They made it through a BLIZZARD!!!!!!

Now being from the deep South I do not think that any of us can quite imagine what the word "blizzard" really means unless we are in one....but I'll tell you this, if my Mother was terrified even in the slightest, I know it was BAD!!!!
So around 8:00PM last night I get this cryptic text from my Mother that reads "going 1mph in blizzard....terrifying" so I am thinking that's not too good but I trust Doug to drive it because hell, he grew up in Canada and knows how to do these things. However, I was still uneasy until I received the next text about an hour and a half later "we made it to Gralf's, it was SO SCARY"...I mean really, lets think about this....my ENTIRE family is on this one short bus here....I was glad to know they made it safely to destination No. 3!!!

FYI - "Gralf" is what we call Doug's father whose name is Alf, Gralf stands for something like "grandpa Alf" you get the idea. Oh, and his wife Deb is "Greb"so it's Gralf & Greb"

Gralf & Greb live in Maxwell, Ontario, Canada

Idle time....what to do with it?

So, my ENTIRE family loaded up in my Sister's "Big Winnie" (that's what we fondly refer to her Winnebago as) and headed north Christmas day to do some visiting of family and friends on both sides of the US/Canada border! And by "entire" I mean My Mother, her husband, his son, Peyton, my Sister, Brother-in-law and their 2 boys! Everyone that I would normally see or talk to every day. Peyton is 10 years old now, well fixing to be 11 in March, so I have TOTALLY FORGOTTEN what it is like to have "free time"!!!!!! By the 3rd day I was so incredibly bored and man was I SO READY to go back to work today. I think it's the first time in my life that I was thankful it was Monday!

Peyton in the snow!!!!

Peyton has gotten to see "real snow" at my Aunt Les' and Uncle Dan's home in Ontario, New York, so she was really happy! They crossed over in to Canada last night and are currently in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. From there they will head to visit Doug's Dad, Step-mom and Sister then to Doug's Mother's and other Sister's house then to visit the Greene's. (who, by the way are some of my favorite friends of Doug's, they went on the cruise with us last summer) Then after that, they are heading back down South and will be home on Jan. 4. So, needless to say, I am pretty much bored to tears!

Mother & Peyton in front of the falls!

Christmas at Nanny's...helping others....

So this past Saturday we had our annual Christmas dinner-get together at my Nanny's house (my Mother's mother). Several years back we made this rule that only the kids get a gift since all the rest of us are old now and no one really needs anything, etc. Well, instead what we do is each person or branch of the family saves all their change throughout the year and a different person from the family each year gets to pick a charity in which we will give this money to. We all bring out our change jars, jugs, bags, piggy banks and what have you and after we eat we pour it all out on a big table and sit around and seperate it, roll it then count it all up, try and keep Blayd from eating the it....the child loves to put change in his mouth, during which we have fun conversation, catch up with the out of towners and get extremely DIRTY hands...you have NO IDEA how NASTY money is!!!! This year we managed to save up I believe the total was somewhere around $1,300-1,400 dollars! My sister was the lucky one to get to pick the charity this year and the donation is going to The American Cancer Society in honor of our Nanny surviving cancer and our Cousin Lucius Powers succumbing to his brain cancer this past August.

You can't imagine how much more fulfilling it is to do something like this and give to those less fortunate or help out a local charity than to just shower everyone with more gifts they do not need! We have been doing this for several years now and we really enjoy it, except for the nasty money hands afterwards, but it is worth it!

Side Note on Nasty Money Hands: You would have thought I was scrubbing in for surgery if you saw me washing up afterwards...lol...

Some Gatlinburg Pics as Promised! (a few anyway)

Peyton, Stephanie and Kaitlyn on the SKY LIFT.....no way was I riding that

thing up a mountain!

UBP - United Balled Pythons

This pic if from competition the first day....you can see Peyton in the second stunt group from the left.
Peyton in her snazzy airbrushed pullover she just HAD to have!

Somewhat of a front view of the house we were in...I could not back up far enough to take a pic of the whole thing or I would have tumbled down the mountain into a log cabin!

Glad to be home!

This past Thursday through Sunday we went to Gatlinburg, Tennessee for the annual Jamfest Cheerleading competition. It was incredibly C-O-L-D the whole entire time we were there! I love the cold so I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was actually cold enough that it snowed on some of the mountains and we were able to take the girls up and let them play in it for a bit.

