Bats and Princesses!

Ahhhh! One of my favorite times of the year! I love HALLOWEEN and seeing the little ones dressed up! We had soooooooooooo much fun tonight in Homewood with Michael, Kadie, Lily,  Natalie, Brad, Kemp, Big T, Aunt Cutie and ME, GranJan. We started off the night with a baked potatoe topped with chili and sour cream and cheese! YUM YUM! After getting some food in the tummy , we piled in 2 cars and drove a few blocks where we parked the car and walked to the street that they block off every year: HALLOWEEN ROW! I've never seen anything like it!! EVERY HOUSE is decorated TO THE MAX! One was even showing MOVIES on the front lawn!!!!!!!!!! HOARDS OF PEOPLE were everywhere!  It was like Disney World! HomeWORLD! HAHA! The kids loved it---at time a little scared by the "scary stuff" but then, at the end, both of them wanted to go inside "the graveyard" in front of one of the houses! HAHA! It was so much fun and of course, as luck would have it , my battery died before I could get all the pix I wanted! Oh well, I got plenty! Brad also got some good ones, too! We had a blast and it's hard to believe HALLOWEEN 2007 is now history!!!! SOOOOOOOO, I guess  now it's time for my THANKSGIVING MENU?!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO to YOU!

Sunday night we went to the RUMC carnival. I remember going when Katie was 5 years old and her winning the HALLOWEEN CONTEST as "The Little Mermaid"! That's been 17 years ago! Unbelievable! Now I'm going with my grandson! No, he didn't win, (he was the cutest BAT!) but his mama and daddy "stole the show" anyway! Yes, "The Bun in the Oven" was adorable and the "BUN MAKER" even funnier!!!.....We had fun walking around looking at all the decorated cars and letting Kemp jump in the huge jumping things and eat popcorn and just HAVE FUN. It was a fun night!.........TONIGHT we are going to Homewood to Trick or Treat with Lily AND Kemp. I'm taking Lily this afternoon to her house and everyone is meeting us there to walk the neighborhood. Homewood apparently closes down some streets and Michael says it's so much fun! Lily has changed her mind, Kadie says, about WHO she will be but the last I heard was "a Fairy Princess/Tinkerbell"! HAHA Looking forward to seeing the grandkids having fun tonight. (as well as ME having fun! )  BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

P.S. does anyone know who SHRECK is?!

Making Natalie's costume!

Can you guess what NATALIE is going to be on HALLOWEEN? YEP! An OVEN!!! We had soooooooooo much fun making this adorable costume! I think it's the most creative costume I've ever seen! Enjoy the creating process! Pix to come of the carnival later............

Rest of Scrapbook trip pix

We made some of the CUTEST things you've ever seen last week-end! We signed up for 2 different classes. One was from Stampin' Up where we made Christmas tags and a little box to keep them in! It was just too much fun! We met such nice people and the "teachers" were VERY patient and helpful, each step of the way!  *(So, family---you get HOME MADE TAGS this Christmas and you BETTER NOT throw them away either! ha)!.....That night we had signed up for another "make and take". This one was WAY COOL. There were 8 tables of 8. Each table had an instructor showing us , STEP BY STEP, how to do techniques. All different using different products. We would stay at a table for about 15-20 minutes, then the bell would ring and we would go, counter clockwise (you should've seen everyone bumping into each other when they gave THOSE instructions! HA! That's WOMEN FOR YOU!) to the next table! SO, you had to LISTEN and work! As we worked, the MC called out prizes. I won a subscription to a Stamping Magazine! We made soooooooo many cute cards; scrapbook pages; Halloween candy tote, etc etc etc! Unreal! When we got back to the hotel we laid our stuff out on the bed and oohed and ahhed for the longest time!!!!!!!! LOVED everything!........Oh! Funny story for the Aussies!We were getting on the elevator and 2 guys were getting on, too. I THOUGHT i detected that beautiful accent and said, "could you possibly be Australian?" They looked at each other and said, "NO, WHY?" I felt dumb immediately and then using that funny Aussie humor , said they were from New York (or something like that!). Then they owned up to be AUSSIES! AND, they were from ADELAIDE! (ASHLEY?!). Anyway, I called to tell Brad and this is the funniest part of the story, he said, "OH MY GOSH! I hope they weren't going to the SCRAPBOOK SHOW!" hahahaha! NO,  Mary Margaret said they had golf clubs! HAHAHA!.....Anyway, we had a blast. Enjoy the pix! Just sorry I didn't think to get some shots of the AUSSIES!

