Bribery -- Mommy Style

Apparently, the way to Lydon's heart is through his gas tank. All it took was the promise of one tank of gas for Lydon's new ride and he agreed to FINALLY cut that hair!

Going.......

going......

GONE!!!!

Pretend like this is that show "What not to Wear" when Nick finishes the hair cut and spins the person who is getting the make-over around and they do that split screen showing the before

and the after
And then pretend like this is the part where Lydon sees himself and starts to cry because he is so overwhelmed with the transformation and he talks about how this make-over has changed his life...........that didn't happen.

But I'm pretty dang happy!!

1, 2, 3 Strikes, you're out!

Poor Grandma Ruth's car succumbed to the 3 strike rule in less than six months--that's gotta be some kind of record (and not in a good way)!!

Strike one--broken windshield:

This little beauty earned Lydon some face time with Deputy Derik of the Morgan County Sheriff's Office. Deputy Derik then taught Lydon a valuable lesson about wearing his seat belt and always carrying his drivers license via a written warning.

Strike 2--crash:

Seems Lydon was a little busy keeping his eyes on the pretty girls that were walking home from school one day and didn't notice that the truck in front of him had stopped at the stop sign (go figure).

Strike 3--oil pan disaster:

Some how, Lydon put a hole in the oil pan of the car and then just kept on truckin til the oil ran out and the engine seized. This little event happened at 1:00 in the morning when it was 6 degrees below zero. What an adventure (NOT!!)

Being without a car has sure put a crimp in Lydon's social life and his mother's schedule. I forgot how convenient it was that Lydon could drive himself back and forth to school and back and forth to work, not to mention running Aaron around and going on errand runs for his dad!!

My most favorite Christmas present!

This handy dandy girl tool kit that my dad gave me..........

especially since I'm on a re-decorating, recycling, re-using, re-newing kick here at Casa Lafitte.

So far I have used it to elevate the bed

I fixed my jewelry box. Before: (it's missing a piece of wood at the top)

After: (my dad cut and shaped a piece of wood to replace the missing piece and I painted and attached it--we make a good team)

I've re-finished this mirror

And fixed up this bronzed fan that I purchased for a whole $5. (actually, Tim fixed the fan but he used my girly tool kit)

I'm still trying to figure out why my dad packed the backside of the bag with bandages????

Oops, I did it again

Mr. Lafitte liked my quilt so much he asked for one of his very own. So I whipped up another one in five hours. Top flannel sheet: Big Lots. Bottom sheet: Another Wal-Mart special for seven bucks!

I loved working with the plaid. No measuring, no worrying about getting all crooked. All I had to do was hit the middle of the square.

Did I mention that it took me only five hours. And that's with a dinner break in the middle.

Now the boys each want one. That will be my projects for next weekend.

I could get used to this. If only I could find a way to be able to quit my job so that I can stay home and make quilts all day!

Trouble has a middle name and it's spelled

C H A S T O N!

It was a dark and stormy night------well, it was dark and it was night but not so much stormy.

It all started with a cousin's sleepover for the boys a couple of days after Christmas. Bren and Chase slept over with Lydon and Aaron. They played games, watched a movie, ate some food.

The kids were having a great time and it seemed as if all was calm and quiet until........

Time log: 11:30 p.m.
The clue: A sweet little voice loudly asking:

"Is your refrigerator running?"

I had a genuine incident on my hands.

The crime: Prank Phone Calls

It was done by: Guest Chaston

In the bedroom With a phone

To whomever received a phone call on the night of December 30th at approximately 11:30pm, I sincerely apologize. I could tell by the sound of the phone call that you weren't able to understand the little prank caller on this end of the line asking if your refrigerator was running. I don't think that joke is a funny as it once used to be.

Please send all angry phone calls and hate mail to Chaston's father. I think I remember him doing the same thing when he was that age.

Yes...we had Christmas...even if I didn't post about it until a week later

We have Christmas partying down to a science! It was the 10th anniversary of the Netz-Lafitte-Carrigan-Roberts-Simms Christmas Eve party extravaganza. This year we added a new activity to the party........photo jumping. How many photo jumpers can you spot?

To start the party off, a little Christmas bingo (thanks Teresa).

After bingo, Santa arrived. It was hard to tell who was more happy to see Santa---Chaston the birthday boy or Pancho the Christmas dog.

After the kids each took a turn on Santa's lap, we all lined up for family pictures.

After Santa left we all sat down and had a little dinner.

Christmas Eve activity #1--Christmas ornament craft with pictures with Santa.

(Photo jumper #1--Chaston in Aaron's Christmas ornament picture)

Christmas Eve activity #2: Santa Clause cookies. This year Uncle Jill and Aunt Tiffany made pancakes for cookies (thanks Leslie).

(photo jumper #2--Chaston again!)

Christmas Eve activity #3: Show off your Christmas Eve Santa pj pants (that would be Santa on the backsides of everyone's jammies) Is it just me or is Chaston giving Aaron a Christmas goose on his Christmas jammies?

Christmas Eve activity #4: Secret Santa gift exchange (photo jumper #3-Timmy)

Even Grandpa Bob got in on the gift exchange action. This awesome little creature is a bank that Aaron made in shop class. It came fully equipped with a little "Christmas green" inside.

Christmas Eve activity #5: Cheezy kid Christmas photo. (Photo jumper #4-the can of olives Buster gave Aaron for Christmas)

And last but not least, Christmas Eve activity #6: Bagging up a little reindeer food to sprinkle on the front porch before bed time.

And the grand prize photo jumper of the night-This little beauty pulled off by Brennon. It was totally unexpected. Nice job Bren!

We partied till we were pooped! After we everyone left, we sprinkled our reindeer food on the porch, layed out our Santa cookie/pancake, recorded our Christmas wishes and went to bed.

With everyone tucked in their beds and thoughts of sugar plums dancing in their heads, Santa decided to make his appearance at about 3:00 a.m. How do I know, you ask? I know because at 3:00 a.m. while Santa sneaking in the Christmas presents, the Lafitte family burglar alarm freaked out and and went on a barking spree. It scared Santa half to death to the point where he almost wet his/her pants. Thanks Pancho.

The thing that set off the Lafitte family burglar alarm----these super cool video gaming chairs and that the boys got.

We finished off our Christmas morning by meeting up at Grandpa's house where all the kids were spoiled! The big kids were spoiled too. Grandpa feed us all with one of his new recipes that he got off the Pioneer Woman blog----breakfast burritos!