last night only to wake up and find that two crazy elves (named Ryan and Darby) have completely trashed it again. So, back to the drawing board. I have gifts to buy, presents to wrap, bags to pack, and most excitedly...prepare all of Ryan's stuff for DISNEY WORLD.

I am not sure which countdown is more significant to Ryan, the one to Christmas, or the one to Disney World. I am pretty pumped too. I get to see my girlfriend Ashley and her husband Brian, who I have not seen since March and Ryan gets to see her best friend, MICKEY. Pictures will be on their way soon. Happy Holidays to all!

Grandbabies!

Oh my, too cute for words. Except that one of my children is in a fairy costume with rain boots, while the other one (who was already fighting a cold) is out there barefoot. Happy Holidays!!!

Procrastination....No More!

Webster defines procrastination as "Jennifer LeAnn Zarzour Ferguson." I never try to hide this. It is the way I have gotten through everything in my life. From studying for tests in high school in my car on the way to school, to writing my maid of honor toast the morning of my sister's wedding, to never having a bag packed for either child in my 39th week of pregnancy.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am on top of things and I am NEVER late to get something done, but it is very characteristic of me to wrap it up at the last minute.
Well, I really do not know what has gotten into me this season, but getting things done early doesn't even describe it.

1. I have already made, ordered, and received our family's Christmas card (which is amazing).

2. I have already bought all of my Christmas presents, some of which are monogrammed.

3. I have about 1/3 of the house decorated and have contracted an illness named, "Cantstopabuying holidaystuff"

4. Went through all of Ryan's toys and got rid of the stuff that had lived it's time at our house to get ready for the goods I am sure are coming this way in the next month.

5. Since we went through all of Ryan's toys I told her we had to donate them to kids less fortunate, so we took them to the local thrift store. Well, a totally shocking thing happened when we walked in at 2:15. We were greeted with a balloon for every kid and a sign that said, "Come Visit Santa Clause from 2-5!" I mean taking the kids to see Santa before Thanksgiving- who am I???!!!!

It's funny how proud I am for getting all of these things done already, but I really hope it will help alleviate some of the stresses that comes along with the season and just help my family and me focus on what really matters this Christmas.

Trick or Treat

I always have big plans for Halloween. I have asked Ryan what she's wanted to be this year for about two months. Her quick reply was Dora. Well if my darling toddler is going to be Dora then my precious infant should be Boots. I was really proud of myself for at least establishing their outfits at least a month ahead of time. I just knew that I would get everything together in plenty of time.

Flash forward to three weeks later and it was time to go to a fall festival thingy. Well, mom had still not gotten any type of costume for her children. Fortunately, my sister got Ryan a Dora princess dress for her birthday last year and honestly, I think I have only gotten it out once, so I think Ryan forgot she had it. So...BAM brand new Halloween costume

Princess Dora
Well, then comes Darby. I just happened to have an old horse costume in our pile of costumes. So the horse costume then turned into Dora's noble steed.

I mean look at them, they look pretty good. I had a concept, the outfits, Ryan even let me put her hair in "princess braids"

Well, flash forward to last night, October 31st. Bill and I decide to pick up the girls at daycare together. He asks which one I want to get and I usually say Ryan, let's face it, it's a better greeting. So as I approached her door all I could hear was screaming...

Please don't let it be my child, Please don't let it be Ryan..please, please, please.

Freaking Crap...

Now the first thing that upset me was not the screaming child, but the fact that the screaming child was not wearing the freaking Halloween costume that I sent her to school in. AHHHHHHH!!!

Her costume was a mess, apparently her afternoon was a mess. No Nap, which is a whole other blog in itself. Spilled her pudding and drink on her dress, ripped a corner of it off. I mean just destroyed.

So I reacted calmly and cooly and said oh well.

Ha, yeah right! Do you guys know me. I was PISSED! I thought everyone is going to be so impressed that I pulled it off with Halloween, but no, no. They just had to have pudding as the snack for Halloween- oh and not make my child sleep. Pissed was not the word for it!

So we had to swing by Walgreens on the way home and the only thing left were devil ears, tail, and pitch fork. I have some serious issues with dressing any child as a devil, but I was at a dead end road. It was this or her pumpkin PJ's. I knew I could deck her out in red, I also knew that I had some cat ears at home and a Leopard dress for Darby.

