Company...and more company...and even more company!!!!

The Maharrey household has been full of people this past week! We have had Mark's family over for Christmas Eve dinner, my mother's side of the family for Christmas Day lunch (12 plus), my favorite aunt Connie and her wonderful husband Mark (thank you for putting up with her), are spending the weekend here at the house. Plus my parents, my brother, Dan, and his girlfriend Heidi and my sister, Lindsay. and her boyfriend Jeremy. Matt and Carter have definitely been around family this holiday season! Robert Earl on the other hand keeps getting banned to the bedroom alot! I want to get some pictures up soon of the house all decorated before I take it all down, so I can remember how to put it all back again next year. I always forget, so things always look different from year to year and the boys really liked it this year.

November has been a blur!

Wow! I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is practically here! The month of November has flown by! Let's see if I can revisit all of the 'happenings' around here this month. Matt got the lead in his school play..he is Janitor Ralph, Carter's birthday supper at Kyoto, Carter's birthday cookout and bonfire, Carter's actual birthday party at the movies, Thanksgiving Feast at HBC Dayschool, Dan's birthday, Boy Scout campout, Grandma's 79th Birthday Party, Early Thanksgiving Feast at Nanney and Granddaddy's, Couples Bunko Christmas Party, kitchen and dining room renovations..and there is still one more week left in this month!

Trying to make Aunt Sissy feel bad....

Dear Sissy,
Our mom is so mean. She told us that since you do a great job every Christmas making a gingerbread house with us that ONLY YOU can make a Halloween Cookie house with us this year! She said she will buy it and have it ready for you to make with us, the only thing we have to do is constantly ask you to build it with us every two seconds. Halloween is NEXT weekend! Stop working so hard and come visit us! We will even make you supper! We love you!
Love,
Matt and Carter

I think we have a spider problem...

It seems like we need to call someone about this! I took this picture Sunday but Carter and I added some more pumpkins to the front door after his trip to the pumpkin patch today! I will post some pictures later on this week. The pumpkin in the middle is a pirate but Robert Earl ran off with the eye patch and slobbered all over it!

BAD BLOGGER

I am just now getting around to posting our great Sunday afternoon TWO weeks ago! Matt and Carter got to spend the afternoon with ALL of their cousins! It was Mark's parents anniversary and Zeb (the oldest grandchild) was turning 30 on September 30th so he flew in from Colorado to celebrate! As you can see from the pictures, Matt and Carter are the youngest of all the grandkids by around 10 years. Although they are much older, they are great role models for the boys. Matt and Carter have some big shoes to follow! All have graduated from college or are two years away, Zeb has a great career as a geologist, vulcanologist, seismologist or whatever it is he does! Micah, has a great family...he is married to Courtney and have the two cutest girls, Mae and Grace. He is in the last years of his residency in Birmingham. Ian, Micah's sister is a great special education teacher in Nettleton. Hannah and Jade, Zeb's twin sisters graduated from Ole Miss. Hannah has applied to join the Peace Corp and Jade is going to turn the world into total Vegans (which I wish I could follow their example and do!) Marley, their sister, is in her junior year at Ole Miss and is majoring in Education and Patrick their brother is in nursing school! We had a great time all afternoon playing the family game of pitching washers, talking and relaxing!
Hannah sent me some great pictures, I will try to put more up as the week goes on!

New Bed

Robert Earl got a new dog bed Saturday. We brought it in the house, set it on the floor and went back out to get the rest of the stuff and this is what we saw as we came back in.
Do you think he likes it?

Catfish Campout

Matt left Friday afternoon in an Army truck headed for Troop 85's annual Catfish Campout. Can I tell you how much we love Scouts? As a former Brownie drop out, I was never "into" Scouting until I met my husband. He is a proud Eagle Scout and although he has never pushed our boys into anything, he really wanted to instill a love for the Boy Scout program in them and he has accomplished that! Troop 85 (6th grade and up) has been a well established Troop for years and is chartered by Harrisburg Baptist Church. It has had for years, and still does, the reputation of being one of the best troops in Yocona Area Council (NE Miss). Pack 85 (1st grade to 5th grade) rechartered at HBC the year Matt was old enought to join. Mark, Frank Brinkley, John Thompson, Rusty Curbow, Ken Long, Jeff Sewell and many more that I can't remember worked hard to bring the Cub Scout program up to the high standards that Troop 85 has. And they have definitley succeded! Matt loved Cub Scouts and Carter cannot wait until he can go to summer camp this summer, although he has unoffically been twice! But back to the Catfish Campout...Lots of fishing, cooking, boy stuff, fishing, a five mile hike, did I mention fishing? and tons of good fun! He will come home tired as can be, but I know he has spent a weekend with good Christian men, setting examples that will last a lifetime. Anyone who has a boy that will start first grade next year let me know if you are interested in Cub Scouts...they will love it!

