Oh, how I wish I had a recorder in my car!

My dad has three brothers and two sisters.

By design or default, Fay is the family organizer. Most of the events – Sunday dinners, grandpa’s birthday party, the annual Christmas Eve present exchange – have always taken place at her house. She MUST love family because she currently lives within walking distance of her daughter and three of her brothers! I can relate. I’d love to live smack dab in the middle between my siblings and my parents. JD’s lip is quivering right now because he knows it’s the truth!

Most of my memories of Ann involve motion. She was always on the go! I can see her now behind the wheel of her red and white bronco, on her way to work, pulling into the campsite, heading to Cookeville for crying out loud – it was twenty miles away! Ann is sassy. Ann’s a talker. Ann likes to go. I can relate. Ann is the younger sister and happy, I’m sure, to let her sister THINK she’s in charge. Did I already mention that I can RELATE?

When I was a child, my aunts’ were a constant presence in my life and I loved it. And here’s the exciting part – they’re coming with my mom to visit me this weekend! I can’t wait. I’m going to take pictures and ask questions and make them tell me funny stories about everybody.

I will have blog material for years to come. And if they don’t come up with anything good..did I mention my mom is coming?

Wait for it….

Wait for it….

Bam!

And WHAT is she doing?

I can’t believe it, but I THINK she’s going through the trash. Ewwww. Or maybe a recycling bin, but that’s still gross. Maybe a newspaper recycling bin…but why? Coupons? Surely not! What kind of deranged person would dive headfirst into a trash bin for coupons? And who let her into the building?

It’s a mystery. Good thing I happened by with a camera.

12- boxes of Poptarts (2.39 ea), 7-  1/2 gallon Smart Balance Milk  (3.59 ea) Publix water (1.99 ea) 4 -Halls Vitamin C (1.99 ea) 6 -Seasation Fish dinners (5.99 ea) Brownie Mix (2.00) 7 -Smart Balance Butter (2.39 ea)  Total cost-  $21.01

TWENTY ONE DOLLARS! I don’t know why anyone would choose NOT to coupon like a crazy person, but if you just cannot bring yourself to do it, okay. Fine. I support your decision to waste your own money. So, uh….can I have YOUR coupons??

Shucking corn could be fun…

This is a little tougher than it looks..

Almost got it…

What the heck was that thing?

Rachel finally took that painful step toward womanhood that all girls endure in the name of beauty- the piercing of the ears! We were on our way to the Disney store with Jeanette and Jemi, when we passed by Claire’s and they were offering FREE piercings.  Let me just say that Rachel has been ANTI-piercing for a long time now. No way, no how. But then something happened. She actually went INSIDE a Claire’s.  She saw the butterfly earrings and the ladybug earrings, and the HORSE earrings. Earring mania! That was the help we needed.

Here’s the cool thing. I did not have my camera. And just as I’m sitting there thinking, “dang, where’s my camera”, two awesome Christian lady friends and fellow bloggers, CBED and MemoirsofaBelle, came to the rescue! They were walking through the mall and documented the WHOLE thing! CBED’s photos and captions were perfect. Behold:

Serendipitous moment while rushing through the mall…

Let’s do it! (Jemi getting the dots to show Rachel how it’s done.)

Growing Concerned..

Holding Hands..

Yikes!

That hurt!

Mommy!

See!

Lollipops help.

The end result is a very happy kid with a bag full of new earrings. Total cost of the FREE piercing, starter earrings, and nine extra bribing pairs? 42.00 dollars!

I did my part. I purchased Green Wise toilet paper. That’s RECYCLED toilet paper. I sure hope that means it’s made from old pizza boxes and not uh…toilet paper.

The fact that I had a coupon which made it a penny had nothing to do with it. Ahhh, saving the planet feels good.

I try to be completely honest. There really is NO need to exaggerate, especially when it comes to posts about my family. Remember that time I said my parents never took me to the doctor, and you thought I was kidding, cause who’s parents don’t take them to the doctor?? I mean, OBVIOUSLY if it were an emergency, they’d take you. If it were something serious, like rolling your 4-wheeler, they’d HAVE to get you medical attention. Right?

Or – they could hand you a band-aid, grab the camera and call it a day. And he’s the BABY!

White wall at an old church, vintage hats for the fashion show, a camera, and one seriously cute kid.