So what once was Dora and Boots quickly transformed into...
The Dirt Devil and A Leopard

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

War Eagle

If you are an Auburn fan, you cannot wait until Saturday to roll around the corner. Especially for home games (especially last year when we were national champs...but moving on). Usually the excitement in town gears up around Thursday evening. That is when the campers start to pull in and you see way too many inflatable Aubies that cause my child to have a heart attack while driving through town because she cannot touch each and every one of them. You hear a random "WAR EAGLE" around 1:30 in the morning followed by a loud "bang". But you just snuggle back in bed and assure yourself that the "bang" was just a dream.

That's right, most people gear up around Thursday for the big game day. Well, not our child...

Our sweet babe Ryan Lily decided to come into our room on Tuesday morning (Monday night) at 2:19 and sing the fight song, half asleep, and then go back to bed. The best part about this whole story is Bill and I tried to sing along with her and found it totally normal at the time.

When we woke up the next morning we went about our day as usual, not a word was mentioned about the previous night, until I got a text from Bill around 2:30 saying, "Did Ryan sing the fight song in our bed last night?" I thought about it and remembered OH YEAH, she did. I think we all did actually.

Oh man, I swear we are not losing it yet, but I guess we dream about Auburn football all week long:)

I hope you all have a Happy Saturday!
WAR DAMN EAGLE!

Can't Stop

I cannot stop starring at these girls. They are so amazing!

Our Hero

Normally when I hear the cries of sweet Darbs at 12:30 AM I am mad, frustrated, tired... oh and yelling to Bill to go and get her while I snuggle back in with my covers (side note: If I haven't said it before, I am married to the most amazing man ever)! So, last night started out being same ol' same ol'.

Darby woke up around 12:30, which was a little odd b/c she's a great sleeper and hasn't been waking up lately.

I told Bill to go and get her (notice how I was nice enough to wake up to TELL Bill to get her). Once he got to her, she was really losing it. Normally we can just put her nookie back in and rock her back to sleep. Not last night, she was screaming out of control. I mean this child would not calm down, so I told him I would go downstairs to make her a bottle. This is a sure fire way that this child is gonna go back to sleep.

So I went downstairs to make her sleep concoction, and as I walked into the kitchen, I thought, "Man it is warm in here." I shuffled to the bottle rack and started to get her stuff together when I looked up and saw that the OVEN WAS STILL ON. Not just at a warming temp of 250, no no no. It was set at 410 (we had a late night BBQ chicken pizza).

The oven had been at this temp for at least 4 hours. I don't even want to think what could have happened if our Sleeping Beauty had not disturbed her slumber, but it surely would not have been a happy ending.

Yes, I started my journey downstairs agitated and sleepy; but I made that bottle with utter relief that our sweet girl decided to wake up and save us all! A true hero:)

Random Part II

I just had so much fun going through all of my old, random pictures. I felt like I needed one more post of randomness. I wish I had enough to do this weekly! I love walking down memory lane.

Too Sweet! I miss Radly...

The Perfect Picture. I remember telling my photographer as long as I get one picture of Bill and me at sunset I will be a happy camper. Thank goodness my photographer made me happy this day, because I was about to knock the DJ out if he played Mustang Sally one more time!
Look at her, I prob have 200 pictures of just Kate!

Photo Shoot from my girl, Kathryn. I couldn't wait until she grew out of those Michelin arms, now I miss them a little bit!
I am not sure what this is from, the smile is enough for me!

Still framed in my classroom. This picture drives Bill crazy, notice a flag missing? Yeah, so does my OCD, symmetrical husband!

Yes ladies and gentlemanm, that's right, I was Charlie the Challenger Eagle in 6th grade. I show this picture to my students every year just letting them know, things change! Honestly, I am just saving this picture for my Aubie tryouts!

Don't have a Halloween costume for your child? Just run by TJ Maxx on Halloween and text your wife a picture for approval! Hey, she still looked adorable going door to door.

Daddy and his one year old!

War Eagle!

Ryan & Jack at her first birthday! Kim told me the next day that she was pregnant with Joey- and Joey just turned 1!

SOLD! This was the night we closed on our first house we owned together at 1206 Douglas Street. I LOVED OUR HOUSE!

Some fundraiser gala event I got to attend. I felt so fancy!

The whole crew at Whispering Oaks

Playing in the Rain

It is very rare that I remember to bring my camera out for these fun family times, but for this one, I got em'. Ryan had so much fun rolling around in the puddles with her daddy. Bill is so awesome!

