Accomplishment!

I just paid my LAST truck note! HOORAY! It is officially paid off. This makes me feel very accomplished and proud! Sounds silly, I know. I bought this car for myself on my 21st birthday. I had a heck of a truck note, but LOVED it. When my ex-husband and I were going through our rough patch everyone was telling us to file bankruptcy and I said, "Absolutely not!" I did not want to and I was going to work my butt off to make sure we/I didn't. It was not even an option for me, especially because I did not want to loose my truck that I had been paying for this whole time. I always took care of my bills and paid them on time so why should my credit have to suffer for something that I didn't even do kind of thing. After all of that and the divorce and not getting child support, I, ME, MYSELF have paid off my truck!! It strained my bank account after I got left with nothing and I have indeed struggled to pay this thing off these past year, but I DID IT!! On my own. So now I get to drive around a truck that I love and it is ALL MINE! Can not wait to get that title. Feels so good.

Let's see what else, Christmas is only 7 days away, I can not believe it. I am so excited! I just loving giving presents to all of my friends and family. My family always gets frustrated with me because every year they will ask me what I want for Christmas and I always say, "World Peace!" and I am completely serious but they always tell me they can not give me that. I have everything I have ever wanted and needed so the material things are just things. And just being with my loved ones on Christmas is enough for me. And let's not forget what Christmas is really about. At Skylar's school this past week they were having their little Christmas party and before lunch they sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and it just brings tears to my eyes! Also, Skylar has really enjoyed our little "Elf on the Shelf" this year. She wakes up every morning wondering where "Aunt Evie" is? (that is our little elf's name) It is so cute, and she always gets a kick out of her tricks and where she finds her. Every night when Sky sees it getting dark outside she will say, "It's getting dark outside Mommy, it is almost time for Aunt Evie to fly through the sky to the North Pole." It is just so cute to see her get so excited. This year is going to be a fun Christmas morning for Skylar! She is 3 and is the perfect age! Here is our cute little Elf playing with our dogs and doing some tricks.....

Hope you all have a very merry Christmas! This week is fun-filled with activities for me and my family!

Santa Claus

For the past two years Skylar has been pretty scared of the big ole guy in the red suit that comes around Christmas. Jonathan, Skylar and I decided to go to the mall and do some shopping and let Sky play on the playground and ride the carousel and jump on the trampoline and all of that fun stuff. She has a boo boo on her face that is right by her lip so Jonathan and I were not going to do Santa pictures until this went away. We get to the mall and she does the spider jump first, of course. Then we eat lunch and get some ornaments made and she notices Santa. She gets all excited and says, "I want to go see SANTA!" I said, "Okay baby, you want to sit in his lap and take a picture with him?", She is so excited and says, "YEAH!". Jonathan and I kind of look at each other like well, we should not really pass this up since she is so excited to see him. We walk straight up to the lady, no one else was in line, Jonathan and I are talking to her while Skylar just goes right over to Santa and hops up in his lap and they are just talking. She takes the absolute cutest pictures and then her and Santa are talking about what she wants for Christmas and they give each other a big hug and she waves bye and says, "Bye Santa, I love you!". I mean it was just so priceless and such a big deal because she is always terrified. Let me back track to last year real quick...... Sky was 2 so Jonathan and I took her to see Santa in Millington and there was a long line, it was cold, after she waited patiently in line, we are starting to get closer to her turn. I kept making a big deal about it and telling her he is so nice and has candy, yadda yadda. She is pretty excited, she kept saying, "I want to see Santa". So we are the last ones in line and it is her turn...Santa calls her name and she just starts screaming crying. So pitiful. I went up there with her and she did not want any part of him. She did quit crying and sat on my lap while Santa attempted to talk to her. Our picture turned out okay. I was sitting beside Santa and she was frowning in my lap. And the year before that, she was crying and I was sitting on Santa's lap. I'm sure he just loved that. So needless to say this was a HUGE deal that she sat by herself on his lap and she fell in love with him. She did not have on her perfect Christmas outfit and her boo boo was there but the whole experience of seeing Santa was so worth it that it did not even matter! We went up to pick up our ornaments on the second floor and we looked down to see Santa later on. Skylar yells out, "Santa!!", he did not hear us, she yells again, "SANTA CLAUS!!" He turns and waves so big at her and that just made her day!! It just made my day too. Good times at the mall. Meanwhile we get home and catch our little doggie eating our popcorn string off the Christmas Tree! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Bedtime Part 2

