Thanksgiving: Part 3

Ok, so the stuff that I'm writing about isn't all that special or exciting, but it's all we have pictures of from our trip, so I'm developing a series of posts about them. I mean, so far, I've told you about some tee shirts I made, a trip to a state park, and now I'm about to tell you about......dinner at a pizza parlor! I'm sorry if you felt even a pang of anticipation for that one.

We had a big family dinner at Satchel's, Gainesville's greatest pizza place. It is our favorite place to eat in town, and our entire family loves every inch of it. I could go on and on and on about the found object sculptures and the salvaged play grounds and the unique gift shop, but instead I think I'll just link you to their web site if you're interested. Satchel's is far too unusual and awesome to fully explain on this here little ole blog.



Needless to say, we enjoyed our Thanksgiving. Maybe three posts about it was a bit much.

Thanksgiving: Part 2

My sister had a great idea on the Friday morning after Thanksgiving for everyone to head over to Payne's Prairie, a local wildlife preserve state park, for a little hike. A storm was brewing all morning, so the sky was a little gray, but it was nice and warm with plenty of breeze, and the rain held off for most of our visit.

The area is basically a series of boardwalks and trails through a swampy prairie, which might even be compared to a savanna (from what I understand a savanna to be from Jacks's pop up book of natural wildlife....). Seeing alligators everywhere is practically guaranteed, and we saw at least 20 of them. Joe and I were amazed. We thought maybe we'd see 3 or 4. We had no idea there would be so many so close.

We also saw some deer, herons, a HUGE snake (which I would have preferred to NOT see), some turtles, and some more super cool water birds.
It was great fun to spend some time enjoying what Gainesville has to offer, aside from the comfort of my sister's house and neighborhood. It's good to get everyone up off their butts and out of the house for a little while. Our visit to the prairie came to an abrupt end when Nealy decided that it was nap time and she had enough of all this nature mess. I had to carry her all the way back to the car, which was at least a mile long walk. And if you've seen the pudding rolls on that baby, you know I got my workout in for the day.

Thanksgiving: Part 1

Our trip to Gainesville for Thanksgiving was exactly what we all needed. Family, food, fun - it could not have been better.

Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of pictures from Thanksgiving Day, the table, the food, or the togetherness. We forgot about cameras that day and focused on the event. Sometimes I think everyone has more fun when no one is watching from behind the camera lens. Here is a list of things we did NOT photograph, but have the memories to enjoy:

1. My parents, my brother, my sister, and me - all together for the first time in a long time.

2. My sister's amazing Thanksgiving table, complete with a handmade table cloth, pumpkins, gourds, acorns, greenery arrangements, and more.

3. My dad's brother, Uncle Tom, his wife Mary Lou, and their daughter Becca drove down from St. Augustine to eat with us. Uncle Tom's unique personality cannot be described, but a conversation with him is never time wasted, and if you don't laugh non-stop, then you clearly don't get it. And my little cousin Becca, who we used to call Becky as a baby, has grown into a beautiful young woman who is diligently plowing through a graduate program in journalism. I hardly got to speak with Mary Lou, unfortunately, who is an administrator for the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. Needless to say, she is fascinating on many levels.

4. Our little cottage across the street - my sister's neighbors maintain a small guest house for visits from their family members, and they have generously opened their doors to us on more than one occasion to keep my sister's house from bursting at the seams. A separate space makes travel to Gainesville even easier than it already is.

5. My brother-in-law's newest pieces, which show a technical talent in painting and collage as well as a consciousness of femininity in a new and original way. He recently received the Pollack-Krasner Grant, which is a tremendous testament to his gifts. I made sure I touched all of his newest paintings because I won't get to touch them when they're in a museum one day.

6. The geese who piddle around in the Duck Pond that divides the Boulevard where my sister lives, as well as the enormous turtles that can be spotted floating through the water, the occasional duck who speeds by, and the even more elusive otter who shows up from time to time.