ENGLISH ROSE Tea Room in Chattanooga

In between shopping for stamps (and WINNING!) , we found this quaint little tea room across from where we stayed. OH MY GOODNESS! It was incredible! Owned by an true blue English lady, this was a REAL Tea Room experience! They brought our tea in a beautiful tea pot complete with cozy! We ate an early dinner of cucumber/cream cheese sandwiches; tea biscuits; pimento cheese; and a big scone and cream. The most delicious part was the lemon curd!!!!!! oh my goodness!!!!! (I sound like Shirley Temple! HAHA). We loved it soooooooo much that we went back the NEXT DAY and had it all over again. And all over again it was delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hanging out with the pregnant girl (& Kemp)

I can't believe what I just did! I ERASED my entire blog I just wrote! ARRGH!  Oh, well, let me start again! I haven't forgotten that I'm going to post more pix of last week-end (and I will!) but I spent most of the day with Kemp and Natalie and then Big T, Katie and Pat Pat ate dinner with us with Nat and Brad, too, and these pix were cute so I wanted to go ahead and load them. Natalie fixed BAKED ZITI which was awesome tonight! Go Nat! And, gosh, how great is it to have someone fix dinner for ME for a change?!....We worked on Natalie's HALLOWEEN COSTUME and finished it today! OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I swear that it will be the HIT of Halloween Costumes! I've never laughed so hard in my life! It is HILARIOUS! I won't be a spoiler and tell what it is just yet, you must keep checking my blog to see pix!!!. (and, no, it's not the "pregnant witch holding the pumpkin aka baby" like she did when she was pregnant with Kemp either! It's just as funny, tho!!! I can't WAIT to post pix of her wearing the costume! Talk about CREATIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......Kemp had a cold and cough so Natalie got to stay at home for  2 days. And so, it was a treat to go and hang with them for 2 days in a row! The last 2 days were great days to chill out. Rainy and cool weather--so nice to just wear warm ups and  not wear make up and just lounge around! Kemp and I cuddled up and watched WONDER PETS together and guess who dozed off? You're right! NOT KEMP! GranJan! HAHAHA! .......Here's a few pix of Kemp and some more of Daisy's room! Don't you just love this PINK nursery?  Check out the adorable little chandalier that Natalie found! Isn't it precious?!   I love the way that they covered the cord with satin material. It's so girly! Speaking of girly stuff---isn't the name DAISY just the "GIRLIEST" name you've ever heard?! YOU HAVE TO LOVE THE NAME: DAISY! I love it! It's perfect and  It's sooooooooooo Natalie to NOT choose a traditional boring name! EVERYONE that has asked me what they are naming her freaks when they hear the name. DAISY KATHERINE. Or as Katie calls her, "Daisy Kate!" ADORABLE! I  know Miss Daisy will be adorable and no one will forget her OR her name!!!!...BTW, I rubbed Daisy's tush or was it her head or foot or elbow today . Or at least some part  of her! She's moves all over the place and really gets active when she hears Kemp talking!! She loves her big brother already!

P.S. The beautiful pink quilt with butterflies and flowers are from Kristy, Brad's sister from Australia!  She sent it to Daisy this week! Isn't it lovely?!

