Holiday Travels (Warning LOTS of Pics)

Turkey Time
Prep Kitchen

The Girls

Scary pic of me but good of Joey ( the brown has got to go)

Joeys 4 leaf clover (unedited)

The Gals

Will and I

Joey and Will

Aunt Lucy & Mrs. Julie

"All Done" with the sgetti

Reed & Will

The Holiday Spread lol

A little tug-o-war

Kissy Face

Handsome Man

outside shooting some hoops

beautiful roses

The O'Connells

James & Adam

this year for Turkey Day we headed up to Nashville to spend the holiday. We had so much fun. We headed up Wed am and got some shopping in and the fabulous store The Vintage Baby

Will racked up on all sorts of goodies including a nap mat some Christmas morning pjs and a beautiful outfit ( seen in above pics). After shopping we had dinner at Joeys Aunt and Uncles house and then headed back to snooze in the hotel. On Thursday we got ready did a tiny bit of shopping then headed back over to begin the turkey day feast. All the food was delicious and with the exception of a few minor meltdowns Will had a great day :) Between the ear infections last week and his eye teeth STILL working their way through oh and lets not forget the terrible twos knocking on the door we have had been battling some tantrums like none i have ever seen. Hopefully this to shall pass ( and quickly). After the big meal we made our way back to memphis to stopp by Joeys nannie and pawpaw for another fabulous meal. I didnt get to see my mom this year which was a complete BUMMER but we are planning to celebrate on saturday and I am looking forward to it. We have so much to be thankful for this year and every year i know sometimes i fail to focus on all i have when its so easy to focus on what you dont have but sharing good times with good friends and family will get you back in the spirit :) Im looking forward to decorating for Christmas next week and my holiday mini sessions on saturday. I will be a busy bee the next few weeks but it will be worth it!

The Christmas List

Let the Christmas Season BEGIN!!!! There is Christmas music playing on the river and the stores are decorated it seems so early for the season to sneak up on us but at the same time it seems like there not enough time to put up the tree. We get real trees so we are having to wait because they arent out yet :( I am definitely ready to see how Will reacts this year! Last year he was so well behaved and didnt touvh a thing but this year I am thinking this will NOT be the case. Well everyones always chatting about what the top items are on their lists so I thought i would share what i have bought for Will. I am almost finished with him andI kmow I am totally going overboard this year but I just cant help myself! Last year we kept things to a minimum we knew he would be spoiled across the board so we kept it simple at home. At the time it was great but looking at pics after the fact his little pile looked so pitiful so this year there is no denying that he will have a little bit of everything so heres a peak!

We will learn our ABC's and 123's with this little laptop

He LOVES his cousins zhu zhu pets so i got him a boyish one



Anything thomas/Choo choo will do!



Love this buggy i see zoo fun and trips around the block!

the Potterybarn anywhere chair with an extra cover (monkeys and traffic both with William monogrammed on them

I think we are all set I may by some books and some movies then its! Promise......

Just goes to show how times they are a changing

So a couple of years ago i could've told you who was dating who, who was cheating on who and what was what in the celebrity world. I bought every magazine and talked as if they were my personal bff4ever. A couple of years and a baby later i will admit i still keep up with some things but i am no where near as up to date as i was. And tonight while catching up on my people.com fix i found the funniest tid bit ever. It seems that miss Jessica Simpson has just gotten engaged to some football player and it was announced today, or something like. Well that in and of itself isnt to funny but when you go back and look at this weeks latest gossip you see that Nick Lachey ( her former hubby) proposed to his gf last week. I couldnt help but laugh bc a about 7 years ago ( wow that long) when their newlywed show was on i will be the first to admit i watched it religiously we would even have parties to watch it. And yes i drove to Nashville to see her in concert. Oh and before i forget I think the icing on the cake is that one spot i read said his divorce to his previous wife was finalized in may (6 mths) and Jess and he have been dating for 5 mths.....Hope this one works out for her (but wont hold my breath). Ok so now that i have totally wasted everyones time by posting information of no real importance i will depart back to work. Night Night

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20442126,00.html

Check it out!

Ok so i have been so crazy busy this week that I totally forgot to blog about an interview i did recently for tukabear. check it out and also check out their amazing stuff :)