We stayed at this AMAZING house on the mountain called Belvedere and it was spectacular. HUGE HUGE HUGE! It was very creepy though trying to maneuver a Yukon Denali up a twisty mountain driveway wide enough for a Vespa!! Very scary at times!

Friday night the girls rode a float in the annual Christmas parade and nearly froze to death it was a balmy 27 degrees out there with brisk wind! Needless to say we dropped them off at the meeting site and found a restaurant towards where they would end up and dined, drank and stayed nice and warm waiting on them!

Peyton post-parade FROZEN!!!


The girls came in 2nd by LESS than 1/10th of a point!!! However, they were psyched because they did really well and received the "Most Entertaining Routine" award as well.

It was a great trip and great fun and I did not take as many photos as I should have, go figure but I will post them ASAP.

Congratulations, Peyton!!!

CONGRATS, PEYTON!!!!
First Place this weekend at Athletic Nationals in Atlanta!!!
GO PYTHONS!!!!

Even the kiddos know what's what!!!!

Blayd Sporting his BAMA jersey!

Future player???

Peyton & her friend Haliee....if they were not so busy attempting to be thugish rugish gangstas, then we could all see that those are BAMA hats they are sporting!!!

Yes, in their typical fashion, Alabama did their damnedest to try and give me a heart attack as I watched the game. It was shaky a few times but I'll take it! This was a big win in a long needed and way over due great season for my boys!

ROLL TIDE!!!!!!!!

First Competition of the Season

(Peyton & Brianna)

So, this past weekend we had the first cheerleading competition of the 2008-2009 season! I was excited to start it up again, it is always fun to go and watch them. We traveled to Cheersport at the Arena at the Gwinnett Center in Gwinnett County, GA. They came in 3rd in the Youth Level 3 Division which is not bad at all!

Peyton's friend from school Hailee went with us and had a great time even though she was stuck with me, Mother and Jared for the duration because Peyton has to stay with her team once we are there. She was a real trooper and really enjoyed watching all the different squads.

(Peyton & Hailee on the way up there)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BLAYD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is Mr. Blayd Powers Mann's FIRST BIRTHDAY today!!!! The big 0-1!!!!! I just can not believe that a whole year has gone by so quickly!!! I sang a rousing round of "Happy Birthday" to him this morning only to have him grin and look at me like I was an idiot while Brodie giggled and threw a word in here and there....Happy Birthday, Blayd!!!

Another great costume.....

My Sister & Douglas..........Risky Business........

Don't you just love the Halloween season?

Halloween is GREAT. It is so much fun for the kiddies to get dressed up and trick or treat and all and the fun parties and such....but it is also a tremendous amount of fun and laughs to see the adults as well. This is the first in what I am sure will be several posts of costumes and Halloween fun.

Behold, Captain America, also known as Danny Sasser, my cousin Christie's boyfriend....I just LOVE this!!!!

Noah Blake

I just HAD to post this picture....how cute is he?!?!? Noah Blake, Jill & Bobby's little boy.

Help the Hooch

This past Saturday we went to Idle Hour Park/Moon Lake for "Help the Hooch"....Peyton is the leader of Lakewood Elementary School's Community Problem Solving Team (CmPS) and they have over the past year really done so much to get all but one of the Phenix City Schools to implement recycling programs. They have gotten the city government on board by getting them to pick up the recyclables 2 or 3 times a week from each school and they have gotten many, many local businesses involved as well. Well, Saturday, the Mayor issued a proclamation to Peyton and her group for "America Recycles Day in Phenix City, Alabama"(or something really close along the lines of that) and Peyton gave a short speech about all they have done and what they will continue to do. They have successfully gotten kiosks put up at Moon Lake and the Roy Martin Center and the Phenix City Amphitheater for people to put their plastic bottles in to recycle.

After this we cleaned up the park....you would be AMAZED at the things you can find if you can make it past the attack Geese and all their feathers and pooh.....

Mother even managed to accidentally catch a teeny tiny fish in a plastic bag she pulled out of the water and this little girl behind us kept saying "daddy, daddy, I found another balloon" needless to say they were NOT balloons if you catch my drift....oh what surprises there were at the park!!! I found a cell phone in the bushes that had been suspiciously severed in to pieces in strange ways and the sim card location was all jacked up...it looked REALLY fishy to me and seems as if it was disposed of in this way on purpose....I managed to refrain from alerting the local FBI office to this find of mind.....I watch WAAAYYYY TOOO much CSI and the like!!! :)

Did I NOT get the memo???

