Where I spent my day

I've spent the majority of my day in our powder room/bathroom/whatever you prefer to call it.

Lately, I have noticed an abundance of gnats swarming in the powder room right above the sink.

I have tolerated our little nuisances for a few days now, but with Christmas company arriving tomorrow, I would not let myself put off our little pets another day.



So operation remove the gnats began.



I recruited my sweet little neighbor to come over and back me up in case they decide to attack.

See that little overflow hole there in the sink? It appears there are dozens upon dozens (trust me that is how many have emerged thus far) of leftover Halloween pumpkin seeds wedged in there. (G "cleaned" some seeds off for me in the bathroom sink at Halloween so we could bake them in the oven.)

The gnats have congregated in that little hole having themselves a little Christmas feast.



It's time for this feast to end. We filled up the sink with water hoping to flood out whatever was caught inside. Then I also had a clothes hanger shoving it down in the hole pulling up seeds, then grabbing them with my tweezers.

We didn't do too hot our first go at the seed removal.



My second attempt was more of a success.

I have no clue how many more are in there. Maybe I got most of them and the gnats will move back over to our other sink where our compost jar is.

All I know is little boys make life fun.

Santa's Lap + Back to Bethlehem

This Christmas is going to be memorable!

The kids are already beside themselves with Santa excitement.

Allie was SO excited on Sunday when we took them to talk to Santa Claus. She ran everywhere we went that day with a huge smile on her face. This is a far cry from her Santa experience 3 years ago when she peed on his lap.

Both kids were so sweet talking to Santa. I intentionally left my camera at home, so I could focus on their interaction with Santa.

Allie told Santa she wanted an American Girl doll. WHAT?????!!!!!! I'm glad we took the kids to see Santa early. This was the first I have ever heard of this request.

G told Santa he wants a sleeping bag.



On to other news...We were invited to attend "Back to Bethlehem" with my neighbor, Miss Mickie.



Miss Mickie's church creates the town of Bethlehem and you walk through, in costume.

They have hot baked bread at the bakery, fresh fruit at the fruit stand, meat at the butcher shop, etc.



S and G are walking passed the Blacksmith.





After you walk through the town, you head inside the church to warm up with a bowl of hot soup and hot cocoa.



G LOVED his costume. As we were leaving he said, "I like this place, I very like my costume".

It was such a fun experience. One that I know will be repeated each holiday season. A fun family tradition has been born. Thank you Mickie for the invite.

Grinch + ATL visit

We headed out to Atlanta last weekend to visit some close friends of ours. J, the hubby, is one of Stephen's friends from high school/college. And I grew up with the momma, T, attending the same high school and college as well. They have two girls almost 6 and almost 2. It was a win/win for all of us. We enjoy these guys and wish they didn't live so far away!



Our sole purpose for this trip was to have some mommy/daughter time by treating the girls to "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" at the Fox.



We managed to squeeze in manicures on our way to the show.

Addyson opted for dark green with polka dots with snowmen on her thumbs.

Allie picked out the brightest shade of pink they had, and white/silver glittery polka dots.



She looks a little terrified, but she did enjoy it. As we were leaving she said, "Momma, next time you get your nails done, can I come with you?".



Here we are in front of the Fox Theatre. I asked a random person on the street to snap a picture and when I looked at her, I recognized her. We went to Auburn together.





Oh, Tadow. Her real name is Mozelle, but G used to call her Tadow.

Tadow, you made me miss our Izzy. I secretly want another dog. But I guess its not time yet.



And because this little girl is so stinkin cute. I hear she is mishevious and gets into everything (which is why their family Christmas tree is all set up outside on the deck), but all I see is pure cuteness.

Thanks W family for a wonderful weekend. We will see you guys in February at the Patton B&B in Hickory!!!!

Trimming the Tree + Mom of the Year

I have no words for this.

Okay maybe I do.