http://tukabear.com/2010/11/photography-q-a-with-cassie-pritchett-bousson/

How bout them Vols

So this weekend we met bunches of friends to hang out and tailgate at the UT vs Memphis game. We ended up getting tickets to go into the game and to say we had a blast would be an understatement. There were good times had by all for sure and i think i can speak for everyone saying that we felt the fun the next day haha. We havent been to a game in years so we were just making up for lost times right! Any how Will spent the night with MiMi and Poppy and had a blast with his cousins. The rest of the weekend consisted of working and photo sessions. I am a little sad that Fall seemed to leave us so soon and Winter has shown its ugly face there was actually FROST on the ground when i went to take pics this weekend NO FUN for anyone involved! The weather has already warmed up for the week ahead. Yesterday was wonderful. I decided after I had worked 14 hrs ( work 7-7 then meeting till 9) and I had been up going on 24hrs since sunday morning that i would schedule myself a massage and since they had an opening that morning i went at 11 am. I do believe that was the first time I have ever slept through a massage, I was kinda sad that i wasnt awake to fullyenjoy my my body was definitely thanking me after that blissful hr. After my massage i went to get some sushi with a friend from school/work Jenny. Shes fab and I am so glad we decided to get lunch bc we had some great chat time. My sis even joined us to so we had a little girl party! After I picked Will up from Mdo we came home and played outside and even walked around the block, he loves outside so he was having the time of his life. So on todays agenda is cleaning house and then heading to the park. We hope to get a Zoo trip in on thursday unfortunately tomm is filled with meetings for work ( during my MOTS time i dont know when i will EVER rejoin the group boo hoo!) Thats our life in a nutshell this week Oh and I found a new store STASH and it is AAAAAA-MAZING! i cant wait to redecorate the house with everything they have!

Big News!

click HERE to check out details on my coming up mini sessions!

Choo Choos and Trucks!

I have been editing some pics and came across this pic I took of Will :) I dont believe I have posted it yet. He got to tag a long on a photoshoot i had in collierville and we walked over to the fire station and they came out and let us sit on the truck. Will was in heaven he even gave the firefighter a high five! Im not sure what he was pointing to in this pic i think there was another truck next to this one so he was ooh and ahhhing at that one too! I love these little moments with him. he is at such a fun age and we just have a blast all the time! Just last night it took me and Joey siting down by his toddler bed to finally get him to go to sleep apparently he was NOT ready to hit the hay last night lol.

Halloween Fun

Mots Halloween Party

O'Connells Halloween Hayride/Trick-or-Treating

Halloween was such a blast this year. I think its just hilarious how many people loved Wills costume bc i was totally the slacker mom this year and waited till the last minute to pick something up. I had so many ideas of what he would be but we just never got there, so instead he was a little Puppy and you know what? He was the cutest little puppy EVER! And as far as trick or treating went he was a natural! He kept up with all the bigger kids and he even held his own bucket and held it out at houses to get his candy. We took a trip to a super fun cove in the neighborhood it is decked out with everything halloween and they actually take donations for St. Jude. This year it was more of a scary theme I didnt remember it being so scary last year but while the big kids were freaking out Will was just pointing to the scary people and saying NO NO NO. It was too cute. Back tracking a bit pre trick or treating we actually had the MOTS Halloween party at our house. It was so much fun. Last year in our group the kiddos were all so small and NON mobile so we had fun pics etc. This year on the other hand they were all VERY mobile soooo although we still had fun the "group pic" wasnt really on the little ones agendas haha. Overall it was a GREAT DAY! What a blessing it is to have such wonderful family and friends :) More cathcing up to come soon stay tuned!

A Huge Pic Update!

Of course there was Wicked with the Besties!
Happy Fall Yall

Mullins Fall Fest




Zoo Day with Aunt Sandra

The Past few weeks have just seemed to FLY by. It is so hard to pay blog catch up so I will let the pics do all the talking :) Enjoy!

A Thank You and a Remodel

So here it is the most recent upgrade in our home lol.



this was the inspiration:


If you read my blog often you might remember a post oh months ago about Master bedroom renovating and headboard inspirations. Well i was on a roll for a few days I found the headboard and the nightstands. I even distressed the nightstands and then i lost the drive. I think the biggest part was getting my husband to mount the headboard I which was a pain but sooo worth it) and then there was painting. I despise painting and i wanted to hire someone to do it. The money to pay them wasnt and issue its was just the thought of the boots i want this fall are the same price as the painter sooooo i knew I needed to do it myself haha, nut that requires time and quite frankly there is never enough of that can you imagine painting with the help of an 18 month old hehe. So it wasnt until yesterday that operation remodel kicked into high gear. I sent Will to MDO for a make up day and my neighbor was off work and offered to help me paint when i said thats what I might do. So she met me at home depot and pick a paint color began. I had already picked Martha Stewart Nutshell and tanny brown but i wasnt crazy about it so with the help of Emily we picked A Winters Day it is blue and gray all in one and it couldnt have turned out better! I was not as crazy about my bedding as i had been when i bought it like a year ago ( my projects always take soo long to come together) but against this color it became the perfect compliment it isnt nearly as LOUD as i was expecting. And yes although it is feminine it has a very soft feel and to me it is my own little slice of pottery barn heaven for half the cost! Blogger is being SLOW today and I really need to sleep for work so i will try to post more pics and some before and afters later this weekend.
And Most of all Thanks to everyone who emailed me about my last post. i dont know whe reads this blog so my intentions were not to get a huge outpouring of response so when I did I was taken by surprise. It made me feel less alone in this crazy world to know that a lot of other people feel the way I do. I am so thankful for such wonderful supporters in my life :)More to come soon...

