Friday, October 30, 2009

home sweet home, rides, and roads!

what do these guys like most about our temporary living arrangements???
#1
I think they would tell you the ROOM!
Lots more than we have in our house and the girls are
loving having their OWN room!
I hope the newness at our house will make up for the loss of this
when we get back to White Drive.
#2
the sidewalks and ramp with hardly any traffic!
the ramp
they ride up and down, around, back and forth
over and over again.
I promise I have never seen them ride bikes this much.
THEY ARE LOVIN' IT!
our house for now

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

All my PUMPKINS...

ready for PUMPKINPALOOZA!
Little Miss Jellyfish, Tinkerbell, Miss PJ Queen, and Spiderman
Viv's Pumpkins
Miss Cafeteria Worker, Little Unicorn, and a Motorcycle Racer
this clan was ready!!!

a few close-ups............
Is that black hair??? Yes. He was HULK to begin with
complete with black hair and a green face. He looked in the
mirror and pronounced, "I just can't do it, I have to be Spiderman."
So here he is Spiderman with black hair.
HA.

sweet!
the queens
Katherine and Marganie
Watkins, Rhett, Phelps, and Charley
Just the boys and YES I can smell trouble!
Joseph, Baby Taze, Watkins, Townes

A good time was had by all -
Can't wait until next year!!!

Monday, October 26, 2009

why does that cowbell ring???

Henry really was working hard to figure that out.
I don't know if he figured it out, but it got me to thinking............
why does MY cowbell ring???
Why do I love those BULLDOGS and Starkvegas so???
We all have our reasons................
Here are a few of mine -
1 - this is where my little family started out -
just the 3 of us JD, me, and our little LJ
2 - I have dressed and toted LJ (starting at a month old)
to MORE MSU football game days then the
average graduate from MSU has gone to in their lifetime
3 - sweet KD was born here
4 - JD and I both graduated from MSU
5 - I cheered JD on when he was wearing his maroon and white next to Sherrill
6 - we ONLY were able to stay away for one short year because it didn't take us long to figure out that Starkvegas is our home
to put it simple - we are BULLDOGS through and through.

This list goes on and on......
but it all ends with Bulldog State, cowbells and Starkville being a big part of mine and my families' heart.
So I will ring my cowbell loud because I love those dawgs and I know
we have good things coming our way soon!

a few tailgate pics from Saturday -

love those pigtails!

silly girls!
Marganie, Stella, Katherine
cute girls
the highlight of the tailgate as you can see
Next time - Russ, you have to let me drive.

Happy Monday!

Friday, October 23, 2009

look who is on the front page of the "Gainesville Sun" today

our daddy

check out it here - http://www.gainesville.com/article/20091023/ARTICLES/910231005 to see the full article and pictures!

Starkville is not so stark


By Robbie S. Ward
Staff writer

Published: Friday, October 23, 2009 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 11:12 p.m.

Tumbleweeds of trash rolling down Main Street have been replaced with neon lights and restaurants highlighted in Southern Living magazine - symbolic of this small town's development into an authentic college town.

As Florida football fans arrive for this weekend's game against Mississippi State University, they'll see a town that is quickly maturing.

A decade ago, locals joked that someone could hit a golf ball down Main Street after 5 p.m. and not hit a car. Home to Mississippi State, the town of about 26,000 residents wasn't what many expected from a university community.

The town had four bars for college students and a strained town-gown relationship.

Starkville was suffering from a problem of perception versus reality, voted in some surveys in the 1990s as the worst college town in the Southeastern Conference.

Visitors now, though, might wonder what happened to that town. It's the same place, but much has changed in culture and attitude.

In a decade or so, the community has developed into one of the more progressive communities in Mississippi, leading community initiatives such as free curbside recycling and being the first city in the state to ban public smoking.

About five years ago, a group called Starkville in Motion was created to advocate for more sidewalks and bike paths in the city, leading to the city's first bike paths.

A few months ago, the city requested permission from the state to sell alcohol on Sundays, something considered symbolic of the changing of the guard for the city in northeastern Mississippi.

Even Starkville's mayor appears to represent youth and vigor for the community. Until Parker Wiseman, a Starkville native, was elected this year, the list of previous mayors looked like an AARP convention.

Wiseman, 29, an attorney with a master's degree in public administration, blends campus and city interests together. He served as student government president from 2002-03.

"The fact that younger, more progressive citizens in this community have taken an active role makes it possible for somebody like me to get elected," Wiseman said. "The culture of our city has evolved quite a bit over the last decade."

Some might say culture and nightlife, particularly downtown, have turned from desolation to a destination.

Chef Ty Thames operates two restaurants downtown - Restaurant Tyler and Barrister's Bar and Grill - and says a marked difference has taken place in the five years he has lived in the city after spending time in Italy and Washington, D.C.

He serves dishes specializing in Mississippi flavor, such as Vardaman sweet potato gnocchi.

"I came back to Mississippi to showcase my talents with foods I grew up with," said Thames, whose restaurants were featured in Southern Living magazine. "Starkville has turned into a good place to do it."

