Such a sweet boy

He is rowdy, loud, and generally out of control. But he is also such a sweetie.

Thanksgiving 08 - a pictoral history

Let's see - I could tell you all about Thanksgiving with my family, but it would most likely be boring to you. We visited, we ate, we played, we enjoyed - it was your standard family good time. I'll retell the visit in pictures which can highlight how wonderfully mundane our trip was - which is to say, we all had a great time because nothing bad, monumental, or disturbing happened. Who could ask for anything more?
My sister and her family live in the historic Duck Pond neighborhood in Gainesville. Here is a pic of the pond.

When we arrived, my nieces were out to greet us on their new favorite perch, on top of my sister's van. Jacks became extremely distressed at one point in the trip when it was revealed to him that NO, we would not be helping him climb up there.
My brother-in-law John loves holidays and company. It actually got cold enough to build a fire, which doesn't happen all that often in Gainesville. John was thrilled
Jacks really enjoyed bonding with his Uncle John. Here he is giving John a dap - respect, mon!
Jacks helping John water the plants
John's studio is a really neat building to the side of their house. Jacks spent lots of time in there studying things and running around. At one point, he found a rag and he tried wiping up the stripes of paint that adorn the walls.
Another fun feature of my sister's house is the chicken coop they keep out back. Jacks had a love/hate relationship with these chickens. He was intrigued and fascinated, and he wanted to go see them constantly. But, he would also tremble with terror when they clucked, walked, moved, or looked in his direction .
Yea, that black one only has one leg.....
Jacks listens for the chickens with his back turned....

I think we know what Jacks wants for Christmas. Maybe not this pink one, but it seems he really wouldn't care. A bike's a bike, man!!Sister and I cheese it up for the camera.....

Look at the gorgeous Thanksgiving table!!!

Jacks enjoyed playing with my brother in the yard.....

Jean Louise made sure her cousin made it home safely after our post-dinner walk....


We had such a wonderful trip to Gainesville. We were definitely sad to leave, especially since our trip home was dark and rainy. When we got home and called my sister to let her know we arrived safely, they were all out to dinner at our favorite Gainesville pizza parlor, Satchel's. I was immediately sad that we were home in Auburn and not eating yummy pizza in Gator Town with my family, but given the increase in traffic and rain on Saturday and Sunday, our Friday trek proved to be the best choice. Now, let's see how Christmas is going to pan out. We still don't have our travel plans arranged, and the fact that it continues to draw out is frustrating. Especially since we have work to contend with, time issues are compounding by the minute, and I can only take so much activity during this very difficult pregnancy. We'll see what happens! I'll keep you all posted.
Lots of love - K

Family Thanksgiving

More pictures and stories to follow, but here is our first family picture in several years. Thanks to sister who had us ALL to Gainesville for the holiday! It was great fun, but we're happy to be home after a long drive in the rain. Happy Holidays to everyone - this is my favorite time of year!

From last weekend

I should have posted this last weekend. Jacks had a birthday party in the park for his good friend, Matthew, from school. A small group of boys from their class were there, and they all posed at the bottom of the slide. This is too cute not to share!

Also, Joe and Jacks spent a little time in the yard with the camera on Sunday afternoon last weekend. Jacks modeled his new winter hat, and there were several very good pictures (one posted above, and another below). Again - too cute not to share with my friends.

Fun Saturday

Well, our Friday night out didn't pan out as planned. Pregnancy problems happened, and it was best I stayed home and got some rest. But, I was very unhappy that I missed a date night with Joe. That wasn't how I wanted to spend my Friday night when we had parties to go to and we had already lined up a babysitter. It pained me to cancel. One day, this pregnancy will get better, right?

