this weekend...

...was full and so much fun! friday, we have a mini cookout in the backyard. john pulled out the smoker...we didn't get to use the big daddy! have i told you that i kill for my husband's barbeque? i'm not a killer...but don't LET HIM make bbq!!! it's so serious i feel it's every man (woman or child!) for himself when i'm eating his bbq!!! anywho, i had a hankering for some bbq burgers (NOW you know why i weight 1,000 pounds!). i was just gonna do burgers in the oven but my husband insists on doing things PROPERLY...bbq burgers MUST be done outside (i think it's in the man handbook...page 354, paragraph 2!) like i said, daddy pulled out the smoker

and mama pulled out the camera!

we didn't stay out too long; i thought the weather was beautiful...there was a slight breeze and everythang...hubbs is allergic to heat, though! we did get a chance to talk, take a few pix (and no i didn't comb my hair...i was in my OWN BACK YARD!!!)...there was even entertainment:everybody (and everything!) must be feeling spring fever!!! ;) anywho, the burgers were just as good as i envisioned them...the fries...not so much!!! i've discovered that i don't like grilled fries...too smoky for my delicate palette!!!





saturday, this boy

sorry, this YOUNG MAN
went to his senior prom!!! Lord KNOWS my nerves were bad!!! i mean, i'm not too old to remember what HAPPENS on prom night! so, i asked if we could expect him back by two...he laughed HEARTILY in my FACE!!!! wow!!! we used to at least PRETEND with our parents...the times...they are a changin', i tell ya!!! he said, i'll be back by four. since he lives with his father now, i don't really regulate his comings and goings anymore...but since he was driving MY truck, i felt like i did have some say. but, jamani's a good kid. he didn't give me TOO much trouble growing up. i mean, a couple of times i thought about sending him to personally meet Jesus but he never did drugs or anything like that and i don't have any grandkids running around. plus, i asked him if he needed me to supply him with some condoms and he declined. (yes! i DO get down with my kids, brother and cousins like that! i tell them all the time: i would be disappointed if you have sex before falling in love/marrying but i know about the feelings you get and the inability sometimes to ignore them. so, before bringing home a baby or your penis in your hand...be PROTECTED if you DO make the decision to become active!) anywho, i thought i wouldn't be able to sleep so i worked on my assignments for tally. i was CONVINCED that i would be up until he walked in the door...by 9:30 i was sound asleep! i did get up at 3 and hubbs and i sat up until jamani walked in the door...at 3:48!!!! i was SO proud of him, y'all!!! he fully understands that his mama is not completely right upstairs and would have gone OFF if he had been later than about 4:15 so he decided to do the right thing and come in on time!!! a few weeks ago, my mom in florida asks him,"jamani, you'll be 18 and grown soon, right?" his reply? "i'll be legal...not grown!" i told him, "son, that was truly spoken like a child whose going away to college soon and knows he's gonna want some help from his parents!" he said, "mama, that's EXACTLY why i phrased my answer that way!" i raised him RIGHT, y'all!!!
sooo, sunday i got this in bed:

plus, hubbs brought my favorite breakfast to me:

oh, how i LOVE smothered liver and grits! (more evidence of why i need big bootie clothes!!!) once we ate breakfast and the boys were cleaning the kitchen-well, while jamani and ahmad cleaned and kea pretended to be napoleon-hubbs gave me my gifts! he started out with five blouses! they were cool! two of them i never would have picked out myself but none were like "oh, Lord, i will slit my WRISTS before i wear this!" i can't fit two of them but it's cool...i'll just return them and get the big bootie size! i was messaging my girl, taj saturday telling her that i was afraid of what my husband might buy for mother's day. she said, "don't worry...he knows you better than anyone but Jesus." i told HER if he DID know me as well as Jesus, he'd buy me a gift card and let me pick out my OWN clothes! well, guess what, taj? i guess john DID ask what would Jesus do? because he bought me a gift card, too!!! i don't like the mall but i dislike wearing the same thing over and over and over even more so i guess i'll have to get there soon!







john made a reservation a few weeks ago for us to visit this place:(that shirt i'm wearing is one of those john gave me for mother's day!)

if you EVER visit new orleans, i HIGHLY recommend this place! i've passed by it so many times and you would never know how BEAUTIFUL it is from the outside! you walk in and then down a flight of stairs...the main portion of the restaurant is in the basement. the servers are lined up by the walls and everyone greets you. everytime we would put our half full glasses down, someone was there to refill it. i got free champagne for being a mama! the food was wonderful...the only downfall? the kids! oh, ahmad was a gentleman...he's just getting a bad rap because of keanohn, who showed his natural black BEHIND!!!! this is a baby who goes to church and only "talks" when the choir is singing and claps when everyone else does...he KNOWS how to act. he also knows EXACTLY when to act a fool. i was SO embarassed...well, not REALLY!!! i WAS trippin' off of him, though. he tried to pull the tablecloth off a FEW times; he spit some of the food out on the floor; he was screaming at the wait staff like he had ordered more bread 15 minutes ago and his request had been ignored...he KEPT trying to climb out of the booster; and the piece de resistance? he half emptied his sippy cup and tossed it to the ground where the top popped off and splashed milk everywhere! i don't really drink anymore (don't have the tolerance for it!) but i drank that champagne in record time! john and i don't leave our kids with too many people. my mom who lives here watched them once before she got sick so that we could go to a concert...that's the ONLY time hubbs and i have ever been out without a LEAST one child! so, when he asked if i wanted to eat at that restaurant again, i told him of COURSE...as long as he could promise it would be just the TWO OF US!!!
well, ahmad has decided to cook dinner today...God is really testing my patience this month! he wants to cook chicken and macaroni so i think i'm gonna season the chicken for him before he get home...i would HATE to bite into it and have to grimace because he pour a container of seasoned salt on ONE PIECE...pray for me!