Only 3 More Weeks!!!

Alyssa and Sam will be getting married in just three more weeks! Things have been a little crazy, and we've all been running around trying to help as much as possible. I got my dress in today, and it's so pretty. Everything is pink...Alyssa's favorite color. It's going to be really pretty and soooo her.

The invitations went out a few weeks ago, but I haven't had time to post them. They turned out just perfect. This is going to be a fun weekend and will be here before we know it!

What a fun Christmas...

Wow, we're back from our Christmas travels! It gets kinda crazy. We did Christmas day with Lee's family this year...our first time... so we had to switch some things around. We went to the Coast to my grandparents' house with my aunt and her family on Friday night. We did Christmas Saturday and went to church together on Sunday. After gathering our things Sunday afternoon, we loaded up and went to Pontotoc. It poured down rain the entire way there, and we got to Lee's grandmother's house at 10:30 that night. We did gifts with all of them and got home at about 2am. We woke up Monday morning to a great breakfast with the whole family. After opening gifts with Lee's family, we went to Lee's other grandmother's house with the whole crew. It was really fun and lively! Lee got up the next morning to go hunting while I slept late! We left that afternoon, and I dropped Lee off in Louisville to go to Lake Forest Ranch for his yearly men's hunting trip and bible study. He loves it! My mom and Lia and Alyssa were here when I got back, so we spent some time together for a few days. My mom and Lia left yesterday afternoon. I mean, it has been crazy! It took me all afternoon and night until 3am to clean up our house. It was a wreck! Traveling around is always really crazy, but we are so lucky to be able to see all of our families. Lee and I decided right after we got married that we would make the sacrifices to make that work as long as it was possible. And we have a good time in the car together. It gives us time to talk and laugh and spend time together amongst all the madness.


One really fun thing that we started doing years ago was Christmas pajamas. My mom started this when I was in junior high or high school, but it was just our family. We would put our pajamas on and take lots of pictures all night long. Now that we're all spread out and meet up at my grandparent's house, we ALL do Christmas pajamas. It's really fun, but a lot of work. My poor mom starts looking for pajamas the day after Christmas for the next year. It's hard to find all the sizes for 15 people! We took over 100 pictures this year...I've only put a few of them in the album below. The funny thing is, we never do anything with them. We'll print off a few, but that's all. Maybe we just love to be in front of the camera!

Christmas 2006

Visiting The Pub

The night before we left to go out of town, my friend April had some of us over for appetizers and desserts. It was a fun little get together before we all went to The Pub to see the Delta Mountain Boys play. Tracy's husband plays in the band. This was our second time to go see them, so you could call us groupies!!! They're a really fun little bluegrass band that we love to cheer on.


April, Tracy, Kara, and me

Sweet Sally got married...

The weekend before Christmas break, Lee and I went to the Coast for Sally Hodges' wedding. Sally is my best friend Abe's little sister whom I've known almost my whole life - Abe's been my best friend since first grade. It was a sweet, sweet wedding. Their other brother, Stan, is Sally's twin, and he played a special part in the wedding. It was just really fun! The whole Hodges clan now lives in Marietta, Georgia, (except Stan - he's in Waco in seminary) so I miss them like crazy.

Lee said the reason for the look on Abe's face is because he knows I'm as crazy as Lee does! It's so great to have friends who go so far back that they really do know you...good or bad...and Abe could tell you both! We're both really lucky to have him as our friend.

Another really exciting thing - Abe has a girlfriend! Her name is Janice and she's so cute and super nice. Just really warm and friendly... I felt like I'd known her forever in a matter of minutes. To quote my friend Abe, "God is good!" Let's just keep this one around, Abe!

Look at Abe's face in this picture! He did that in one that he and I took, too. What's the deal?!

I realize I have no pictures with the bride. I don't know what I was thinking! Probably feeling sorry for her aching feet and sympathizing with her desire to spend some time with her new husband. Remember that girls?

