And some more pics.....

Bucky getting ready to leave.....and making sure

little Marley stays warm!



Maddox.....

beautiful trees at the entrance to our neighborhood

Maddox watching the school bus go by.....Nicole took these pics

great job Nicole!

Maddox made a Thanksgiving book at school

he was so proud of it.....and showing everyone

here's a pic of him showing Johnny

the black dog is Chrissy......she is 13 years old and really

doesn't like any other dogs...especially Pippa Lou

so this pic is very rare....the 2 of them sharing space in my chair

later.....

Just pictures.....

Johnny and Maddox along with

Pippa Lou and Bella Boo....sound asleep on the sofa



not much holds Maddox's attention but give him the

iPad and he's happy for hours

here's Bella and Pippa Lou sleeping on Jake

he's moving out this Friday and I know the doggies are going to

miss him so much

every 2 weeks we take the same pic of Jacquelyn

here's week 22.....but she's now at 25 so we'll be taking another

picture next week

she's just the cutest little momma.....

and we take the picture in 2 different shirts because she's not

sure which one will stretch enough to last until the end.

the pic below I love....because Bucky always takes a pic with

his iPhone....so they were checking out the picture compared

to the previous one.....and just look how happy they are!

I love these silly boys......

later......

Thanksgiving part 2 ...

We always have Thanksgiving with my family either the Saturday

before or the Saturday after

this year, it's the Saturday after

and we always have it at my sisters very big house

but this year her back has been bothering her so I'm hosting

it's 26 of us!

So in order to seat everyone, I'm bringing the old dining room

table in and putting it in the living room.......that one holds 12

then my new table holds 12

and I'll come up with some seating for the 2 little guys

and if you host, you only have to do the turkey, gravy and rolls

It's going to be crowded, loud and crazy.....

and I'll just love it!!!

and here's a few pics from Saturday

here's my great niece Victoria making friends with Chrissy

and Jake.....looking like he's tired of me taking pictures...haha

our two beautiful daughters.....Jacquelyn and Nicole

and here's Matt and Mallory.....who are getting married in 7 months!

and my brother......Tracy

Another niece, Alison and my little sister Kandi

and yet another niece.....Aimee and her son Alexander

Nicole and our grandson Maddox

and my sister Vickie and I......

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving

later......

Black Friday ....

I have been getting a lot of black Friday sale emails for

the past several weeks so I have already

snatched up a few good sales

Really good deals on new laptops and Leapfrogs to name a few

But Jacquelyn and I love going out on Black Friday

we love the crowds and the fun of the hunt!

We will look through the paper on Thanksgiving day and come

up with our strategy

I will not be going to the stores on Thanksgiving day though

I don't think they really need to be open then....let the employees

be with their families

so let the shopping begin!

later.......

Thanksgiving ....

I love Thanksgiving so much

almost as much as Christmas....but not quite!

I love cooking the big dinner and having

family and friends over

love all of the chaos and the dishes

the loudness

all of the catching up

and then I love the end of the day when I can sit down

in my recliner with a nice glass of wine....ahhhh

We always have dinner during halftime of the Dallas game

Eating late started when Johnny used to have to work

on Thanksgiving day

Then because Dallas always plays and we are BIG Dallas fans

we of course had to wait for halftime as to not miss

any of the game

we will have 13 for dinner on Thanksgiving

our menu is .....

TURKEY

GRAVY AND ROLLS

MASHED POTATOES

ROASTED POTATOES

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE

3 BEAN SALAD

BROCCOLI SALAD
ROASTED CARROTS
MAC AND CHEESE

CRANBERRY SAUCE

APPLE CAKE

CHERRY PIE

we have 3 different potatoes because Jake loves the mashed,

Jacquelyn loves the roasted

Nicole and I love the sweet

and Johnny loves them all....haha

I hope everyone has a most wonderful Thanksgiving
I have so much to be thankful for and I feel
so blessed to spend this special day with my family

later......

Jazzercise ....

Here's my Jazzercise update....

I'm still going!!

and I mostly go 5 times a week!

Since April 21st!

Even I'm amazed

I have never in all of my life found an exercise program

that I have stuck with.....and especially this long

It's just so much fun

but besides that, it makes me feel so good

I really start feeling sluggish when I miss more than a couple of days

like when I'm on vacation

I have arthritis in my right knee

and it always used to hurt....always had just a little dull pain in it

but now that I Jazzercise, it rarely ever hurts

it is 60 minutes of non stop movement

you start out with a warm up song

then you go into cardio that keeps building up

until your heart is really pumping......

after the peak, the cardio starts slowing down and then

you do weight lifting and end with a stretching number

All of the instructors have different routines

and they change them about every 2 months
so  it never gets boring.

Some do a workout called circuit.....where you do 2 cardio

then weights, then back to cardio, then more weights

Another one of our instructors is starting to incooperate

more kickboxing in her routines

and I really love the kickboxing!

you are soaked with sweat by the time you finish

but you have just burned about 600 calories...woo hoo!!

I have only lost about 6 lbs because I have really built up a lot of muscle

BUT....I've lost a lot of inches

my clothes are so much loser and the best way to describe

it is.....I no longer feel "tight" in my skin!

My goal was to hit 150 classes by the end of this year

but with the holidays, I'm not sure I'll make it but I'll

def get to about 125 or 130 so that's not too bad

later.....

Christmas is coming .....

I love the holidays.....

To me, it really is just the most wonderful time of the year

and I do not like to wait in putting up my decorations

I think the holidays begin on Nov 1st!

So around then I start pulling out the decorations

but usually do not get it all done until closer to Thanksgiving

It's fine if some people like to wait until after turkey day

but I group Thanksgiving and Christmas together.....the holidays!

I need to take a pic of the front porch at night
the basket, swag and small tree all have lights on them
I'll post "lite" up pics when I put up the trees

so now my house is just about finished

the only thing left is a few more windows I still have to put candles in

and put up my 2 trees.....everything else is done!!

Time to go ....

Our last one is leaving the nest!

our son Jake is moving out on Nov 30th

he has been trying to move up in the company he works for

and it finally happened for him

Except that its in another city

he'll be moving to Charlottesville

but at least it's only an hour away
Charlottesville is a beautiful little town nested in the mountains
of Virginia
from his bedroom and kitchen window, he can see the mountains!

I know it's time....I mean really, he's 24 years old

but there was never a reason for him to leave

but now the day has come

we're proud of him and we know he'll do great

I'm sure he'll be coming home some on the weekends....

I think he'll miss the dogs more than anything

he told me the other night that he had a good deal for me

I could give him Pippa Lou or pay off his car for Christmas

HAHAHHAHAHA

funny guy

But I am having a lot of fun buying stuff for his new apartment

he's just going to have to make due with very little though

until Christmas because Santa doesn't give out gifts

early at my house :)

later.....

I love fall ....

I'm a little late on this one but wanted to list

many of the reasons I love fall......

so here we go

• Crisp air
• Pumpkins
• Walking on crunchy leaves
• Sweaters
• Football
• Driving through leaves and watching them fly in the air!
• Halloween
• Boots
• Good apples
• Apple cider
• Hot chocolate
• Pumpkin flavored everything...coffee, cookies, breads...
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas is coming!
• Fall colors ... orange, yellow, burgundy, red
• Soups and chili
• Did I mention Christmas is coming!!
• A new season....tired of the summer clothes and time to pull out fall clothes

So wonderful living in Virginia where we can

experience all 4 seasons!

later......