Post Turkey Day

Black Friday is always such a wash for me.  I don't do the 3 am shopping, mainly because there is nothing that I need that badly.  If I ever do go out at that ungodly hour, it will be to watch the people as they stampede and fist fight over an Elmo doll.  Everyone was starting to get a little too irritating for us (the adults) by Friday, so Carrie and I made the executive decision to force them into (freezing) fresh air.  I took them to Alum Springs park because it's got a great playground, the trails through the cliffs are awesome, and there is a nearby Starbucks.  We did the swings, climbed, went down the big big slide, hiked, and threw rocks into the stream.  A very productive day!  And the kids slept like the dead that night, so a very successful day too.

Timmy added our initials to this poor, mutilated tree at the park.

Eye of the tiger!

Timmy made the wise decision to stay on the ground!

How does the 3 inch tall wall contain me?  I am baffled by it.

Final stop:  Starbucks for frapps and hot chocolate!

Turkey Fun Day!

For Thanksgiving this year, Carrie and I made plans months in advance to just do the festivities at my house.  It saves Carrie and Josh the additional 3 hour drive to get to Va Beach and it also saves me the same 3 hour drive to do our usual dinner at Aunt Jill's house.  Jill also does a fantastic job, complete with oysters on the grill and these softball-sized yeast rolls that are to die for, but the drive is getting harder to do with 4 kids and a dog.  So to quote Cammy, we "pushed the easy button" and just planned for dinner in King George.  

Carrie, Josh and family arrived on Wednesday afternoon and we quickly adjusted to a house of 10.  Cammy came in on Thanksgiving morning.  Peggy and Joe came over to join us for dinner and brought the turkey and sweet potatoes.  We covered the rest of the food (apple pie, pumpkin pie pudding, mashed potatoes, yeast rolls, broccoli cheese casserole, etc.)  The rest of the visit was a blur of playing, running, screaming, laughing, and eating!

Hi everybody!

Caroline and Barrett

Carrie and Caroline

Emily's "dancing" skills

All the cousins minus a napping Jason

No rain = bounce house fun!

Tea party for the ladies!

Proper pinky form for Caroline

Tea and krumpets for everyone!

Family Trees

 It was all about Christmas trees and painted trees this week!  First, we just received Emily's school pictures and they looked pretty good!  Ironically, the one pic I loved the best has her sitting under the Christmas tree and I never scanned that one!  So here you get to see her in two different poses, at least.  

Second, I've been meaning to paint one of these "family tree" pics ever since I saw one at my friend Jen's house.  I basically stole borrowed the idea from the framed painting in her bedroom and adapted it to my family's info :)  Each tree is painted in the person's birthstone (Timmy=peridot, Emily=topaz, etc) and then I added a little heart for my tree and Timmy's tree.  Timmy's tree also got the "initial" carving.

Now I just need to find a good mat and frame for my 11 x 14 painting.  I saw some good contenders at Walmart until I checkout the edges up close, and every single frame looks like it had been in a battle.  So I'll check out other places tomorrow on my day off and get this baby ready to hang.  And then it's going over the fireplace!  

Timmy, Caroline, Jason, Emily, Garrett, and Jessica

Emily Turns 3!

 Three years ago today, we welcomed little Emily Allison into our lives.  My induction started at 7 AM and clear as day, I remember most of the details that followed.  I remembered that I got my epidural before the contractions got painful, just in case I dilated at the speed of light like I did with Caroline.  They let Tim stay in for the procedure, which surprised me, and then when they screwed up the epidural and had to reattempt it FOUR times, I was so glad to have Timmy there, since I was now a sobbing mess who was sputtering and snotting her way through contractions with a pillow pushed into my belly.  I still ended up dilating fast, going from 6.5 to 10 cm in about 5 minutes while my doctor was walking into the hospital parking lot.  Four pushes later, I had Emily at 2:25 PM.  She's the tiniest of all my children at 6 pounds, 14 oz.  She's still a little spark of a thing, but she makes up for her size with her attitude.  
Even though she drives me crazy on a daily basis, I am happy to have Emily in my life.  Her language is so good that I understand all of her little nonsense stories.  And she is so entertaining!  She is best friends with six boys at her daycare and one girl, Carmen, who Emily describes as "my brown friend and I'm white" which astounds me because I can't believe that kids notice those things so early!  Emily loves reading, puzzles, running around, playing with baby dolls and Barbies, going to the park, climbing anything, and being around people.
Emily has started to get picky about her food, wanting to eat just a couple of bites of many different things.  Ever since Halloween, she is very aware of the candy bowl at the top of the pantry.  She will sometimes ask for a lollipop "after dinner Mommy?  just a little lollipop, ok?"  which cracks me up.  Enjoy the photos below!

5 minutes old

9 months old

11 months old

One year old birthday party

Christmas 2011

Summer 2012

Baby's first photo!  July 2010