Let it snow... a little.

We had some snow flurries today.

Reese just stood there frozen at first.

It didn't take long for him to warm to the idea.

The more experienced ones knew just what to do.


Sadly, it didn't last long and wasn't enough to stick.


But it was a magical day nonetheless.

Fires and S'mores

The Parade

Elle got to be in her first parade last Saturday. Her dance studio had a float in our town's Christmas parade and she happily volunteered to ride, wave and throw out candy. Because she was in the "5 and under" category, I also got to ride, wave and throw out candy. I'm quite sure if I had not been there to ration her bag of candy, the first person she saw would have gotten the whole bag dumped on them! She had a great time and was excited to be a part of it all.

The best part was that our float was sandwiched in between a "youth rock band" and the one and only Santa Claus and his reindeer float. We had screaming, amplifier feedback, non-holiday related tunes belted out in front of us while holly, jolly Christmas carols rang out behind us. It was quite hilarious. There was also a llama.

Now or Never

Last Tuesday, after a successful morning of oral surgery and a small bout with nausea and vomiting in the afternoon, we set off for a beautiful and fun-filled Thanksgiving at Lake Martin.

As the family trickled in Tuesday evening, we enjoyed the views and made ourselves at home.

It was a late night Tuesday, and some of us were a little rough around the edges Wednesday morning.

Nothing a little breakfast, hot water and soap and promise of fresh air couldn't fix. And though the drive-way almost got the best of us, we persevered.

It's taken me a week to get this far, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

We thoroughly enjoyed being with our family though several members were dearly missed (Mark, AK, Powell & Jessica!). I'm hoping the group only gets bigger in the years to come. I reminded several of my cousins that I was married by the time I was their ages. Don't worry aunts and uncles, I also threw in that I was finished with school before I got married:).

So I Can Remember...

The crazy, funny, sweet, hilarious things these children say.

In the car the other day:

Elle: "Mommy, will I see you in heaven?"

Me: "I think we'll probably be able to see our loved ones who are there."

Elle: (after a long pause, with a quiver in her voice) "Well, I know there won't be any more sadness in heaven, but I'll be sad if I don't see you."

Me: "Well, you will see me then."

Grady: "I don't wish for the Space Shuttle anymore. I wish for Zurg."

Elle: "Well, Grady, you already told Santa the space shuttle and he used a pen and not a pencil."

Elle talked about the Ten Commandments a few Sundays ago in Sunday school. We were having snack the week after and she said, "You shall not cut your neighbor's hair." After telling me that was one of the commandments, I said ,"Do you mean, 'Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife?'"

I get to have surgery on my mouth in the morning. Apparently, the seal on an old root canal on my front tooth has deteriorated and there is infection. But instead of going through the crowned tooth, they will cut through the gum under my top lip. Thanksgiving dinner anyone? I'm hoping this also explains the nose bleeds I've been having. It's not nice to wake up from a great sleep because your nose is bleeding. Multiple times.

If all goes well, we'll be heading down tomorrow afternoon to Lake Martin for the rest of the week with my mom's family. I was originally very excited about this trip and seeing most of my cousins, aunts, uncles and my grandma. I'm still very excited about seeing family, but not sure how the eating/pain thing is going to work out. Guess it's safe to say, I might not gain any holiday pounds:).

**I also just wanted to clarify that only those over 13 watched the Harry Potter movies last week. As anxious as I am for the kids to read the stories, I know they are too young. Although, there was a baby in the theater with us at the 8:40 show last night. My sweet husband got our sweet neighbor to come to our couch while the kids slept so we could see the newest Harry Potter. And I was not disappointed:).

Happy Thanksgiving Turkeys!

What we've been up to

We nursed Steven back to health, so much so, that he embarked on a guys' trip this past weekend. My mom and sister had another couple of days off for Veteran's Day. They missed us so much, they made the 6 hour drive back for another three day weekend. We discussed renting an RV and trying it out for a short trip:

Me: "So are you planning to drive this thing?"
Mom: "Well, yeah, I thought I would, but I figured you would drive some too."
Mom: "Did you watch the video online?"
Me: "No, not yet."
Mom: "It seems pretty easy except I didn't quite understand the propane tank thing."

I had a vision of me driving the RV in to something and a huge explosion following. We decided on other activities, but I do see an RV trip in our future. We'd like to take mom on an RV trip out west for her 60th in a couple summers, so I think it'd be wise for us to take a small practice run soon.... to make sure we know how to work the propane tank.

Instead, we went to breakfast at IHOP on Friday and on to the McWane Center for a morning of fun. The rest of the weekend was filled with lots of playing outside, a couple of trips down to our railroad tracks for photo shoots, and several Harry Potter movies.

Let me just stop and say I know now why photographers charge so much for "sitting fees". We had been down there for about 3 minutes and I was ready to collect my $100. I had to laugh or I would have gone bananas. I did have a couple hard working assistants that eased some of the madness. And a brief pause for an actual train to pass was exciting and a bit scary for the kids who I'd just had on the tracks:). It did seem to improve their focus. We got some great shots, but I'm hoping to turn them in to Christmas gifts so I'll only share a few here so the suspense will be great for the grandparents!

My lovely first assistant

One thing I have not been doing a lot of is house cleaning. Who needs lined paper for handwriting practice when you have layers of dust? Some might call it "dirty". I prefer "economical". Especially in these tough times.

We finally made it to Bud's Best Cookies for a tour of the factory today and it was AWESOME! Dare I say that Elle said as we were leaving, "Mom, this was better than Disney World!". Now, I'm certain she did not mean that, but it was really fun and interesting. And we got about 5 bags of cookies, three coloring books, a bunch of stickers, and some hair nets all for free! You should really check this out if you are in the Birmingham area.

Grady was much more excited than this. But I'm not sure he thought it was better than Disney World.

A shark, a knight, a dinosaur & a nose

Here's a quick update for those who are tired of looking at that lovely caterpillar:). We had a fun Halloween weekend complete with a long overdue visit from Mae (my mom) and Maddie. We did a lot of just hanging out and playing, but it was fun. I tried to get my sister to watch Lord of the Rings. She was not interested, much to my dismay.

We have a very substantial supply of dress-up clothes which governed the kids' costume choices this year. Elle choose a shark. Grady was a knight. And the choice that fit Reese best was a dinosaur costume recently acquired from Steven's parents. Maddie also got to choose from her vast array of recital costumes and she was a beautiful ballerina.

Getting in to character

We walked around our neighborhood trick or treating. The kids LOVED it and Reese was thrilled to get to walk, uninhibited by a stroller, down the sidewalk. We came back to the house and dumped all our bags out on the floor and dug in! And then I started re-giving candy out to the kids coming to our door. What can I say, I like to recycle. Really, I just gave all the stuff our peanut-free household couldn't eat anyway.

Steven had surgery this morning on his crazy deviated septum nose. The doctor also found some nasal polyps and removed those. He is recovering pretty well so far. He does have a fairly decent nurse for a wife:). He just went to the ENT last Thursday so this all happened pretty fast. But, for as long as I've known him, I'm not sure he's ever been able to breathe out of both nostrils simultaneously. Now, he'll finally be able to.