Anyway, maybe it was best we got lots of good rest on Friday, because our Saturday was action packed. Once we got up and going, we headed over to Opelika for a birthday party for Jacks's school friend, Allen. The party was at Frog Legs party zone, which is a place filled with inflatable bounce houses and slides. Of course, you sign a waiver immediately when you get there, hoping that your child doesn't break anything. Jacks was very unsure about getting into the bounce houses at first, but he warmed up......
After the party, we hit to road for Atlanta. While most of Georgia was headed into Auburn, we were on the way out. Our destination was the Indie Craft Experience Show in downtown Atlanta. We had very little information about it, other than some directions and the hope of awesome arts and crafts to peruse. We were not disappointed. The event was held upstairs in an old industrial warehouse, and the whole place was full of neat artists and craftsman who were flaunting their wares for the holidays. There were tons of tee shirts, handmade jewelry, scarves, baby things, knitted things, painted things, soldered things, patches, felt, recycled and refurbished items - it was a crafty girl's heaven. Jacks refused to nap in the car on the way up, so he lost it a little when we got there. Luckily there was a DJ blasting cool music, so Jacks's hollering was lost in the crowd. He finally dozed off in his stroller, and he was able to take a long nap amongst the hustle and bustle of the event. I was amazed that he actually did sleep, because the scents of coffee and patchouli paired with old school Talking Heads blaring from the loudspeakers didn't make for the best napping atmosphere. But, nap, he did, and I was able to find some little treasures for a few people on my Christmas list.
We headed home in the late afternoon, and we stopped in Lagrange for some Cracker Barrel dinner. The food was fatteningly yummy, but the service was terrible. Plus, we were lone Auburn fans in a sea of red and black. Our trip home from Lagrange was smooth sailing, and we felt for all the football fans attempting to head north on 85 from Auburn. While we cruised south with no problems, the northbound lane was a bumper to bumper wall of headlights for miles and miles. They were going to be there a while.....
When we got home and started rifling through our loot, Jacks discovered the little felt barrettes I bought for my sister's kids (we're going there for Thanksgiving, and I can't ever go empty handed), and he insisted I put one in his hair. He was so thrilled with his new look, and he spent a lot of time admiring his pretty self in the mirror. He really would have made such a pretty girl!!! (I have to persuade you to check out Ivey Handcrafted - see in my blog roll - she made the barrette)

Drumroll, please

And, we had the big ultrasound today!! We have a girl!! Woo hoo! Now we've got a full set, my friends! Bring on the ribbons and bows, the smocked dresses, the ruffles, the rick rack, the pom poms, the pink, pink, pink, and more pink! The princess is coming, y'all. And she's practically perfect in every way, of course, just like Mary Poppins. And she loves musicals and parties and dresses and novels and good music and gossip and craft shows and window treatments and everything that she's supposed to love because she's my girl!!!!!!!!!!

Jacks's Birthday

Here are the pictures from Jacks's birthday, as promised. They are all totally candid shots, and not the best collection of pictures ever taken. This is why people hire photographers for events. That's a very good idea, and one we should totally use considering Joe has the best collection of untapped resources in the high school art department, all who would love to have an extra pocket full of cash in exchange for snapping a few pictures. File idea away for next year....
So, here is the slide show, for what it's worth. We recently discovered that we never get a group shot of all the kids because it's always so difficult, a fact that I stated the other night at BB's party, determined to get one. Of course, once the thought is out of my mouth, it seems to be immediately out of my head. Which is why we left BB's party without getting the picture. Maybe next time, folks. Who is having the next party? Anyone, anyone??? :) Love you all - K

Update - this slide show took me a million years to finish. My internet went out as I was on my last download the other night, and I've had to start all over tonight. For some reason, none of the pictures are saved in a continuous order in Iphoto, so I know I've missed some good ones. Which, I know, you will find hard to believe since there are about ten thousand pictures in this slide show. Anyway, for what it's worth, here it is. It better be good, because it made me cuss a lot before I finally finished it. I don't think my eyes are good enough to deal with thumbnails! Argh!!!

Visit to Pinetucket

Joe, Jacks and I made a long overdue visit to Pinetucket on Saturday afternoon. Pinetucket is an old family home here in Auburn where my cousins Mary Leda and Dickson live in preserved history. The home was built in 1835, and it was once a thriving plantation. Now, the home still stands in beautiful grandeur, surrounded by a series of existing outbuildings, all of which are full of Auburn history, as well as a large slice of my family history. Mary Leda holds the great responsibility of keeping these memories alive and well at Pinetucket, which the rest of us are eternally grateful to her for. Jacks enjoyed every moment of his visit - from chasing kitties to flirting with his cousins to inhaling candy provided by ML. We will certainly make another visit soon, especially with the holidays coming up. Pinetucket at Christmas is probably one of my most favorite places ever, as an old home like that is made to be spruced up for the holidays. It oozes family history and memories, and it gives you that Christmas feeling that seems to only exist in Betty Crocker commercials. We got a few pictures of Jacks frolicking around the grounds, but we will certainly get more of our cousins next time. We prefer Jacks to have his picture made with Dickson, as he is the best Santa Claus we've ever seen. And the beard is real. The last picture is of Jacks's first Christmas with Dickson. We missed last year, but we won't make that mistake again.