May I brag a moment? hee hee

Please pardon my NARCISSISM , JUST TODAY,haha, but I must brag on myself  for ONCE (?) ! Here goes, here I am holding up my WINNINGS! I won some scrap BUCKS, too!! HOW?????? Well, I won FIRST PRIZE on the ATC contest! WHAT is an ATC you might ponder???? The letters ATC stand for ARTIST TRADING CARDS! Hey, don't feel bad if you didn't know, I didn't know either! I just saw that there was a contest for them so I researched them (Quickly! Because I was leaving the next day for Chattanooga!) and saw what they were. Kind of like a MICRO mini scrapbook page on a PLAYING CARD! Weird, huh? Well, I laid out some playing cards , threw some stuff on them and laughed to myself thinking how embarrassed I was going to be when I entered them, not knowing what they heck they even were!  WELL, I almost didn't even show them to Mary Margaret, I was afraid she'd laugh me out of the hotel, but she said, "JAN! You HAVE to enter them! I love them!" I was still nervous about entering something I didn't even know about except a day prior, but I did it. That morning we pulled out 8 of them and filled out the forms and posted them on the big bulletin board for entrants. We saw that they would be announcing the winners around 1:30. Of course, we were busy shopping and looking at everything and the time flew by. Suddenly came the announcement. 3rd runner up; 2nd runner up ; 1 runner up and then>>>>>"JAN FRY"! The scream Mary Margaret shouted probably made it back to Birmingham! She went BONKERS! I did, too just because it was soooooooooo funny; sooooooooooooooo crazy and sooooooooo hilarious that I would win something I didn't even know what they were until one day before! HAHAHA! Anyway, thought you'd enjoy reading that so you'd know what those pix are of me holding MY scrapBUCKS...........enjoy the rest of the show pix, including some of the people we met, etc............!

For some reason , I'm having trouble loading my pix! Hopefully, this time I can get them on! Here's Sunday's photos . Here we are ordering MORE stamps (from YOU, Debbie!) haha AND more of that "lucky son of a gun" Mary Margaret winning her HUNDRED Scrap bucks as well as winning her HUGE scrapbook tote filled to the brim with stuff!!!!!!!!!! CHECK IT OUT! (Bless her heart, she also gave me $25  worth of scrap BUCKS to share so of course, I found MORE stuff, too! HAHAHA! Man, it was fun helping her spend her money!

P.S. to check out STAMPIN' UP go to this website! You'll be glad you did ! (And Deb will be glad, too! ) Also I'm adding this link to my favorite places , too, so you can just hit on it and go to it! Go by and visit!

http://www.scrapbee.stampinup.net/Welcome.aspx

And the WINNER is.................

I still can't believe it! I cannot believe MISS LUCKY herself! Mary Margaret!!!!!!!!!! She WON the grand prize at the StampScrapArt Tour show yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The value of the prize was $600!!! Now wouldn't that be ENOUGH of a prize?????????? YOU WOULD THINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but, NO! That's not all she won! !! She won $100 of "SCRAP BUCKS"---she could spend the  coupons there! So, Miss Mary M won around $800 of scrapbook supplies!!!!!!!!!!!!  We were so excited we didn't know what to do!!!! I told her who would've thought this time last year she would have been going to a scrapbook convention, much less doing it (and loving it) and going off with the grand prize?! I'm so so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It couldn't have happened to a sweeter girl (and strangely enough, I wonder---did BECKY'S angel maybe slip her name on top?! Maybe we won't know until we get to heaven but I'm very suspicious!!! ...........We met THE most wonderful people this past week-end!! A special HOLLER out to DEBBIE Harris!!! She was a vendor for "Stampin' Up" and we just "jelled" the at the very first class! She helped teach us a "take and  make" and was soooooooooooo helpful and sooooooooooooo fun!!!! So, HEY, DEB! I told you  that I would add you to my journal! Now you're a STAR! HAHA! ..........I'm actually going BACKWARDS about our trip because I just gave the "ending" first! I had to write that first, because it was sooooooooo exciting!!!!! Even TERRY was excited and we ALL know it takes a LOT to get a big hurrah from HIM! HAHAHAHA!!!!.........So, I'm DRAGGING out the week-end  blog  this week b/c it was so much fun so I'm going to show SUNDAY first and then go BACKWARD!! Everyone who knows ME, knows I like to do things "out of the box"  (like sometimes eat DESSERT first, too!). Anyway, here's the exciting CONCLUSION to our week-end,, FIRST! That's  Debbie with the red hair, BTW. Deb is from Chapmansboro, Tennessee!!! She's awesome and my first ATC swap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More to come!