75th Anniversary!

Today was the 75th Anniversary of Harrisburg Baptist Church! There have been so many activities leading up to tonight's drama 'The Wind in His Fists'. It is a continuation of the 50th anniversary chronicling Harrisburg's history that was written 25 years ago by a church member. Matt had a part in the drama and we went to see it tonight. It was great! Harrisburg has been such a major part of my life since I was 8 years old. It is really the only church I remember attending. Being a 'Harrisburger' (I think my mom still has some of my old Children's Choir tshirts that say that!), to becoming a Christian, GA's, prayer breakfast every Tuesday morning, going to Gulfshores Baptist Assembly every summer, then getting married at Harrisburg to now worshipping with my children and husband there really means a lot to me. I could go on and on about the many memories I have, but I will save them for another time. Happy 75th Anniversary Harrisburg! I look forward to many more years to come!

Matt

was not too happy a few weeks ago when he realized that I had accepted the invitation he recieved to join Junior Cotillion. Today was the big day! The kids looked so precious. All the boys had on ties and the girls wore their little white gloves...and all of them had the most stunned looks on their faces as they walked out of the Link Centre! Matt was a good sport about it and said it was OK, they learned two dances and had to escort the girls to their seats and go get their refreshments...I wish I had been a fly on the wall! He does have some homework to do before next month's dance, so if anyone does not mind him showing you some of the things he learned and signing off on it, let me know!

Old Venice

Usually my nights around the supper table consists of dining with the three stooges. Being the only female in the house at times makes me feel this way! But tonight was a real treat...I wasn't outnumbered, there were other FEMALES around! Mark, Matt, Carter and I had the priviledge of having supper with Michele and Olivia Orr. We went to Old Venice and I had the best time! No burping contests, fighting at the table (well, just one when Michelle and Olivia went to the restroom), no discussions about the Discovery Channel, the dead frogs in our pool skimmers and how they smell, potty jokes, bathroom humor, no making farty noises with armpits or any boy only related topics! They all even used a napkin instead of shirt sleeves! Olivia keep the boys in check while I actually enjoyed my entire meal without having once to give the "Evil Mom Stare" across the table! I am still stunned! Now Michelle..I know you are going to take up for them and say they are never that bad, but before you say, "Bless 'Em", I will loan them out to you for a few meals and you will see what I mean! I do want to say that I am truly thankful and feel blessed to have such a wonderful family and this is why God gave me boys because most of the time these things do not bother me. I am just glad to be able to "walk on the other side" and have some some girl topics at the table every now and then! I love you Mark, Matt and Carter dearly and with all my heart so thank you guys for being on your best behavior!! Thanks for going with us Michelle and Olivia and let's do it again real soon!!

Pigskin and Pigs in the Ground!

PIG was the overall theme for this Saturday. Matt had his second football game for this season. The Broncos fought hard, but today was just not their day. We lost 20 to 7. The team we played had some HUGE cornbread fed boys on it and it made our guys look small! I yelled to the ref to check one man's...er boy's birth certificate to see if he was eligible for the 11/12 year old team, because I swear he already had a full beard!
The second part of our PIG day was going to Mark's sister Phyllis's home for their annual pig in the ground cookout. It is so delicious! I think the final count totaled almost 200 guests! All four of us rolled out of their driveway with full bellies. Thanks Phyllis and Ken for such a great time!

Baby Announcement!

No...it is not what you think! I am not pregnant, but we do have a new baby in the house.
His name is Robert Earl and he is an English Bulldog.
The kids have been dying for a bulldog for at least a year, so Mark and I set up "The Robert Earl Fund" A.K.A. a huge water dipenser jug. The boys have snached up any coins that that were left unattended for 2 seconds and saved up enough money for a kennel and toys. We had been in contact with several breeders, but just did not feel that the time was right. Last week God provided us with an opportunity to view a puppy after all this time and we immediately fell in love with this little guy. His father, Oscar, is a show dog and his mother Maggie is also an AKC registered English bulldog. This little guy was the runt of the litter, but he has grown from when we picked him out until we got to bring him home! Maggie's parents, Jack and Nancy Stacy could not have been nicer to us! They even called to check on him Monday night to see how he was doing. The only thing he has chewed on is Carter's Ole Miss football jersey! I took a bunch of really cute pictures with my camera, but I cannot get them downloaded. Mark took this with his phone, but we had a hard time keeping him awake to take it!