I have NO IDEA what Stephen was thinking when he decided to hoist G on his shoulders, throw Allie on his hip, CLIMB on a metal chair and lean forward onto a leaning tree in hopes to place a star on a stick.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing as this scene unfolded before my eyes.

Me, being mom of the year, just sat back and watched...saying nothing. Snapping away.

Speaking of mom of the year....I guess I was busy picking up my "mom of the year" award when I forgot to send Allie's weekly packet of homework back to her school with her last week. Oh, and my other "mom of the year" award was won when I forgot to pick up my son from Preschool....2 days in a row! Okay, so that's a bit of an exaggeration, I was just 30 minutes late picking him up 2 days in a row. Ashamed! If you know me....this is totally unlike me. I've been early ever since.

Tree. Back to the tree.

This frasier must've been growing on the steepest of steep hills. Our efforts to get it to stand straight have failed. It has toppled over and I expect it to happen again at any moment.

Quarters

The kids and I like to play airplane. The kind where they have to deposit a quarter into my fake coin slot and get lifted off the ground flying on my feet above me.

I was getting G dressed from his daily bath yesterday and the little guy would not quit squirming, wiggling, laying on the floor under the towel....ANYTHING but get dressed.

He then stands up, holds his hand out, and says, "Mom, I need a quarter". So, I deposit my fake quarter. "Mom, it's two quarters". If only I would have known to deposit fake quarters to get my kid to cooperate.

Another thing G has started doing lately....if I am getting on to Allie, G looks up at us with the most charming face he can manage saying, "I'm a sweet boy", or "I love you".

Thanksgiving

Thank you for your comments! I see now that I have to threaten you people to get comments out of you. I will remember this for future use.

We DO have an official winner of the biggest fish contest.

It seems to be a 3 way tie! Congrats boys and keep up the good fishing.

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Moving on now. Thank you for being patient with my lack of blogging lately.

I do have a few different blogs I plan on sharing with you of fun activities as soon as I get my photos uploaded.

As far as Thanksgiving, it appears I took very few photos.

We did manage to corral all of the grandkids outside for a little family photo op on Thanksgiving Day. Below are a few of those images (and a couple of other random snapshots) And that's about all I have from Thanksgiving.

Steelhead Fishing

UPDATE: Come on people, I need some unbiased opinions in the comment section.

Which fish is bigger?

The only comments so far are family members.

This post is staying up until we have a confirmed biggest catch winner.

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S had another fly fishing extravaganza over Thanksgiving. This time destination: 20 Mile Creek off Erie in PA, fish of choice: steelhead.

I would like to educate you about steelhead and fishing for them, unfortunately I am in the dark here. The only thing I know is the more silver the belly the fresher they are to the creek (having just arrived from the neighboring Lake Erie). There you have it, my only steelhead fun fact.

The boys had an excellent day on the waters. I understand the waters were crowded with other steelhead hopefuls, but our boys were some of the only fisherman to reel them in last Friday.

Below are the catches.

Please feel free to comment on which fish you believe to be the biggest. We are in desperate need of an unbiased opinion to put a cork in these boys.

Happy Thanksgiving

We woke up to the kids sleeping together. They started out in the own seperate bunks.

I heard G at 5:00 a.m. this morning wimpering as he climbed into bed with Allie.

I then hear the sweetest little whisper say, "It's okay buddy, if you are scared just reach over to me, I'm right here."

This morning, I am thankful for my sweet family. (In no particular order)....My kids. My husband. My parents and brother. My in-laws. My aunts, uncles, cousins. My grandma and granma in-laws. All of my friends.

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

There is hope...

Friday fun fact.

I realized yesterday that my 3 year old son's shoe size is only one size away from his (almost) 6 year old sister. They are one shoe size apart. That blows my mind.

There is hope for my little guy. Maybe he will be tall, like his daddy, afterall.

Break

Yes, I am taking a bit of a break from blogging. I forgot my blogger password.

Well, let's just say, I chose to forget it.