Wish List

So on so many blogs these day I am seeing all kinds of wish lists and it made me think of my own wish list. A wish list that I wish (haha) that I didnt have. This is the ugly side you often dont see on blogs because most people want you to think life is perfect., and you know for them i hope it is but for me well life isnt always perfect ( or atleast it doesnt always feel like it). So anyways back to the story at hand my wish list. Too often i find myself wishing for what i dont have or even worse what others have. You know it normally starts with the usual... i hate my house i wish i had a new one, i hate my body why cant i lose like 50 lbs, i hate my job why cant i not work oh yeah that little thing called debt WHICH I wish i didnt have, if only i could be like (insert whoever here) and if i could only have (insert that certain object your dying for here)....and the list goes on and on. Well lately i have just been over it, yes i will admit it I have been in a complete FUNK of a mood! Ive been tired, ive been stressed, my house is a wreck ( more so than usual), I am dying to get my master bedroom finished ( yeah remember that project i started oh like FOREVER ago) i cant figure out why i cant get my husband to finish the headboard and or paint. Will has reached terrible twos and i hate that i find myself wanting to pull my hair out sometimes ( i mean arent you suppose to be Super happy fun mom 24/7) not to mention we have been talking in my moms group bible study the past few weeks about being in a desert (spiritually) well no way thats not me (right?!). Our guest speaker Shannon was not TOTALLY talking about me last week when she was talking about going through "the motions" because you feel like thats what you are suppose to be doing and not necessarily bc you are wanting to. Even this morning when i woke up Joey asks me if we are going to church? I mean really do I always have to be the responsible one? And then i wanted to be like NO we arent just bc (again this sometimes feels like a have to instead of a want to for various reasons that are for another post all together) but as always we get up and go then on the way Joeys asks if I just want to go to eat breakfast then go home ( following the lime green snot mustache Will just had prior to this question again this to will be for another post) and again tempting but we were 3/4 of the way to church so i stayed strong and said lets go ( as did joey bc like i said we were almost there). And the mood continued ( since we are being honest i wont hold back and apologize if this offends anyone) So we get Will in the nursery, which is going better these days. We finally get to the service and wouldnt you know it is the associate pastor (who doesnt hold my attention very well....just saying) So i go into random though mode and think of all the things i could be doing in that moment ( laundry, cleaning sleeping for work,etc) and then as soon as it starts church service is over. and before i talk about the last part i just have to add that from the moment i woke up this morning i had been praying for God to open my heart to him, to lighten my mood and to basically get me out of this funk bc well to be real it coudl be worse! And wouldnt you know i had just about given up of being enlightend today and then the associate pastor said he wanted to conclude this series with a song and BAM it happened....my heart was lightened and some of those burdens were lifted. Of all days i didnt get a pamplet ( if any of my hope friends know how i could get a copy i would greatly appreciate it) They sang the song " Before the Morning" (thanks google) and here are the lyrics for any of you who are inspired more by songs sometimes like i am

"Before the Morning"

by:Josh Wilson

Do you wonder why you have to,feel the things that hurt you,

if there's a God who loves you,where is He now?

Maybe, there are things you can't see

and all those things are happeningto bring a better endingsome day,

some how, you'll see, you'll see

Chorus:

Would dare you, would you dare, to believe,

that you still have a reason to sing,'

cause the pain you've been feeling,

can't compare to the joy that's coming

so hold on, you got to wait for the light

press on, just fight the good fight

because the pain you've been feeling,

it's just the dark before the morning

My friend, you know how this all ends

and you know where you're going,

you just don't know how you get there

so just say a prayer.and hold on,

cause there's good who love God,

life is not a snapshot, it might take a little time,

but you'll see the bigger picture

Would dare you, would you dare, to believe,

that you still have a reason to sing,

'cause the pain you've been feeling,

can't compare to the joy that's coming

so hold on, you got to wait for the light

press on, just fight the good fight

because the pain you've been feeling,

it's just the dark before the morning

yeah, yeah,before the morning,

yeah, yeahOnce you feel the way of glory,

all your pain will fade to memory

once you feel the way of glory,all your pain will fade to memory

memory, memory,

yeahWould dare you, would you dare, to believe,t

hat you still have a reason to sing,

'cause the pain you've been feeling,

can't compare to the joy that's coming

Would dare you, would you dare, to believe,

that you still have a reason to sing,

'cause the pain you've been feeling,

can't compare to the joy that's comingcom'n,

you got to wait for the lightpress on,

just fight the good fight

because the pain you've been feeling,

it's just the hurt before the healing

the pain you've been feeling,

just the dark before the morning

before the morning,

yeah, yeahbefore the morning

Christian lyrics - BEFORE THE MORNING LYRICS - JOSH WILSON

http://http://www.jesusrockz.net/2010/01/before-the-morning-josh-wilson-with-lyrics/

and thats all it took. Now I will admit I did not understand the video that went with it but i was holding back tears and i have no idea why i was crying it just touched my heart sooooo much. I didnt even really "hear" the words until i just posted them and i was like wow all over again. and when we walked out of the service I saw another girl who was balling so I know I want the only one touched!