Going to Chattanooga!

What is this "artwork"? Is it some kind of wooden specialty artwork?/?Well, yes, in a way it is! It's LILY'S artwork ! Stuck right on the bar stools! HAHAHAH! I thought it was so funny and wouldn't let Terry take them off! TOO CUTE!......Mary Margaret and I are heading to Chattanooga to a Scrap/Stampfest!! I am thrilled! It will showcase  rubber stamps; the new clear stamps; scrapbook items and papers. We will be entering contests and doing fun activities , too. We signed up for a class  on tag making and we are probably also going to a few other classes ("make and take"). There will be lots of VENDORS there! Hip Hip Hooray! I'm taking my new little cropper and hope to bring it back full of stuff and ideas Gosh, I'm just thrilled that I have a "Scrapping Buddy" who loves all this stuff as much as I do!!!!!! I'm sure I'll have PICTURES to show next week of all our FUN!

Target Zapping!

That was so much fun on Friday! Doing what? Going with Katie to pick her very first bridal registry stuff! She did great! We had a blast walking around ZAPPING stuff! We went to the Target in T'ville b/c afterwards we went to have lunch with Mimi. But , next year, we'll only have to go around the corner b/c the WORLD'S LARGEST TARGET is going to be just 5 minutes away on Hwy 150!!!!!!!!!!!!! HURRAH!

IsaiahSixEight Presents.........

Today @ Riverchase the IsaiahSixEight mission team  presented their new video! It was fantastic! I wish I could load it on here! There were a TON of people there to watch it and had lots sign up for future trips! HURRAH!!! What a great job they did!.......After church we (Nat, Brad, Kemp, Terry and I) went to California Pizza  (Katie left after the Jamaica video to go to Auburn!).  Anyway,YUMMY PIZZA~! I kept Kemp entertained by drawing him FRANKENSTEIN. He was so proud of it that he went around "scaring" people with it after lunch! HAHAHAHA

Mimi Madness

Mimi! What can I say?! We all have "MIMI MADNESS" in the Fry/Horne house! Yes, we're "Mad about Mimi"!  Katie and I decided to take her lunch yesterday. We had a "picnic" in the sitting room off of her little unit. She wanted a FISH SANDWICH from Mickey D's ! (McDonald's!). I bought her a vanilla milkshake, too, which she inhaled. Believe it or not, SHE ATE THE WHOLE SANDWICH! Katie clapped and said, "GOOD JOB, MIMI!" She replied, "Now I need to go on a diet!" We died laughing! She worries to DEATH about her weight! At age 93! If only I were so "fat"! HAHAHA! Katie giggled all through lunch! Katie showed her some of the PINK kitchen things she got at Target before we came (Pix of her signing up at the Target Bridal registry to come later!). Of course, Mimi thought the PINK stuff was great! She said, "I was born TOO SOON!" hahahaha! All the kids love their Mimi so much and love to visit with her; call her and be with her, too!  AND here funny stories about her! WHY? because she's FUN, that's why!  I guess that's where I get my FUN side! HAHA! And after posting Daisy's new nursery, I thought about how Mimi will love it! I can't wait to take her there to see it. She was/IS girly and made ME girly, too! Which, in turn, I passed on to MY girls! HAHA! I so remember one Valentine's Day when I was around 7 or 8 and she bought me these beautiful RED SILK PJ's. I thought they were the most gorgeous things I ever had and wore them completely out.  (I wish I still had them, I'd re-make them for Lily and Daisy)! She always bought me beautiful dolls, too, which I am so glad I kept. She always bought me the prettiest dolls : Some included Madame Alexander dolls; Barbies; Chatty Cathy's; Tiny Tears and Sweet Sue dolls and I remember opening them (and SMELLING them HAHA--yes, I loved smelling new dolls!) and thinking how lucky I was to have gotten each and every one. Mimi would be watching my face to see if I loved them. Of course, I always did. I still do! I'm so glad she bought me so many , now I can share them with my girls and grand-girls! Also, I kept lots of "stuff" from my childhood room. Like the picture of "the girl with the big eyes" (remember when those were popular?!) to pass on to Daisy. I 'm so glad Natalie put that picture on the wall in Daisy's room! When I see it, I am reminded of MY old bedroom! Wow, how cool is that?!......... Yes, my kids are lucky to have a MIMI and I'm lucky to have a MIMI. I always thought it odd (and so did my friends!) that I called my Mother , MIMI, but I'm so glad. It's a unique name, just like she is a unique mother. How blessed I am to have a MIMI!