So I have been trying to get Skylar to sleep in her own bed as you know. The first attempt was pretty good, I stayed in her bed with her until she fell asleep, then snuck out around midnight. Jonathan and I were still awake around 1:30 when she woke up and was confused on where I was, we laughed at her on the monitor for a minute then she opens our door to our room and in the sweetest voice ever whispers, "Hey Mommy!" I said, "Hey baby" and she climbed up in our big ole bed and put my arm around her and she fell right asleep. It was so sweet and priceless I just could not say no. So she slept in her bed for about 3 hours by herself that night. (Which is big) So last night I tell her she is going to have to sleep in her room and if she sleeps in there all night I would take her to Baskin Robins and she would have a surprise under her pillow, oh and that she would get to wear her Tinkerbell dress ALL day long. She was very excited!! So I went to lay in there with her, we both fell asleep, I woke up around 12:30 and went into my room. I turned her monitor on but did not turn the sound on. So about 2:00 am I hear our door open, Sky says so sweet again, "Hey Mommy!", and I said, "Hey baby!". She crawled into our bed, but I noticed her pants and panties were all wet. I asked her what happened and she said " I don't know." She obviously wet the bed. So I proceeded to change her clothes, I washed the pee off of her legs and left her in my bed with no pants or panties because I had to get some more from her room. I go into her room, walk right into my dog's throw up, clean it up, get Sky some new clothes, go back into my room to find her already asleep in the 2 minutes I left her there. She has never wet the bed like that, if she has to go in the middle of the night she always wakes me up and tells me. Poor thing was all confused because she was in her own bed. After all that the three of us slept very good in our big ole bed! We will try again tonight.......

The Proposal...

So my family and I took a trip to Pigeon Forge, TN this past week, which Jonathan and I both LOVE it there! We had a great first couple of days, we took Skylar on her first helicopter ride, we all went horse back riding, played mini golf, and I had told my family that I would like to stay in on Wednesday night because the CMA's were coming on, which I love. So, Mom, Dad, Jonathan, Skylar and I are all in our pj's just being lazy by the fire and watching the Country Music Awards. Skylar went upstairs to watch her favorite movie for like the 7th time that day, Lilo and Stitch. About half way through the show, Jonathan goes upstairs to "go to the bathroom" is what he said. A few minutes later, Skylar walks down the stairs and has both of her hands behind her back with a sweet/up to something smirk on her face. She hands me this little box and runs back upstairs. Jonathan, who is still upstairs looking over the loft into the living room staring down at me, has the biggest smile on his face. I opened this little box and saw the most beautiful sparkling diamond I had ever seen. I looked up at him and said, "REALLY?" He smiled then came downstairs and sat beside me on the couch and proceeded to tell me how much he loved me and loves Skylar like his own, then said, "Will you MARRY ME?" I smiled and said YES! (of course). My Mom about tore the box out of my hand when she saw me open it, and screamed loud enough to wake up the neighbors in Mississippi. She was so excited she didn't know what to do. My reaction was very low key. It is funny because him and have talked about this day since we have been together pretty much and so when the day finally came, it was like OMG, it's happening!! I was almost shocked and I was definitely caught off guard, which was his plan. We have not set a date yet, that is the magic question that all of our friends and family want to know. Don't worry, we will tell y'all as soon as we know. We are so excited about taking this next step. Thank GOD for kickball! Which is where we met, and I almost did not go to the game that night, God sure does work in mysterious ways!