I don't want to even start the excuses for lack of blogging...I just need(ed) a break and I'm not quite sure I am over the break yet. I have been snapping away, but for Christmas cards and such that aren't going to be shared on here.

The above photo was taken last weekend on our little cabin getaway to Blue Ridge, GA. This will have to last you until my sabatical is over.

Expressions

Expression #1



Expression #2



Expression #3



Expression #4

I asked Gabe to give me a mad face. I knew a little smile would eventually follow, but my little smile in expression #4 isn't my favorite.

Out of these I was most happy to capture expression #2. This is a look I get by both Stephen and Gabe. It amazes me how much he reminds me of his daddy in this photo - something about those eyes! I love this little man.

Back in business

My computer apparently needed a new processor and motherboard. Regardless, I am back in business and happy to have the world wide web at my fingertips again. Whether or not you have missed me, I have missed you all!



To catch up my 10 blog followers....

Buzz Lightyear got a haircut.



The kids were introduced to the world of bowling. G got a workout toting 10 lb balls up to the ramp.



Momma redeemed this coupon for 20 minutes of pure relaxation.

The story behind the coupon is....S made me a handmade birthday card complete with 10 various vouchers - footrub, tuck kids in, afternoon nap, etc. I LOVE handmade cards. And I intend on holding him to each and every one of these vouchers!



Summer has come to an end and so has our abundance of sidewalk chalk. I will miss our warm afternoons playing outside, but welcome the cooler temps and the possibility of sledding again this winter.

(By the way, the above sign was for her daddy...she has become quite the daddy's girl lately.)



G and I accompanied Allie on her first ever kindergarten field trip. I was more than willing to help chaperone hoping to meet all the kids I keep hearing Allie talk about.



Here are our two munchkins trick or treating last night. Buzz Lightyear and a blue butterfly ballerina princess minus the butterfly wings.

I hope to get some real photos uploaded to my computer to share soon.

Company + Sickly PC

(Look out other grandsons (oh yeah, you too J)....Gram has been getting a good spoiling here in the south!!)

I am currently posting on my mother-in-law's computer. My computer would not turn on last night and would only beep at me. It appears she is sick and is being sent back to Dell for either a tune-up or permanent retirement. I will be computerless for two weeks. This is going to be challenging for me.



Back to my mother-in-law. She is in town with her mother who are in for a long weekend visit. This is the first time Gram has been to visit us in the south. We have enjoyed Gram's company and hope we have spoiled her enough where she wants to come back and see us again.

Camping on the plains of Auburn

(Picture heavy post)

This trip will go down in the books as one of my favorites. As previously mentioned, this past weekend we loaded up the kids in a rented camper and headed towards the plains of Auburn University. We will always feel a tie to Auburn being alumni and having lived there for four years; it was refreshing to be back.



The weekend was filled with lots of tailgating enjoying the PERFECT weather that Auburn had to offer.



This was our home for the weekend - "Chateau". If you ask Allie what her favorite part about the weekend was, she will answer climbing on top of the camper.



It was tight quarters, but the camper was nice. The kids slept in, what I call, the overhang.



And here we have the view of our master quarters. The bed was surprsingly very comfortable and we all slept great.





We even got to hang out a bit with some old friends. Good to see you J (and B not pictured).






We happened upon Aubie and the band as we were walking to the stadium.





The game was a packed house. (And no, this guy never sat down.)

I was a little dissapointed we didn't get to all sit together...but it was nice sharing the game experience with Allie. She was really reserved at first and was looking around the stadium with an open jaw....taking it all in. Once the 2nd quarter rolled around, she was shaking her pom pom sining along with the songs/Auburn cheers. She told me her favortie part of the game was watching the cheerleaders.



Two nights were spent at Auburn and our third night was spent at Chattahoochee Bend state park in GA where we enjoyed more family time hanging out by a campfire, cooking out, playing board games with the kids, and taking walks down to the Chattahoochee.





Even though this was our first experience renting a camper, I hope it will not be the last. Until next year Chateau....