P.S. I have some exciting news! I am putting some of my craft work in a local shop! No, I'm not telling just yet! Just be watching and listening!

WORLD'S GIRLIEST NURSERY!

I knew it would be! I knew that Daisy's room would set the bar for any baby girls born from now on! WHO BUT NATALIE WOULD HAVE A PLACE FOR DAISY'S: tiaras/capes/jewels? I do love the way she brought in the old with the new! A picture on the wall from my room as a child; her old dancing shoes and pix; her old dress (framed). Yesterday she came over "TO GET MY OLD DOLLS"! She had no idea what she was asking! It will take me a week to get my  closets back in order! haha! She took them home, FINALLY! Now I have closet space! gazillions OF Madame Alexander's and Effanbee's! (and YES, Katie still has all hers here too! Gazillions of American girls and Barbies!). Anyway, they are going to finally go home to mama! I also let her pick a couple of my old dolls for Daisy, too. (I ALSO have a gazillion! HAHA). Anyway, CHECK OUT DAISY'S ROOM! If you know Natalie, you won't be surprised. It is soooooooo NATALIE ! Let's just hope Daisy is as "girly" as her mama. If not, she can move in Kemp's room and I'll move in Daisy's!

BTW, I got to meet Dr. Sharp yesterday! I went with Nat to her doctor's app't .(Doc Sharp is Natalie and Rachel's doctor)! SO NICE!  And SHARP! (haha) He said, upon meeting me, "Charles looks like YOU!" Not>>> "Natalie looks just like YOU?" What I usually hear!  (He was so so nice and I look forward to seeing him in December AND January again holding my grandson/grand-daughter!)

I have some news

Yes, it's true. I'm pregnant for the 6th time. Don't believe me? Well check out the trip we made to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday! (Strangely, my sonar showed a rather large and orange baby. The doctor said it resembles Charlie Brown's GREAT PUMPKIN!) hahahaha..........Seriously, we had a BLAST yesterday at the Pumpkin Patch! Brad was off b/c of Columbus Day (Aussies, do you remember from History Class what day that was???? ALABAMIANS , do YOU?!). Nat was off and Kemp was out of school. SO, after checking out Daisy's newly decorated room (WAIT TILL I POST THOSE PIX!!!!) we headed down HWY 280 to HARPERSVILLE to the Pumpkin Patch! It was a blast! Not many people at all, it was a great day to go there. It was HOT of course, but still fun. Since my CANON is still in the "camera hospital", I shot these with my little OLYMPUS. (BTW, just got an email from Canon and my camera is on it's way HOME! HURRAH! It was having a problem with the flash). Anyway, that little camera was a life saver! How could I not make a gazillion pix of Kemp in the punkin' patch as well as NAT with her very OWN pumpkin. (Hers is real HAHA). Anyway, fun FUN day in the cornfield (Brad and Kemp went thro the CORNFIELD MAZE) ; picking cotton; seeing the farm animals; riding in the wagon to the HUGE Pumpkin field and picking out our own pumpkins. It was one of those "HALLMARK MOMENTS" that I'll never forget! Brad, a special thanks to you for letting your mother in law go on your family trip! It was a blast!