Bedtime

My daughter has been sleeping in my bed with me since she was born. I absolutely LOVE it, but also realize that she needs to sleep in her own room. So, for her birthday I re-did her room and got her a full size bed, re-painted her walls, put a TV in there for her, in the hopes that she would be excited about sleeping in her new "big girl" room. Well....it has been a little hard, I just can't make her go in there, the one night that I tried she had taken a really late/long nap that day, so she was not even tired. She kept crying and saying "MOMMA!! I want you in here!" and it just broke my heart. I hated it. So, after going in there and trying to calm her down about six times, I finally caved around one am and went in there and slept with her. She was much more calm and relaxed. I know it is the easy way to let her sleep with us or me sleep with her, but I just really hate to hear her cry like that. I am a wimp and can not handle it. So, I figured I would try again the next day, but then realized that Jonathan was going out of town for five days and I have just let her sleep with me since he has been gone. He comes home tomorrow, so it looks like I have some work to do this week....


On a funny note: My family and I were all out at dinner on Thursday night and Skylar was putting butter on her roll, just like all of us, and she kept licking the knife. My Mom, who is just paranoid about stuff like that, kept trying to distract her and ask her if she wanted to use a fork instead. I told my Mom a couple of times, "Mom, she is fine, quit worrying!" Mom looks at me all crazy eyed and just huffs. Mom waited a little bit then said something else to Skylar about using a fork, Skylar calmy looks at me and says, "Mom, tell Boshi(which is what she calls my Mom) that I AM FINE!" We all just looked at each other and died laughing!! This child is just me all over. So then Mom says, "Well, I guess she told me".

Catch up

Here is the "cliff note" version of my life......Was with my high school sweetheart for almost 10 years, we got married, had a child together. ( Her name is, Skylar)  I gave up everything to pursue his career dreams. Moved to MS, which I am from Memphis, TN, not a far move, but also not my home. Him and I ran a business together and made six figures a year and we were finally financial stable. I was fortunate enough to be a stay at home Mom for almost a year. After my daughter's first birthday I decided to leave my husband. There had been a lot of changes and unexpected secrets that had happened in our marriage. Got a divorce in 2009, bought a new house and then I officially was a single parent, with a new job and on a budget. My life was turned upside down in a matter of minutes. Me, being the person I am stayed strong for my little girl and busted my butt to make ends meet. My daughter was my life and my focus and kept me going everyday. When I was pregnant, her father and I always said we wanted our daughter to look just like me and have her Daddies smarts. Well we could not have been more wrong. She looked/looks just like her Daddy and could not be anymore like me. (Hints the blog address). I am a little fireball and am not afraid to speak my mind to ANYONE. I do things on my own time and I am very hard headed and determined to get something done. I am also very hyper and animated and have a slight attitude and sass about me. Sometimes, I think I am a know it all and will not ask for help. I like to figure things out own my own. My parents and anyone that knows me have always said, "your daughter is JUST LIKE YOU! OMG!!" So, anytime Skylar does anything that is so "Jamie" my parents just laugh and say, "This is your payback, Ha Ha". Needless to say I appreciate my parents that much more for having to put up with my crap. She does not always respond when she is acting or doing something that reminds me of me so I say, "JUNIOR" and she turns her head right away and we all just laugh. She is the most amazing little girl I have ever met and so smart, she impresses me everyday with all of her knowledge. She pays attention to detail and will copy anything you say or do. She is the love of my life and that is one of the greatest gifts I got out of my marriage. Now, meet Jonathan(also known as JT), my boyfriend...We have known each other for about 3 years. We played kickball together and I always thought he was a snob because he would hardly ever talk to me. Turns out he is just a good ole southern gentleman that did not carry on conversations with me because I was married. I had no clue that type of man existed anymore. We started the spring season up and he found out I was a single lady again and made his move. We went to this bar/grill that the team always went to after our kickball games and talked the night away. We closed the place down at 3am and continued our conversation in the parking lot for 2 hours. Then realized it was almost time for me to go to work, we went and had breakfast at the local CK's Coffee Shop and when he asked if we could pray before our meal, I knew he was a keeper. We hugged goodbye and I went to work (in my kickball uniform mind you and no sleep). A couple days later he came over to my house and then never left. It was a match made in Heaven! He is the most passionate, gentle man I have ever met. You know how sometimes when you start dating you think, we might break up or one thing sets you off and that's it. The thought of ever breaking up has still to this day never crossed my mind. It was love at first sight! He is my soul mate and this whole life of mind goes to show that God really does work in mysterious ways. Sometimes you have to take the hard road, but the ending is worth the wait. Wedding talks and babies are definitely in the near future........