Merry Christmas~ from Harlee & Mimi

Harlee was here Thursday while her momma worked and her daddy finished his Christmas shopping.  Daddy packed up her Christmas dress and accessories and brought them with her.  We had a mini Christmas portrait session.  Harlee loved posing.  Finally, a cooperative subject.  I love how the pictures turned out, but love the model more.  :)  I am sure you'll agree~ she is adorable! 



I couldn't pick a favorite, so I posted my top eleven.  ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM MY BLOG TO YOURS.,
LOVE, PENNY

Harlee's Four!

Harlee's birthday is on the 18th of December and she is usually at her Daddy's.  This year her momma, Stephanie, celebrated the week before with a chili supper and chocolate cake.  (No other kind of cake satisfies this child.  Only pure chocolate will do.  She even smells candy bars to make sure they are only chocolate.  Such a smart girl!  A pre-reader has to do what a pre-reader has to do.  LOL)

She never would lean in close enough to blow out the candles.  (Good thing one of Stephanie's 

kids are cautious around fire.  Mason melted our umbrella in the heater later that night.)

Momma had to help.  :)

If they gave out Academy awards for opening gifts~ this Drama Queen would have be a shoo in.  

Wish we'd had a video camera on her.  She gasped, clasped her hands to her cheeks and oohed 

and aahed over every gift.  It was hilarious!  We should sign her up for auditions.  

 She "read" her card.  I had to pick this one just because she's called her loved ones 

(including me) her "Sweeties" since before she turned two.  :)

This is with most of her loot.  She was very pleased with herself.   I gave her the traditional birthday 

"box/bag" and her favorite thing in it was the $2 Princess mirror.  Go figure.  hehe

She had a blast and her guests did, too!  When Harlee's around, who needs cable?!  We love you, Harlee.  Next up, Christmas at Granny's and PawPaw's.  Then, I am officially caught up until the Christmas posts.  :)

Late Trunk or Treat Post

Our local First Baptist Church sponsors "Trunk or Treat" for Halloween.  Members decorate their vehicles, or just set up a scene, in the parking lot and the kids make the loop collecting treats.  Leon went as a rat this year~ reminds me of Templeton from Charlotte's Web.  lol

Here he is waving to little kids walking down our street.  Sweetest rat ever!  Check out his "cheese" bag.

I love this shot of his tail.  :)

Especially love this one of him and his Poppa.

Stephanie met us there with her three.  Harlee was a fairy princess.

This picture cracks me up... it is so Mason.  This is what pirates wear in the country. 

John Deere boots and LSU jackets.  Shiver me timbers!  ;)

 This group was awesome! 

 Our next door neighbor, Junior, aka Noah.

Now if we only had one more rat, he'd fit right in.

Our Noah also celebrated his birthday that night.  He turned nine Nov. 4th. 

He was really proud of the cell phone his parents gave him.

Noah did go Trunk or Treating, too.  He wore his football uniform from the previous post.

November pictures are right around the corner people.  Then I'll be caught up.  haha

October~ Getting Closer

The middle of October each year, our area hosts the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race.  It is usually really neat.  People come from everywhere.  Sometimes, we have as many as 80 balloons in the sky.  This year the wind conditions weren't perfect, so we barely saw a balloon.  :(  We did have a great weekend, though, because two of our daughters came from Arkansas and brought with them two of our sweet granddaughters, Lauren and Becca.  They came to see Stephanie, my middle stepdaughter, after her surgery.  (She did really well.)  Since her little girl Harlee's daddy had National Guard drill, she spent the weekend with Poppa, me and her only girl cousins.  She loves it when they come down.  None of our grandsons were here, so we had a "girls' only" weekend.  They had a ball "camping out" in our living room. 

Left to right Lauren, Harlee (she lives here), and Becca.  

There is also a festival/flea market that comes with the Balloon Race.  Harlee loved the rides.  She was finally big enough to ride.  I love this smile on the carousel.  :)

All three girls rode the little cars together.

We sat on the riverfront for an hour waiting on the balloons to start.  But we gave up and went home.  :(

It was also the weekend after Lauren's 6th birthday, so she opened her "birthday box" from Poppa and me.  To read how that tradition started look HERE.

And another visit from Leon the last weekend in October.  He had a good time.  He's feeding himself very well.  (He was 20 months in these pictures.)

He helped Poppa with the yard work.  ;)

We took him home after Halloween.  Trunk or Treat pictures are coming soon.  (I'm getting caught up~ slowly, but surely.)  I love this picture of him and his Mommie on their porch.  :)

August Pictures~ Late, I Know! ;)

I know this is soooooo late, but I just reloaded over three months worth of pictures that I wanted to put on my blog.  It's sad that this old desktop is less cantankerous than the new laptop.  

Look for a few more picture posts in the next couple of days/weeks.  Hopefully, I'll get caught up before Christmas.  LOL

In August, my baby (Shelbi) moved into her dorm room.  After carrying her belongings up three flight of stairs, (No, for $20,000 a year~ you do not get an elevator.) I only took a couple of pictures.  This is the "before" picture.  There is no "after" picture, but if you're Shelbi's Facebook friend~ you can see them there.  :)

 Shelbi (left) and her friend Ashley are a little overwhelmed.  ;)

Harlee stayed with me several times during the summer.  I finally found a little shirt that matched (well enough) her tutu (Thanks, Mrs. Jami!) and we went outside for a photo shoot.  The next two pictures are all I got.  :(  The lens fogged up when I walked out, but I kind of like the *haze* it gave the picture.  Yes, she cooperated and posed, but I had no idea she STILL (at 3 1/2) has texture issues.  So she wouldn't sit, or lie, in the grass.  Crazy little turkey.  lol

Anyway, these pictures are cute, but the other poses would have been even cuter.  Maybe I'll find a long-sleeved shirt before she outgrows the tutu and try it again.  Somewhere without grass.  ;) 

Wordless Wednesday

Harlee and our Louisiana Snow Day

It snowed the 11th and 12th of this month. I think we ended up with 5 inches. Friday the 12th was declared a Snow Day. To have a Snow Day in Louisiana is rare, but to have it actually SNOW on a Snow Day is virtually unheard of! =)
Three year old Harlee came over to spend part of Friday with Mimi while her mom worked and we enjoyed the snow for a few minutes. (She was just getting over a bad case of tonsilitis and an ear infection, so we didn't stay outside long.) She was completely in awe, though, to see the yard covered in snow and a mini snowman in the neighbor's yard.

The view from my yard.

Our house. The snow was still falling, but already melting into slush.
We had no mittens, so I stuck socks on Harlee's hands. She whined, "I don't wanna wear these."
Next to the snowman our neighbor's teenage son built.
Love this one!
And this one.



Friday afternoon, heading to Texas, I found this on the side of the road. I turned around and went back to get a picture. This is Trustee the Snowman. I put this on yesterday for my Wordless Wednesday, just explaining where I found him. =)
And that, dear friends, was about as much as excitement as a wet, melting, Louisiana Snow Day held for me. It was nice to get a surprise long weekend. Then President's Day was the following Monday, so it made a nice four day weekend for me. :)
Leon's birthday cake pictures coming soon, so stay tuned.