Ummm, yes please:0 Sorry baby, you are looking good! Swimming through the ocean...or laying on the road- it's all about imagination people!
Spinning in the rain.
I love this picture! Woman on a mission!

Come on daddy, I have the perfect place for you to throw that ol' bag of bones...

Perfect! (side not, do not feel bad for Jack, he loved every second of it!)

Bill throwing Ryan to do full flips in the air, definitely makes my heart skip a beat- but I'm just jealous I cannot be thrown that high.

Dummios loving all of the freedom. See, we still spoil them too!

Booger bean taking it all in. Also, Darby said mama twice on Sunday. Still trying to capture it on video, you can catch the attempts on facebook.

Here's to more rainy days!

Visitors

Last week we had some very special visitors stop in on their way to the beach. My mom, Barbar, and Grandma Shirley came into town and we had such a fabulous quick trip. They kept Darbs and Ryan at home last Friday and played all day. It really makes me tear up to know how amazing my family is with these two girls...

Barbar with her gals!

Ryan getting some love from GiGi
Those dang dogs would not leave Barbar's side. They love her! I will give the dogs a quick shout out, look how tolerant Kramer is...good (stupid) boy

She LOVES the camera. "Mom, take my pictures, I'm silly."
Look at those eyes, she looks so much like baby Ryan to me.

Grammy and her girls!

Thanks so much for the visit ladies. I love you all so much!

Random

I have this file in my pictures folder called "Random." Boy oh boy, is it ever. These are in absolutely no order whatsoever. I put up quite a few of my favorites, but man o man there were some good ones. Enjoy my randomness!

The day Bill and I got our first car together. I remember how proud we were of ourselves this day. Such a huge step as a young couple.

My Leopard team (coworkers for those of you who are not Drake savy) at the Aquarium last year. I love these guys.This was the famous Bridgestreet Outing 2 years ago. Boys, I think you know what I am talking about. Kim, I think you remember the drive home from this. Dang, I mean look at my hair, look at my waist and I used to think I was fat...stupid stupid stupid! I still have this one in a frame, even though we are missing Darby. I just cannot believe this was taken on a set timer. Too cute for words. Still my desktop wallpaper. I think this will always be my favorite pic of these 5! Two years ago, I think at Christmas time. Just perfectly random.

On our honeymoom in Playa Del Carmen. I miss my wedding dress body, I wonder if I will ever see it again.

Leaving to go on our honeymoon. When was my hair dyed so perfectly blond? Oh yeah, that was when my parents were still footing my hair care bill, thanks mom and dad:)!

And just think 2 short years later after this conversation she finally scored a goal in the correct goal, thatta girl Kate!Gigi and her precious grandbabies. I love how snuggly this picture makes me feel.
All of these pics with just me and Kate makes me a little sad I cannot spend so much time spoiling just her anymore! Side note, I was actually pregant with Ryan in this picture, but did not know it yet. I mean makes a tear come to my eye, look at that doll baby! Apparently short hair was in this year:) Flying baby! Look at that face! Oh and look at Kev's beard! No shave November! I remember this day so clearly. We all went out for a nice Sunday lunch, such a great memory! (note me and Bill's matching shoes, we are so cheesy!) These sweaters were my Christmas presents to my girls this year. I still wear mine, I am obsessed with it! I hope you guys still have yours. PS, has my butt always sat that high? I am just 27 right? My sweet baby Radly, oh yeah and Kramer! Ahhhh, young, teaching Jenny. There are so many things I want to tell you... This is sitting on Bill's desk at work. I love it, Sigmund Freud holding my U-7 soccer player card! This is all I used to have to do on Christmas morning. Man, they were really cheap and easy to please! I love this pic, Rad man and Kram are so excited. Tacky Christmas Sweater Party! Getting ready to head out for a night on the town. I think this was our Junior year of college. Family beach trip. We ventured to Panama City because dad remembered this great restaurant he ate at when he was a kid, turned out we could never find it, so we went to this place. Bill and Kev got oysters, which I think are disgusting, can you tell? Dad and I having dinner together in Melbourne, Australia. This trip will always be so special to me. I had such a great time just getting to know my pops a little bit better.
The family at the Mardi Gras Ball. I do not think I could squeeze my left thigh into this dress now, dang! I was working it. We all look so young!