Check these out...

How huge are these fish?! Every year before Thanksgiving, Lee and his dad go on a fishing trip to south Louisiana and stay at Boudreaux's Condeaux in Golden Meadow, Louisiana. Other men always go...a lot of family and close family friends. They have such a great time and always come back with some big fish, but these are enormous. I heard that Mr. Howard, Lee's dad, just let everyone hold all the fish he caught!
Uncle Jackie Hill, Mr. Paul Hall and Lee

Happy Birthday, Jenn!

Today is Jennifer Ray's birthday! Jenn, I hope you have a great day and that you get to do something really fun. Jennifer and her husband Brad are our great friends and are a part of our small group. Jennifer and I actually go way back...all the way to Girls' State. Same city and everything! Yes, we suffered through it together! Happy Birthday, Jennifer!

I've added music...

I've added music to the blog. Lia has it on her MySpace, so I copied her. If you hate it, scroll down to the bottom and turn it off!! You can also change the song and listen to what you like. Enjoy!

Kara's Fun Party

My friend Kara from my graduate school cohort had a Christmas party Saturday night and invited a few of us. There are 5 of us who have become really good friends, and we have so much fun together. This little group of people made going to class 2 nights a week this semester a lot easier. Wesley and his wife couldn't come because they had to do something at his school, but the rest of us were there. Kara was a wonderful hostess. Her house is sooo cute, and I got some cute ideas for Christmas decorations. I also left with a Mississippi magazine (thanks, Kara!). We are halfway finished!!! Only 4 or 5 class meeetings in the spring semester and then class every day for the month of June. It's exciting to see what the future holds for all of us! This is me, April, Kara, and Tracey. They are so fun!

Finally...

I have been complaining about my cell phone for so long now. I guess Lee finally got tired of it because he got me a new one this week. The buttons on my old one got stuck all the time, which made sending a text message or dialing a number not even worth it. I thought that I would just get some cheap new phone, but Lee went all out and got me a RAZR! I was so excited. I picked it up yesterday, and you would think I was a little kid the way I keep playing with it. It's so fun. What a nice early Christmas present! Thanks, Lee...

Santa knows what I want!

We had our small group Christmas party Friday night. It was so fun. It has been a while since we were all together-everyone has been so busy. So it was fun to catch up and just hang out. We played Dirty Santa - with good gifts - and I got a cute purse that Kara made from a placemat. I'll post it later. Our friends John and Catherine Cross put their precious little boy Thomas in a Santa outfit, so we all got to tell Santa what we wanted and take our picture with him. He has grown sooo fast! Jenny and Ryan came and brought their brand new twin babies, Crew and Carrington. And Kara and Kevin announced that they are having a boy! It was just a baby-filled night. It was fun to play with them all and hold them. Lee wouldn't dare hold them...he's so funny about it. He'll sit and look at them all night, but he's afraid he's going to break them if he holds them, so he just looks on. It's hilarious! We have been so blessed with this wonderful group of people. When we first joined last year, Lee and I were wondering if this was really the group for us, but at about this time, we realized how lucky we were to find these amazing friends who would pray with us and for us and hold us accountable. We have truly grown into a tightly knit group and serve as a strong support system for each other. Now we can't imagine our lives without them!

Me, Hope, Kara, Jenny, Carrington, Jennifer, Catherine, and Sarah.

We're missing Alicia Mattern. She and Will had to leave early for another party.

Me and Carrington. She is the sweetest little girl!

Jenny and Ryan and Crew and Carrington. Aren't they sooo cute? What sweet babies and parents!

Christmas has officially started!!

