And I'm back......

Perhaps I have the winter blues, maybe it's the holiday blues, but I'm having difficulty getting it all together. I have plenty to blog about, especially after my recent tirade and subsequent vow to blog more often, followed by a loooooong expanse of quiet. What has been happening? Just life, I suppose. They say that the first two months of every school year are the hardest, but I feel like I am finding the fourth full month of school to be the most difficult. Folks get in the holiday spirit so quickly lately, and all of a sudden, the itch to get out for winter holidays is equal to spring fever. I have had difficult days at work where I find myself glancing at the clock a little too often, and I then come home with little to no energy for much more.

Maybe it's the gloom. I'm not sure.

But I really can't tell you what I've been doing that's been keeping me away from the blog. I guess it's just life. Or having very little to say. Or feeling like what I have to say is not important.

So, let me see if I can recap the past month. After Halloween was such an enormous undertaking, November began with a whimper rather than a bang to hurl us into the epitome of fall, which is disappointing considering how much I love and adore all things fall. But, I guess you can't win them all.

1. Jacks had several birthday parties to attend, as many as four in one weekend. It was great fun, and we love celebrating all of our precious babes.

2. Joe had his wisdom teeth removed, which we were extremely nervous about. Most people have them done in high school, and at 41, Joe thought he would never have to have his out. It was a long surgery; they had to crush two of the teeth in order to remove them as they were so firmly attached to his bone. But he recovered like a champ, and we have even referred to him as a miracle of modern dentistry! When he went back to the dentist after a weekend of restful recovery, the doctor was almost shocked to see how well Joe was doing. Yay! So that happened.

3. We had family photos taken again by the brilliant Amy McDaniel of Dewdrops Photography (see link in blog roll). We jumped the fence on the back side of the Forestry Preserve, one of our favorite places, and got a few lovely shots. Of course, I was a nervous wreck and managed to get the rest of the family stressed out and worried, so I'm not completely pleased with the results. But not due to Amy - she has a knack for getting some amazing pictures even when her subjects are difficult. Although, we are extremely thrilled to report that Joe remembered to SMILE this time. My normally happy-go-lucky husband who is never short on smiles did a damn good job of mean mugging the camera in the last photo shoot to the point that he literally looked like Lurch from the Adam's family in one picture. So, the smiling is great. Scroll down for a sampling.

4. The Goo Goo car wash raised the price of their full service package from $20 to $25. With no warning. So it seems the best deal in town got a little big for their britches. I'm just sayin'......

5. Thanksgiving happened - yaaaaay! We made the trek to sister's house in Gainesville, and we had a wonderful time. It was a great family gathering on the Duck Pond, and we were sad for the visit to end. I'll post about that soon, as soon as I actually upload the pictures. I keep meaning to do that....

6. And then, without warning, December arrived. We managed to get the house decorated, but not a gift has been purchase. Not a single one. I'm not sure when I'm going to get it all done, but I suspect it will be a last minute deal. I'm hoping I can get to Hobby Lobby this weekend and get to cracking on my annual homemade gift extravaganza.

On that note, we did clean out the basement. A yard sale was had, Salvation Army came, multiple things were discarded, life is good. The craft/sewing area is up and running as is the art studio. The goal for after Christmas is a major Ikea trip for play area supplies, but again, this is enough material for another post.

Let's get to the goods, enjoy the pictures.