Panama City Blues

To be honest, I didn't really want to go to Panama City this past week-end. We were only going for a few days and I was kind of tired of the beach thing. Surprise! Of course, whenever we are with Diane and Bobby we have a blast! So, we could've just sat inside the whole time and STILL had fun! But we didn't have to as  the weather was WONDERFUL! It was so beautiful and not HOT . The only complaint were the sand flies, but we swatted them and buried them in the sand! HAHA! I told Katie, next year will be perfect for getting married ON THE BWACH. All we need are some pretty WHITE fly swatters  for the guests! HAHA........Had a ball with Diane and Bobby. The beach house was RIGHT ON THE BEACH and was so relaxing and fun. Of course, our entertainment (because our grandkids weren't with us! HAHA), was SKIP! Their ADORABLE Jack Russell dog. Oh my gosh! If I could've stuck him in the car and kidnapped him, I would have. I didn't think there was a dog smarter than Buddy (or our old Dinker ) but he is right up there with them. Terry and I had a ball with him. He went everywhere with us except out to eat. Loved the beach! And b/c the beach is private (Loved that part the most!), he could run and bark and sleep in the sand beside us! He was such fun. Love SKIP!! Yes, the beach was so nice I found myself dragging my feet  when it was time to start packing. Wish I had had at least 2 more days! I know , I know, I complained about going down but then when I got there I wanted to STAY! That's a woman's perogitive, isn't it? Changing her mind?!...THANKS BROOM for inviting us. You are the BEST! (and so is your little dog,AND HUSBAND, too!)

Charles (belated!) Birthday dinner!

We went to Chez Fon Fon for dinner with Charles and Rachel on Wednesday night! Since the resturant was  packed and we were in the CENTER, I didn't make as many pix as I wanted to  but still made a few! I love this shirt that Katie gave Charles! NO, it's not his size, it's "BABY SIZED"! I told Charles , from now on, he wouldn't be getting gifts for himself anymore. Only for "THE BABY"! HAHAHAHA ...O.K., I take that back, Katie also gave him a bottle of wine called "VAMPIRE" ha!Had a great time (and great dinner!)

P.S. Terry and I are heading to Panama City this morning (hence the reason I am up SO EARLY!) for the week-end...Hope the weather co-operates! HA

It's a BOY! (From Down Under!)

We got the call around dinner time that "IT'S A BOY" for Ants/Karyn!! Thomas James arrived Oct.2 (yes, they are a day ahead of us, right?!) at a whopping 9 pounds 10 oz! That beats Patrick's record weight of 9 pounds 7 1/2 oz! This baby looks 3 months old! I can't believe how BIG  he is! UNREAL!!!  (not surprising, Karyn had to have an emergecny C-section so I know she is SORE today! I had ONE C-section, with Katie, and so I can remember how I felt for a few days! OUCH!).We are soooooooooo excited that Kemp now has his first MALE cousin! I was so excited to have pix when I woke up this morning. I'm SURE Auntie Kristy will be sending even more today after she has time to download hers (these were from MOZZA).Here's the e-mail from Kristy:

Hey I have got some great news for you all…I’m so happy today

 

Introducing :

 

Thomas James Horne

Born 6.22am

Tuesday 2nd October 2007

9 pounds 10 (approx 4 kilos)

Delivered by emergency ceasear

 

Other details to come

 

Maggie the cat!

I was looking for Maggie when I finally spied her! In the babies new bouncy seat!!! She LOVES it! Poor ole girl, guess it feels good to her old bones! Maggie is an astounding 17 years old!  She is so funny! Wherever I go, these CATS go! After I shot that pix, she found me working on a scrapbook (yes, even with 3 desks in my craft room, I still love to lay out stuff on the FLOOR), Maggie came and plopped right down on top of it!! Also see the "skittish cat", Jezebelle, also wants to be where I am. SHE, however, prefers to sleep UNDER my card table! I guess the cats are telling me to make a scrapbook for THEM! MEOW!