Another sign of life in the city has been the emergence of community festivals.

This past weekend, the community celebrated the third-annual Johnny Cash Flower Pickin' Festival, recognizing the city's quirky history with the Man in Black.

Cash was arrested in Starkville in 1965 for public drunkenness. He wrote a song called "Starkville City Jail," claiming he was arrested for picking flowers.

To help accommodate the increased number of events now landing in Starkville, the city recently opened a new Hilton Garden Inn along the Highway 82 bypass, a corridor of anticipated growth around the city.

The addition of more than 100 hotel rooms will help address one of the more frequent concerns voiced in the past by visitors - a lack of accommodations.

Between Main Street and MSU's campus, the Cotton District is another unique piece of Starkville's personality.

A sub-community of new urbanism within the city, the Cotton District has a feel similar to New Orleans' French Quarter and parts of Europe.

Narrow streets and dense living with the occasional statue mounted on buildings, the Cotton District hosts such annual events as the Cotton District Arts Festival and Bulldog Bash - one of the largest outdoor arts events in the state and one of the largest free outdoor annual concerts, respectively.

"Starkville is probably the most unpublicized for what's going on of any community in Mississippi," said Dan Camp, developer of the Cotton District who served as mayor before Wiseman was elected. "People want to move to Starkville."

crazy!

much like KD's and my hair below.
Crazy Hair Day - Overstreet Elementary - 2009
describes our week to a T!
JD has been extra busy, and the kids have kept us running around as usual.
I AM SO GLAD it is FRIDAY!!!
The weekend will be busy too because tonight we are heading here......
dressed as a PJ princess, jellyfish, Hulk, and Tinkerbell.
I will sure post pictures of these Halloween cuties soon!
And of course - Saturday will be heading to the game to cheer on the Bulldogs.
I would LOVE nothing more for the BULLDOGS to beat those

So come on BULLDOGS make us proud!
Maybe this week it won't be as difficult getting there since we will be walking from our
temporary residence down the street - we will see.
TGIF everybody!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

married.

Watkins and Phelps were convinced they were getting married.
Watkins even asked if he had to "tiss" Phelps at the wedding!
He is so sweet!
The day did not start off looking to promising because neither of them were in the best of moods and cried almost the entire time we were getting them dressed.
It really made me nervous and I think it freaked Ashleigh out.
She asked if we should call JD for back up.
Watkins wondered why we wanted to choke him. Ha.
They brightened up after I let them get a snickers bar out of the snack machine.
They did not even get it on their clothes!
the best picture I got of the little man
I loved the fact he kept his hands in his pockets in all the pictures.
sweet Phelps looked absolutely beautiful!
I loved her hair piece and her hair was precious.
their buddies for the weekend.
Watkins quote, "Momma, are those girls with the long hair and legs going to be there again?
I like them."
the groom and Watkins
the bride and Phelps
they made it down the isle - barely!
Phelps was pretty unsure of herself, and Watkins kept telling
her to throw the flowers.
No flowers were thrown, but they made it down to the front and were mostly
still during the wedding.
except for when he played peek-a-boo with the pillow
and also used it to make him a muscle
I think Phelps was relieved it was over.
the wedding party
the cutest ring bearer and flower girl around!

our soccer boy and team.

These are a bunch of boys who like to play,
not necessarily "soccer" BUT definitely
with each other!
Ha.
I love my little soccer boy.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

all moved out.

This now sits in our front yard.
Thank you Tommy for helping load, sort, pack, all while Watkins asked you a million
questions and followed you around.

JD worked not stop and has since with lots of demo-ing!
Not pictured Brian who worked countless hours.
Of course, Ashleigh helped too.
Tired describes how we all felt for many days while all
this moving took place.
Now we are almost settled in our temporary residence on MSU campus.
We are looking forward to our all "new" house and will be back in there
sometime around Christmas.
Remember Joe - you promised!
Framing starts tomorrow.

Updates to follow.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

a STRIKER !

JD and I had a great time in Birmingham watching our big girl and the Strikers play
SOCCER!
(take note - if ever traveling from Clasrksdale to Birmingham it takes 5 hours!)
Here is the "Starkville Strikers" all together before the game.
These white uniforms were brown afterwards!
Thank you to whoever invented bleach.
I used lots of it.
our Striker #11
She did a GREAT job! Look at her play.
stealing the ball
again
her job
throwing the ball in
about to pass
a nice trick
"kneeing the ball"

this is what the team does everytime they score
run together, high five, and cheer!
I call it the "Striker Strut"!
waiting to find out if we will advance to the finals..........
the team
Can you find the coach?
Check out the brothers climbing the little mountain behind the girls.

the girls did a fabulous job!
Their record
6 - 3 against a Birmingham Team
2 - 2 against a Knoxville Team
5 - 0 against another team ? can't remember where they were from
They did not get to play in the finals because the team we tied beat a team we played by more points. Funny how those things fall!
They did AWESOME!!!
You make us proud LJ!