I mean really.....is there something going on in the bi-city area that I am not aware of in relation to the bicycle and any variation thereof??? Okay, so if you do not remember my previous post about the sighting of the penny-farthing riding around downtown Columbus then please see it now a few posts down before reading any further here.

Seriously, I am either unaware of something or people are just getting a tad bit odd these days, but I suppose the astronomical gas prices can do this to anyone.... not only was I blessed with the aforementioned penny farthing sighting, but today I see a man riding around downtown Columbus on a UNICYCLE!!!!!!







Yes, my friend, you read that correctly, I said a UNICYCLE!!! As is one tire, not two!!! I mean, did C-town suddenly become the headquarters for Ringling, Barnum & Bailey's recruiting??? Do you know how strange it is to be just cruising along in your vehicle on a path you take everyday and have strange sightings such as these??? It really throws you for a loop.....

Goodbye to Blue

My sister and brother-in-law's beloved dog, BLUE, passed away this weekend......he was the best dog ever and very much a part of the family!

Click here to read her blog about him and see his picture http://mann17.blogspot.com/2008/10/farewell-blue-my-first-son.html

Goodbye, Blue...we love you!!!!!!

Just because.....

I am wearing black slacks and heels and a red shirt today does not mean that I am playing the role of a Georgia Bulldogs fan today. Persons who will remain nameless in my office today have felt the need to say "oohhh, nice GA outfit" whilst attempting to give me the "high-5" and stating a "Go Dawgs" EVERY SINGLE TIME that we encounter.....needless to say I just smile and in my kindest voice I ask them with a faux puzzled look on my face to please remind who exactly it was that won the GA-Alabama came because I just can't seem to recall as I bid them a smile and a hearty "Roll Tide" and go on my merry way!

NOTE TO SELF: Do not, I repeat, DO NOT wear said Georgia-esqe outfit again during football season AGAIN unless, of course, I am in fact playing the role of a Georgia fan that day!

The sacrifices we make for our children!

So, Saturday night was probably the biggest game of the season for my boys, Alabama, yet I took my Peyton and her friend Hailee to see Taylor Swift which just happened to be AT THE EXACT SAME TIME AS THE GAME!!!! Luckily my Mother was kind enough to text me throughout the concert to keep me up to date.....ROLL TIDE!
It was CRAZY LOUD in there and all the little girls were just wild! Taylor Swift put on a great show and is so cute!!!
Needless to say, I would not have missed the concert for the world!!!! Peyton was SO EXCITED and we somehow managed to get her THIRD ROW seats so that was even better!!!! Her excitement was well worth missing that game!!!!

I just saw the STRANGEST thing.....

driving down 13th in Columbus running some errands. I was at the red light by the Carmike Building and this man, now he looked as if he should be riding a Harley lowrider or something of that nature, was just merrily bee bopping along down Broadway on one of those bicycles with a huge front wheel and an itty bitty back wheel....that I now know is called a penny-farthing (see above pic) since I had to do a bit of research to get a picture of one online. Just picture a rather big burly man in a muscle shirt ( I really do not need any further explanation after stating that fact I am sure), long flowy mullet-esque locks flowing in the wind and work boots!!!

He looked absolutely RIDICULOUS! It was probably the most comical thing that I have seen...well, at least today anyway.

I am just sorry that I was not quick enough to snap a shot of him before he passed.....

Rock Star?????

Brodie got a new toy drum set today......

Love, Love, Love Football Season

ROLL TIDE!

Go Bama!!!

My 2 favorite men!

My nephews, Brodie & Blayd

It's that time of year again.....

to get ready for cheerleading! Peyton cheers for United All-Stars Balled Pythons. For those of you who are not familiar with this it is a "competition all-star" cheerleading team. This is her 5th year with United and she loves it! It is much hard work and lots of travel, time, energy and money but well worth it in the end! GO PYTHONS!!!!



I will have to write more about the competitive cheerleading world for those of you who are not a part of it or know nothing about it.....it is UNREAL......sometimes scary and almost cult-like but always a good time!

Can you believe it....5th GRADE!!!!

It is crazy to me that Peyton entered the 5th GRADE this year!!!! WOW! 10 years old!!! Time flies SO FAST you just do not realize it!

Give it a try....

Okay, so I think I might try this whole blog thing out. Lots of folks I know have them and it is a FABULOUS way to keep up with everyone and everything, however, I am not sure that I can commit to making regular posts and what have you because let's face it, I am just not that dedicated. :) So there, that is my "disclaimer" as to my future lack of posts, etc...we shall see how this goes!!!!