I plan and I try......

I plan and I try all year to get to November and December and there not be chaos.... well.....WHATEVER! :) it doesn't matter - it's still all out chaos and bedlam! I THOUGHT this year would be easier (of course that was BEFORE there was a November wedding!). Kade had already said he didn't want to be in the Christmas program at church so I thought, "Hmmmm, no weekly practice, no more preparation...." Guess what! STILL.CHAOTIC.AT.MY.HOUSE!!!

Thanksgiving was good. Great times with family. No need to do a thankful post. I thank God every.day.of.my.life for what he has given me. HE is the one that provides and blesses me daily. And even though I will never begin to be able to repay him for the the blessings he gives, I still tell him very often! And if anyone ever wants to talk about God's miracles and his awesome mercy, call me. I have amazing stories to share! Several people have told me I needed to write a book and classify it as a spiritual romance novel. I see it on the best-seller list in my mind. :)

Didn't do the Black Friday shopping this time. Man, I am OLD! :) Lee and I decided it was worth the extra money we were going to have to pay to get the items we needed, without the stress of Black Friday! That's all I needed to know - I was good with that. Of course, since he is a Store Manager for Lowes - I was still up at 2:30 a.m. helping get him off to work. But then I got to sleep for a while longer!

Of course we watched the ballgame. Or I PARTIALLY watched the game. Didn't keep my interest for very long. Roll Tide!

I now have seven Christmas trees up! Only one left that I'm still working on and thinking of adding a new one to my repertoire. We are hosting the church "middle-age" group Christmas party this year. I had said I wasn't putting them all up..... (enter MORE chaos here....)

Last night (Monday) the great ladies at Higdon were giving Kylee and Lauren (engaged to Kyle Young) a "necessities" shower/party (soap, lotions, etc.). So Melia and I went. Of course I had to leave straight from work and I ended up having to work over and it was raining/snowing. But we made it! It was a GREAT shower. Kylee shouldn't have to go to the store for a year! lol. I was thinking maybe I needed one of those! :)

Kylee had set her tree up a few days back. But it was just sitting there, waiting on Mom to help decorate it.... so after the shower me and Melia ran to Kylee's and went to work in a wild, rush, it's-snowing-and-we-are-on-this-mountain, frenzy! Erik was amazed. ha. We decorated that tree in record time - and low and behold, she has a gorgeous tree! I told her it looked like something from Trees and Trends! None of MY trees look that good!! We helped her put the rest of her Christmas decor out and then we took off for home. Got home at 11:15ish. Overslept this morning. Kade missed the bus. Had to take him all the way to Gurley. Was VERY late for work. Ugh! But just to add some Christmas cheer....here's KYLEE'S tree! I haven't even made pictures of my my own yet! (And excuse the poor iPhone quality picture!) :)

Tis the Season!!

Loving it....

Lee and I both bought new iPhones a few months back. I liked it. Didn't see any thing majorly big about it. UNTIL......I found Instagram. I LOVE Instagram (okay, and I have a slight addiction to Words with Friends - username "Marty Rogers" if anyone wants to play.) Back to Instagram - my username there is mkrogers3081. Have any of you used it? I just love the pics - maybe because I'm a photographer. You take pictures with your phone and then you can use their filters to change the way it looks. Aaaaahhhhh! My kind of thing! Yesterday, I found out (by googling) that you can download your Instagram pics to your desktop. Which means.....I can now share them on my blog! So here are a few pics from my phone!


The picture I sent to my husband at work one day. His response, "Oh no you are not!" My response, "Oh yes I already did! :)"


Kylee and Erik's wedding.


Our sweet baby.


Cooking orange blossoms.....YUM!


Me and the kids....very bored at Lowes while ordering Kylee's carpet.

Something a little different!

Melia and I had a chance to participate in something a little different than what we normally do. My great-uncle, Jack Kelly (yes, my dad is named after him), is a very very big UAH Charger basketball (and Alabama football! Roll Tide!) supporter and has been for years. He actually travels across the United States with them during their season to watch them play (did I mention he is in his 80s? :)) Uncle Jack donated the money for UAH to do some upgrades to their program, and in return, UAH dedicated their ball court to Uncle Jack, except he asked that they name it the "George Artis and Ethel Atchley Kelly Court" which is my great-grandparents. They had a court dedication between the mens and womens basketball games last night (November 14th 2011). It was actually pretty cool! They had court-side seats set up for the family....I never realized how HUGE college basketball players were, it was a little scary being that close to them!! lol. Kade went with us and he was thrilled, he loved every minute of it. Below is the official logo that is on the court and the press release that UAH has on their website. I took a lot of pictures but haven't downloaded them yet, I will add those when I get them finished.



HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Following a very generous donation from retired Huntsville businessman Jack Kelly, the gymnasium playing floor at Spragins Hall will be named the George Artis and Ethel Atchley Kelly Court, the University of Alabama in Huntsville Department of Athletics announced Monday.

The naming of the court was approved by the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama System on Sept. 16, and the logo will be painted on the floor on Oct. 11-12 to ensure that the floor will bear the new name in time for Midnight Madness, which will take place on Oct. 15 at 12:01 a.m.

“Jack Kelly is a man who is widely respected in the Huntsville community, and it is with great pleasure that we adorn our basketball and volleyball playing court with the names of both of his parents," said Director of Athletics Dr. E.J. Brophy. "Mr. Kelly has always been a strong supporter of UAH Athletics and we greatly appreciate his generosity as we continue to strive to take our athletic programs to new heights”.

The Kelly gift will make possible the creation of a state-of-the-art film room, additional donor room, locker room renovations and video boards in the Spragins Gymnasium. The Chargers are coming off of an impressive 29-5 campaign in 2010-11 that saw them win the Gulf South Conference East Division crown, the South Regional Championship and advance to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in Springfield, Mass.

Remembering the Details.....

Our Children - in pictures

My husband and I are extremely blessed. We have added another son to our family and we are so proud of him. Our beautiful daughter was married on Saturday in a picture perfect wedding. We had prayed and prayed and worried and worried when she decided on an outside wedding, IN NOVEMBER. But we could not have asked for a more amazing day. We are so overjoyed for the two of them. Here are just a sampling of the pictures. There will be many more!