Ok so I know this post is LONG so i will end with this. I now wish to enjoy my little house bc although it isnt fancy and big it is our home, i wish to learn to like my body bc truth be known i will have another child before it ever changes and even then it probably wont be in the smaller way lol, I also wish to understand that i dont have to be super mom nor do I have to be like (insert certain someone here) and most of all i wish to appreciate my family more even though I have complained "a little" about the hubby and the tot i love them more than life itself and I dont know where I would be without them! I know that things dont change over night but i feel like I found a tall glass of water today out in my big empty desert and once again I have been shown how god works in my life and i will continue to prayer for him to open my heart :)

My Assistant

How May I Help You?
Trust me I'm a proffesional

wait a sec I think I got this....

Oh Yeah.....

I made it :)

So as you can see we had tons of fun today ( an NO the car was not in motion we were in a parking lot waiting on a friend to arrive for a photoshoot) I just typed a whole cute little post to go with these pics and wouldnt you know it didnt save and well to be honest I am not in the mood to retype everything so I guess it will have to wait for another day hehe. But speaking of computer mishaps i went a looked at an Apple desktop tonight ( or whatever those apple nerd people call them) and I WANT ONE meaning I will be saving my money to get one soon, editing pics would be awesome on the 21 inch shiny screen :) Until then goodnight via my good old pc!

Nothing Much going on

playing in the front yard
Crazy face with momma

Our latest OBSESSION

Well this week is gonna be a lazy week! I only had one photoshoot this week and it was today so now this week will just be cleaning and playing with my little man. He has been doing tons better lately with his attitude etc. Today after the photoshoot we came home and played outside . And of course while we were playing I just had to take some pics hehe. Will was running around everywhere and then when I tried to get him to take some pics with me he made his crazy faces lol. And then of course the last pic is what tells our everyday story these days. We are in LOVE with some Thomas the Train these days. Everything and I mean Everything is a Choo Choo these days it is hilarious. I love how fast his vocabulary is expanding these days ( you know for a 18 month old and all) Who knows what next weeks favorite thing will be. I am totally loving this age right now. Oh and alert the media my child ate GREEN BEANS tonight what the heck! I am so excited maybe this is beginning of a beautiful relationship with veggies! Other than that there isnt much going on so until next time...

I NEED some Mommy Advice!!!!

So last night was unlike any night we have had with Will and I have no idea what was wrong or how to fix it. You have all heard about the terrible twos that are welcoming themselves into our home but he has made some good progress since the beginning of the week. he has wanted to be rocked to sleep every night (which is fine with me). So last night he didnt go to bed until around 10 ( he normally goes down around 8) I rocked him then put him in the crib. Well around 3:30 Joey an I woke up to blood curdling (sp) screaming. We went in there to check on him and he was thrashing about in his crib throwing his head back and kicking his legs all while his eyes were closed. We got him out of the crib and it almost took both of us to just carry him into our room he was sooooo strong!!! Once we got him on the bed he was doing the same thing and we couldnt get him to open his eyes?? We turned the light off an on and turned on nick jr. He finally opened his eyes but it was like he was in outer space. Me and Joey were really freaked out but didnt want to rush to the dr or anything I mean he was breathing (never stopped) and he was technically fine ( im the freaker outer though so in my head i was thinking all kinds of crazy stuff!) Well we finally got him clamed down and tried to put him in his crib again I even got in there with him he finally dozed off and I got out. Well 15 minutes later he was screaming again so webrought him in our room again. At this point is after 5. We finally got him to sleep and left him in there with us. He slept till Joey got up to go to work (started screaming again). So i decided to take him in to the peds sik clinic to check his ears (the only other time he remotely screamed like this). Well we had to see one of the drs i dont care for but ne ways ears were clear and she told me it was his molars....wth? if she looked close enough in his mouth she would see that he has all his molars already?! so it was a wasted trip . Anyways i just wanted to ask all you mommas out there if you have experienced this before??? And if so what did you do. I was wondering if it was a bad dream or if it could be his eye teeth (never acted this way teething) I am clueless and just hopinh tonight is better. O course hes been an angel all day?? All suggestions Welcome as well as prayers that he may want to nap soon so I can catch a few zzzz's before work!