Happy Birthday, Catch!

I honestly have so many things that I am thankful for. I have a cute little roof over my head, a puppy who I adore endlessly, and family and friends who are my world. My blogs seem to always revolve around these three things. But an addendum to the "family" one is my husband, Rickey! I would not be who I am without my Rick. Although we have been married for 5 MONTHS already, I cannot remember what my life was like before Rickey walked into it. So today, I am so very very thankful that 25 years ago, Rickey Craig came into this world and has enriched my life more than I ever could imagine! :)

Now.. Since that sweet, sappy paragraph above has been said - I think that birthdays are awesome! EVERYONE deserves a day in the 365-day calendar we all use to just celebrate themselves. Birthdays are needed, it's deserved, and its special! Since Rickey and I became an item, we always discussed things that we wanted in the future- kids, living our "baseball life", a cute house, and celebrating any and every special day and occasion we could! I got to have the luxury of spending my birthday with our LA family and having a great cake (my favorite is vanilla cake with almond buttercream icing = traditional wedding cake) and party! As Rickey's birthday was following my explosive Halloween party and decor, he pulled me aside and made me swear I wouldnt go all out for his birthday though. He said that he wanted something "low key" since we werent going to be able to go to LA and with our friends wedding weekend starting tomorrow. Sadly, I also have to work tonight since I am taking the next two days off for Sarah and Clays wedding, so I agreed not to "go all out"... But in my mind, I knew that I was going to pull SOMEthing off and I wanted him to have a fabulous day!

Abner and I spent most of the day cleaning the house, baking Rickey's birthday cake (which I am so proud of I could scream) and decorating with a little "birthday banner" for the birthday boy! When he came home from school, he had a funny birthday card and indulged in his cake! I am also making a new recipe for his dinner tonight so he's a happy guy! We are going to continue to celebrate his 25th birthday with his parents and all our friends this weekend as we celebrate the marriage of Clay Sartain and Sarah Lewis!

I posted some pics of his birthday cake- he LOVES Red Velvet- and the banner I made. If you havent told my Mr. Wonderful HAPPY BIRTHDAY yet, get right on that! Will blog more after the weekend's wedding! So excited!

Avec tout mon couer,
Lace

Abner got tired of helping... Nap time.

Happy Birthday, Catch banner!

Rickey's Red Velvet four layer cake with cream cheese icing! Yes! I made that!

(and 25 candles with one to "grow on")

from the side- a big lopsided but Hey..

Blow em out!

MAKING A WISH!!! :)

YES. Thats right. I made it :) I am so proud.

Happy Birthday Catch! We love you! Lacey and Abner

The Great Flood....

Welcome to the Delta!!! I woke up this morning, walked out the door, and witnessed the Great Flood which I have always heard so much about. NO JOKE, people take canoes and boats and go to class in this mess...... This is our yard and the street we live on.. So needless to say, Abner and I are flooded in and having a lazy day inside today. Its hard taking a dog out in almost a foot of water outside your door.. and the rain just keeps on comin!

Avec tout mon couer,
Lace

Happy Pumpkin Day!!

Gosh, It has been so so so so so very long since I have blogged and honestly, not much has changed in the amazing lives of Rick and Lace other than the same ole same ole... School... Work... School... Work... Baseball... Work.. Sleep.. Rick has been on overdrive working on his portfolio for school, which I will admit is demanding and hectic and stressful as a whole. Basically, it becomes your teaching life in the classroom- this notebook filled of everything that you could imagine to create, think, dream, and teach to your students in hopes that they will reciprocate it and suceed. If you could imagine taking boards in the medical field, just reverse it and try to WRITE your own "testing boards" and put it into a notebook with over 200 pages... Stress-ful. I definately have so much respect for teachers and student teachers because they have a HARD JOB!  No wonder they get summers off- that is WELL DESERVED! So, other than working on school work, work, and life for us both, things have been somewhat boring...........

That being said, I decided I was going to spice things up a bit! After Rick and I got married we decided that we always wanted to make a special occasion out of EVERYTHING for our kids.. Easter, Halloween, Christmas, Birthdays... My sisters are the same way too, especially me and Candice. We like to create and be creative, we LOVE crafts, and we have fun just making parties FUN! This also stems to my special friend Tanya, who goes absolutely ABOVE AND BEYOND when it comes to creating a party or party-themed decor. Being bored in the Delta, I really needed something to do so I decided that I was going to have a Halloween party... For who you might ask? Brittany, my sister, was going to come and visit us and take a break from the Jackson life so she brought her dog Slugger. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to dress Abner up in a costume for sure! Rickey seems to just go with the flow when I get these crazy whims so he let me go to town with Decorating- just for the 5 of us... :)

I actually had a blast and loved getting into the SPOOOOKY spirit! Abner dressed as a Skeleton (I was determined to find him the Killer Whale costume I was obsessed with but since he's extremely large, I had trouble finding an XXXL- and this is no joke, thats the size his weight required). Sluggar dressed as a Bumblebee and was sooo cute. Rickey and Britt had a pumpkin carving contest and I made cupcakes that actually were quite tasty! Rick has eaten almost the entire batch of Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Vanilla Mint icing and I loved the Pumpkin Cupcakes myself. We even had 6 trick or treaters come and they were soooo cute! It made me miss all my little ones and my sweet baby nephews, Harrison and Ben, who were a Monkey and a Pirate. It really was a fun get together and I just love hanging out with people who I love. I MISSSSS seeing my sisters because we never get to spend a whole lot of time together. Here are some pics of the Decor and treats! :) Happy Halloween!

Avec tout mon couer, Lace