Halloween Candy!!!

Mellowcream Pumpkins are here!!! These are my favorite holiday candy of all time. The smell of them just makes me feel better.

New Play Set!!

Jacks has a wonderful new play set!! There are still a few loose ends to complete on the actual set, and we need to do some things to the yard to make it a little more play worthy (fill the area with pea gravel, get the neighbors' sand box they offered us ages ago, get some chairs for the lower deck), but at least Jacks can now play on his new contraption! Queenie and Chet were very generous to buy us this set over the summer, and Joe has been working very hard in his spare time to get it up. Jacks has already fallen in love - he points to the door and says he wants to go, "Weeeee!" Since that is the noise he makes while going down the slide, I guess that is what we'll be calling the play set; Jacks's WEE. We will have to enjoy these days that he wants to play on this WEE, because the days when he will be asking for a Nintendo Wii will probably be coming sooner than we think!

Artists at Work

When Joe repainted the foyer this summer, he also made a large chalkboard for the wall behind the front door. It's pretty cool to have it in there, we use it for calendars and notes and things, but mostly it's for Jacks to draw. He is really into drawing and coloring lately. Between all of his work stations - his table, easel, or this wall - he works hard and takes his work very seriously. Notice the tongue sticking out in the last pictures - heavy concentration is happening here.

From the looks of these pictures, our foyer is a little ridiculous. Magnets on the front door - a door that I am not fond of, and I became really gung-ho to replace it until I realized how much I would have to spend to get what I want - chalk dust all over the floor, bright leaf green walls. I guess the interior design of this house is primarily utilitarian these days. I promise we clean up real nice!!

Anyway, as you can tell, it looks like we have another artist in this house.

Sad Saturday

Well, I didn't think it was so sad, but I think a lot of Auburn football fans were dragging themselves home last night after our loss to LSU. Yes, I am always sad that everyone else is sad that we lost. But, I always figure that we all wake up the next morning with our health, and that is never the end of the world! Plus, there will be another game next week to possibly pull everyone out of their funk.

We tailgated with our usual group yesterday. Jacks had a wonderful time, of course. Matt's dad, the fabulous Big Steve, prepared a low country boil for the big day - YUM! Joe, Jacks, and I also ventured over to another tailgate with many of Joe's Sigma Nu fraternity brothers and their families. Their pledge class celebrated a 20 year reunion this weekend with a Friday night dinner at the Sigma Nu house and a family tail gate on Saturday. Jacks enjoyed BBQ and cole slaw during our visit there.

Other than that, it has been a pretty quiet weekend, which has been a welcome relief after the storm that this past week has been. I have spent every evening absolutely exhausted and wondering how on earth I'm going to make it through another day. I'm trying to stop answering people honestly when they ask how I'm feeling, because it has recently occurred to me that people don't really want to know. Most people are only interested in pregnant people who feel really great while pregnant - those of us who suffer become a drain to those around us. Do I sound bitter? Well, maybe I am. When someone asks me how I am, and I answer pretty bad, then they ask me why I feel so bad - I wonder why we're having this freakin' conversation in the first place! Anyway, I have also noticed that my blog posts have been relatively short and boring lately, and it is possibly so you won't all hear me bitch and moan about being sick and pregnant all the time. I would so hate to be a party pooper to all of you, dear readers. Maybe one day I'll feel better, and I can be likable again. Until then, if you don't really want to know, don't ask.

Posted below are some pictures from yesterday, we had a great time regardless of the score of the game. War Eagle, y'all!! Gotta be proud of our team no matter what!

So serious.....

playing on the porch....

Big Steve!!!

Me and Carm - I really didn't think I was all that hot, but this picture reveals otherwise...

Halloween Preview

Jacks is going to be a pirate this Halloween, whether he likes it or not. He didn't exactly love the preliminary fitting.

Handsome Boy

We went to a birthday party this afternoon for our good friend Lisa - finally, a grown up party!!! But, kids were invited, too. Because, hey - what else are we going to do with our kids when we want to get together? Might as well let the kids play while we take turns keeping a watchful eye, and still manage to have a little bit of grown up conversation here and there.
Jacks got all dressed up in some of his new fall clothes and his converse high tops in honor of attending an adult party, and he had a ball running around with all the big kids. Thanks so much to Lisa and John for having everyone over for a great afternoon!

My Baby Stole My Krispy Kreme

One of my sick pleasures in life is a Krispy Kreme cream filled doughnut. I loooooove them. Everytime I eat one, I can tell why people probably think the lard filled, cream filling is disgusting, but it just makes me love them more. Kind of in the same way that a deep fried candy bar sounds like a great idea to me. Well, I sent Joe to the Bruno's yesterday morning for tailgating food, because there was no way I was preparing anything in time for a brunch tailgate. I asked him to get some Krispy Kremes, but I was not specific about what or how many. Well, my wonderful husband delivered in spades - 1/2 dozen glazed, 1/2 dozen glazed cream filled, and another 1/2 dozen chocolate iced cream filled (Joe's personal fave). It was just enough that maybe most of them would get eaten at the tailgate, but maybe we would get to bring some home to enjoy. That is exactly what happened.

I ate most of one while on campus, along with a plateful of other wonderful breakfast treats (awesome cheese grits, ham rolls, blueberry bread pudding, etc....), and I noticed that I did NOT manage to scarf the doughnut down in record time, but I didn't think anything of it. I was talking, snacking on other goodies, trying to remain presentable......plus Jacks was digging into my plate, too, so I did not yet notice my new inability to eat a Krispy Kreme.

Late last night, Joe and I were watching the tail end of a movie, it was a perfect time for an overindulgent goodie, and those doughnuts were just sitting in there waiting to be enjoyed. I asked Joe to please bring me one on a plate, because I was going to enjoy it for a while. So, he did (love him!). With the first bite, I knew, this was not going to work out well. Everything I loved about these treats all of a sudden seemed gross and teeth grindingly painful. Still, I persisted - how could I not enjoy this thing? It is a once in a while treat - I have to enjoy this! It took me the better part of an hour to get it all down, and every bite was difficult. How could this one sick pleasure be stolen from me while I'm pregnant, of all times? This baby, my precious second child, who I will love more than life, has stolen Krispy Kreme from me. I should look at it as a blessing, because it will probably spare me a good ten pounds by the end of my 40 weeks, but I cannot help but feel sad and mournful for the loss of a beloved friend.

I have adored Krispy Kreme for my entire life - they were always there on our way home from the Pensacola Symphony when I was little. Always a dozen assorted and a dozen glazed to be enjoyed that night and the next morning for breakfast. Their "hot doughnuts now" sign would flash, and a local radio station would go fuzzy, alerting the town of the mouth watering pastries coming fresh out of the fryer. Now, I live in a town without a free standing Krispy Kreme, and I have often considered hijacking the truck as it sits idle outside the Bruno's grocery store making a delivery. These evil, fat laden treats are like your mischievous friend, they make you misbehave and enjoy every evil minute. But not anymore, not for me while I'm pregnant with this baby. Maybe I'll get to enjoy them again someday, but for now I will have to go without. So sad!!

Family Pictures

Getting a 23 month old child to do what you want him to do for a short afternoon of family pictures is nearly impossible. How do people do this with multiple children? I am hoping that we give this another go very soon, because I wasn't all that happy with how these turned out. The picture quality is awesome, the photographer was perfect (one of Joe's former students - a wildly talented artist soon to be a student at SCAD - we had to use him while he's still affordable!), but the photo subjects were difficult, to say the least.

Here are a few of the best. As you can see, there weren't that many. Maybe we'll get it right next time.