You can't really start Christmas until Santa has officially ridden on the back of a fire engine, right? I know, most of you are probably like me wondering what in the world Santa is doing on the back of a fire engine in the first place. Lee and I went to the Lexington, Mississippi, Christmas parade Thursday night. I was dreading it because it was so cold, but it was really fun. Lee's boss, Commissioner Hall, and his wife Jennifer were the Grand Marshalls of the parade. Lee has become friends with the mayor of Lexington through working with her, so she invited all of us to come to the parade and then eat at a restaurant there that she owns called Kittrell's. The parade was freezing. And it was my first small town Christmas parade. They have judges and everything to pick the winning float. It was unbelievable, but it was fun. And Kittrell's is amazing. The building is an old dime store they have renovated, so the atmosphere is really neat. But the food is just great. Definitely worth the drive every once in a while for both the experience and the food.







We're FREEZING!!

Commissioner Hall and his wife Jennifer serving as the Grand Marshalls.
The mayor's float. That's her waving in the middle.

This float was chosen by the judges as the winner. Look at all those blow ups!

Every parade has a nativity scene!

Lia's Variety Show

Ok, so I realize that when I start talking about Lia, most of you think, "Obsessed!" And you're right...I am. But I'm ok with it. And the thing is, I don't make the stuff up. She really is as great as I talk about all the time. She was in a variety show at her church, Champion Forest, last week. Of course, she decided at the last minute to do it, and they didn't even make her try out like everyone else had to do. The day of the show, she went upstairs to her dance room and ran through the dance she was performing a few times and changed a few things. She took an old costume and cut it up and walked out the door. The great news is...she won $50 for her dance!! She got third place. You can watch her dance here. It's on youtube.com, so some of you may not be able to pull it up at work. But it's worth watching at home. She's unbelievably talented. She gets it from her oldest sister! Yeah right!!



**Lia and her dance friends, Caitlin and Lauren, at the Disney Show last year.**

Life on the Rez...

How beautiful is this sky? My mom was here for a few days this week, and I wanted her to take some quick pictures of us for our Christmas cards. We called Lee as we were coming across the bridge and asked him to meet us at the water, all the while complaining that it really wasn't a pretty sky and that we would probaby have to do pictures again the next day. Wow, were we wrong. It was perfect! If it hadn't been so cold, we may have stayed out there and taken a lot of pictures, but we almost froze just doing the ones we did. This is one of my favorite things about living here, especially this time of year. We have the most beautiful sunsets right here at the end of our street. I know that it's pretty all year long, but after the time changes, we are normally coming home at the time the sun is setting, so we get to really enjoy it. We should do it more often!

We have lights!!!

I am so excited! Ever since I was very little, I have wanted to put lights on my house. Because we lived down a dirt road so far away from the street, we never did when I was growing up. The past two years have been too crazy to even consider dealing with it. But this year, we did! I just start giggling every time I pull in our driveway at night...I'm so excited! Don't they look great? Lee worked really hard on the lights yesterday, and we went last night to get the wreath. I took a picture with and without the flash because it's hard to see that he even put a spotlight on the wreath. I just love them!

Singleton girls know how to pick 'em!

This was our very last night in Houston. We went to eat at Pappasito's, a really good Mexican restaurant. The girls had been shopping all day...we were exhausted...and the guys met us there. Lia's boyfriend, Patrick, came with the guys. Isn't he so cute? And he's sooo nice. He's graduating from Klein this year and is going to Texas A&M in the fall. Did I mention that he's really smart, too? Lee and I had a really good time sitting and talking with him and Lia. They're so fun! It makes me so sad that I'm not there all the time to hang out with them. So I was looking at this picture and realized that we really know how to find our guys! Aren't they all so cute? (I definitely think I have the cutest!) We must have been taught well...

A Day for the Girls

So I'm sure you're wondering what on earth is going on here!! This was in Houston over Thanksgiving week. My mom decided that we needed a day to just relax and take it easy, so the girls went to have manicures and pedicures. Once we got there, we decided to add a few things. Some of us had massages, some had facial waxing, others had their hair done. It was so fun! The people were so sweet and just did whatever we wanted to do. It was a very relaxing day, and I think the guys were jealous!