7. The food: the turkey that almost never was, the pork tenderloin, the sweet potatoes with pecans and goodness, the green beans with bacon, the homemade cranberries, the cornbread dressing, the green salad with clementines and goat cheese, the pretzel salad, the orange cake, the pumpkin cheese cake, the pecan pie, the REAL pumpkin pie with some butternut squash and sweet potato thrown in (made by Karen, Carrie's neighbor, who places great importance on all things fresh and local when it comes to cooking), the fresh cream, and so much more......

But we do have some pictures of some of the fun things we did during our visit to the swamp. Starting with a little photo shoot of the kids' Thanksgiving fashion created by me, fabric applique expert after only a short tutorial. Okay, I'm not an expert at all, but I made some pretty stinking cute tee shirts for the kids to wear on Thanksgiving Day. Enjoy.....
I love how much this brother and sister pair love each other.

More on our visit to Florida in other posts, to be completed on a different night when I'm not about to pass out.

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.

Halloween 2010

Halloween was an epic event this year. It started a week and two days before Halloween, and it coasted straight on through the week. I don't think I've ever put my children in costumes so often, and there was one point that I was pretty convinced that they were as sick of it as I was. However, that was early on a Friday morning as they were getting costumed for school, and they were mostly tired and groggy. They were able to muster some excitement to actually trick or treat on Halloween night, and I've never seen two little ones have so much fun going door to door.
As for Nealy, I've found out her secret for bringing her out of her shell - candy. She gets a few pieces of candy in her, and she's practically dancing on a table like a bar room drunk. I guess I'll have to sugar her up next time I need her to be charming for someone. Otherwise, she's giving her standard stink eye to anyone and everyone, and she isn't having much to do with people in general.
This was Jacks's first big foray into the door to door trick or treating activity. We hauled the kids in the wagon over to Payne Street where there is little traffic and plenty of friendly houses to visit. We had a blast.
But, when we got home, Jacks promptly stripped off his costume due to a bathroom emergency, and he was completely done with the whole thing. One of our neighbors, who came home just as we were getting home, wanted both kids to come and trick or treat at their door. Alas, Nealy had to go over there without her brother, who had removed his costume and had no desire to put it back on. In his words, he said, "No, mommy. I don't think so. I'm home, now."
Please enjoy this picture of the kids from the morning before their Halloween parties at school.
Please pardon Mr. Pumpkin Head - he has a case of male pattern baldness.

Brunch!

As you know, a few of my summer camp counselors are students at Auburn. Thanks to football season, we get a handful of extras in town every so often. This past weekend, Colin came to town on his Auburn leg of his college tour, and Kellie came to visit her friends. With Hunter and Luke already here, I figured we had a big enough group for a mid- morning brunch. So, I cooked up a couple of casseroles, cut up some fresh fruit, Joe made a mess of grits and bacon (when making grits and bacon, one must be sure to make a mess of them), and the kids came to eat and visit and tell stories and enjoy.

They did pick the time - 11 am - but they still managed to be late . Ahhh, youth.

(except for Kellie - she is always on time)

My boy is four!!!

My first born has turned four years old. Sniff, sniff - pardon me while I bawl uncontrollably at the fact that my boy is growing up! He has declared himself a big boy who can make his own decisions and do anything that he wants. Of course, that's not true, but he does a really good job of making sure he's spoiled rotten. And I'm not all that helpful at deterring that mind set, mostly because I'm a sucker.
Did I mention my baby - my sweet, tiny little baby who I clung to for the first three months of his life like I would possibly never let go - is FOUR?
Please enjoy a few pics from his birthday party - the second tumbling party he has had in a row. He loves Mr. Frank, his tumbling teacher, and he refused to consider any other party options. It was a Mr. Frank party or nothing. Well, I'm sure he wouldn't have stood for nothing, but still....
The cake was a Toy Story theme, since all things Toy Story are awesome and amazing at our house. Didn't Mandi do a fabulous job? Check out her blog, Cakeapotomous, in the blog roll to your right. Nealy was ALL ABOUT TUMBLING. That child did not stop running for the entire party, even when she got to tired that she turned into a crazy kitten, clawing and batting at everything in her way. Come her 2nd birthday, tumbling will be her new world. I can already see how much she loves it.
And, for my favorite group shot. None of them really turned out, but this one really captures the morale of this group of kiddos.