Halloween 2008

It was a multi-costume year for young Jacks. He had a Halloween party at school on Thursday, downtown trick or treating that evening, then his good friend BB's birthday party on Halloween night. So, of course, he had to have a separate costume for each event. Jacks really enjoys wearing hats and helmets and masks and such, as long as it's on his own terms. He doesn't ever do so well when he is dressed in a costume NOT of his own choosing. So, costume dressing was a little difficult this year. For school, he dressed as a pirate. I thought he would love this costume, but he was not the biggest fan. Also, he had to wear an entire sweat suit underneath his costume because it was so cold that day - a weird thing for Halloween in the south. It's always so tricky to choose a toddler costume, because most of them are fur from head to toe. This year, I should have just gone for the full fur suit, because planning for warm weather bit me in the butt this time!
Here is Jacks as a pirate (his mouth is full of candy as a bribe to get him to keep the hat on):For Thursday night, he dressed as old school rapper DMC from Run DMC. It was a great idea because he already had an Adidas track suit that he is used to wearing. Add a gold Mardi Gras bead and a pork pie hat, there you go. Unfortunately, he wasn't so cool with the hat. He preferred to wear his Aubie baseball cap, which gave him more of a Beastie Boys look. Oh well. Either way, we look like crazy parents dressing our toddler like a rapper amongst the sea of dragons, bears, and tigers. Maybe we should have gone for something a little more traditional, especially when a reporter from the local paper asked for a quote about the downtown experience. I gave her one, then she asked for my name, Jacks's name, and what he was dressed as. Yes, we were published in the paper. Overall, the downtown experience was a blast. Jacks got a pumpkin painted on his face, and he was so patient and good while one of Joe's students painted it on. Then, he was so excited and grateful when she was done, and he never once tried to rub it off. By the time 7:00 rolled around, Jacks was a little wound up from too much candy, and he was trying to run full speed down College Street in the opposite direction from where we wanted him to go, which was toward the car. Several of the masks scared him a little, then he got very upset when he couldn't go shopping at J&M, his favorite store. We left the scene the way we usually leave fun events, kicking and screaming.
Here is Jacks as DMC:


Lastly, we love that BB's birthday falls so close to Halloween, which gives us something to do for Halloween night other than avoiding the crazies wandering the streets. A party at the Potter's house is always a treat. There are tons of kid friendly things to do, with a great yard to play in with no worries. Malee did a great job of providing plenty of delicious treats, and her mother made enough of her fabulous chili to feed an army (which Joe and I both showed our gratitude for by helping ourselves to two bowls each!). We had a great time, until Jacks realized that he was overtired, oversugared, and just plain done with Halloween. He told us this by having an ultimate hissy fit in the middle of the party. After all, he is only two years old. Sometimes, enough is enough. How much partying can you handle in 48 hours time? We left the party in a hurry, shoved Little Buddy in the tub to wash off the events of the past couple of days, then settled in for a relaxing weekend of rest and recuperation.
Oh yeah, and Jacks refused his other two costumes for the party, instead opting for his skunk costume from last year. It was a little snug, but he managed. Here he is in that get up (conveniently put on over his clothes from school - we were a little worn out ourselves):




Halloween is a great time, and it is still one of my favorite times of year. But, having a child can put a new perspective on things. Sometimes there is such a thing as too much candy. Costumes can be scary when it's dark out and there are people everywhere. And too many events paired with too much sugar can be a recipe for disaster. I'm sure things are only going to get harder in the future!!
Happy Halloween, friends. As for me, I'm so ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'll take turkey, dressing, and pumpkin pie over candy bars and masks anytime! Is it too early to put up the Christmas tree?
Lots of love - K