Thoughts Along Life's Highway

Ten years ago…

Ten years ago, I was walking the square in Dahlonega, perusing the shops and enjoying a cold, but sunny Sunday afternoon with SuperMan.

Ten years ago, I was a silly girl who had no idea what was in store for her.

Ten years ago, I was given one of the greatest blessings in my life.

I was given a challenge and a responsibility.

I was given a gift so precious words don’t do it justice.

I was given something I had been longing for for as long as I could remember.

Ten years ago, I became a mom.

Happy Birthday, sweet, sweet girl.

I love you more than you will ever know.

Father/Daughter Dance

The girls had their Father/Daughter Dance last Friday night.

They were super excited.

We had to get new dresses, fix the hair, and even put on a tiny bit of makeup. (that was my idea – they’re not crazy about makeup, thank goodness)

And off they went, to dance the night away with their Daddy… with their SuperMan.

But not before I snapped a few pictures of them.

 

And told them not to come home before the last dance!
(Last year they left early because they were worried I would be lonely at home all alone!)

And they had a blast.

Came home high on candy and fun.

Do you Super Bowl?

I will admit it.

We are not a big sports family.

SuperMan doesn’t really follow or care about sports (thank goodness)

And I have girly-girls who aren’t really into sports, either (again, thank goodness)

And I am as sports-challenged as they come.

I can’t throw a ball to save my life, and God help me if I have to run somewhere.
I’m sure to pull a muscle or twist my ankle.

It’s just not gonna happen.

BUT

Once a year, there is a glimmer of sports-related interest in my house.

Yes, for the Super Bowl.

But, let’s be honest here.

It’s not really about the game.

It’s about two things: (well, maybe three)

• The commercials
• The socializing
• The food

But, if you know me (as I am sure you do by now) this is probably not a big surprise to you.

SuperMan usually DVRs the game so that he can go back and watch the commercials.  I usually just find them on YouTube the next day (much faster).

And, if we’re really lucky, someone will have a Super Bowl party and we can cook new goodies and join in the fun.

Not that we even care about the game.

Or who is winning.

But we’ll go and pretend anyway.  We’re generous that way.

This year, we’re getting together for a pre-Super Bowl party with a group of friends. This is ideal for me. 

All the fun without all the football.

I mean, what more could you ask for?

We’ll be bringing “heavy” hors d’oeuvres  - each family – and sharing in an early dinnertime so that we can be home before our kids’ bedtimes.

What are we bringing?

SuperMan is whipping up some wings – he has decided to do three flavors (the excess runs in our family) He will be doing Teriyaki Wings, Hot Wings, and some “Naked” Wings for the little people.

I’m fixing a crudités plate (it’ll be a stretch for me, I know) and I’ve stumbled across a dip I want to try (Buffalo Chicken Dip) If it turns out well, I’ll share the final recipe I use (‘cause you know I’ll fiddle with it a little)

I’m also thinking I’ll do something sweet. Maybe my Brown Sugar Cake or some brownies or cookies.

So, that’s it for our weekend plans.  We’re not fired up about the game.

We’re fired up about the food!

But, that’s what we’re all about… you know that!

The great blizzard of 2011

I know many of you live in colder climates than I do and that you have probably already had your fair share of snow this season. 

I also know that many of you think us Southerners are wimps when it comes to cold weather (we are!) and that a little snow never hurt anyone…

But when we get the kind of snow we had on Monday, it’s pretty much all anyone can talk about around here.  We haven’t had this sort of snowfall in almost 20 years.  The city is basically shut down and the local TV stations are broadcasting weather coverage 24 hours a day (seriously!). 

It’s big news for us.

So, while I haven’t yet scrapbooked the pages, I thought I’d share some pictures.

These are a few of my favorites. I’m not quite sure who had more fun playing in the snow, Sydney or the girls. My bet is on Sydney. She stayed outside way longer than the kids did.

I know one thing, though. I am so thankful for the house I live in, the warmth of the heat we have and the warm food that fills my belly tonight.

Recipe post tomorrow.

a White Christmas

For the first time since the 1850’s we had a white Christmas this year. What a treat to watch the snowfall on Christmas day and enjoy the girls frolicking in the snow that afternoon. I’m not sure who had more fun – the girls, or Syndey, though, as she was in puppy heaven – romping and jumping, eating snow and sliding in the sloppy mess.

Here are a few pages I scrapped Sunday – while watching the birds on my birdfeeder as they tried to fill their little bodies to stay warm. I’ve got a pretty nasty cold, so it was nice to stay inside, in my jammies, toasty and warm while I scrapbooked and watched the snow blowing around outside.

 

Pop that Corn, man!

One of the things I love about wintertime is the fact that I have an easy excuse to be a homebody.  I am a hermit by nature and wouldn’t leave my house if I could help it. I love my house and I love being at home.  When it is yukky and cold outside I have the easy out and can make plans for staying home by the fire with my kiddos.

Today we ran a bunch of errands, and, with the exception of groceries, we are DONE with our holiday preparations.  We’ll brave the grocery store on Wednesday morning, I think.

One of the things we picked up while we were out were a handful of movies to watch over the next few days. I love those Red Box kiosks.  What a great invention. Stop by, grab a couple videos and you’re only out a couple bucks. And if you don’t watch them by the next day? No worries. It’s only another dollar. Love it!

Anyway, here are the movies we have on tap for our viewing pleasure:

SuperMan and I saw this in the theater last summer. Loved it. Angelina Jolie is not one of my favorite people but she can really act and she does a great job with this movie.  I loved it. Powerful, yet vulnerable. In charge, yet, not. 

If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. I can’t wait to watch it again.

Also on the agenda:

I actually can’t wait to see this one. I started the book, got distracted, and never went back to finish it. So, I’m looking forward to some closure with the movie.  I also like Julia Roberts a lot, so I’m thinking this will be an enjoyable watch.  I’m planning to watch it tonight after everyone goes to bed – while I wrap Christmas gifts.

Big Girl picked out one as well:

 

I think she picked it out because the girl is the same one in our all-time favorite movie Mama Mia! but I’ve been wanting to see it myself, so I was game.

Don’t know if we will watch this one tonight or tomorrow morning (or at least the girls would watch it tomorrow morning) – it will depend on SuperMan and whether he is game for a chick flick or not.

Have you seen any of these?

Thoughts, opinions?

Any other suggestions for other movies to watch while we’re on holiday break?

Thankful

Big Girl gave me this before school.

Sigh.

Some days it all makes sense.

Hideaways

I have fond memories of various different hideaways I had as a child.

There was the banana tree in the back yard of my great-grandma’s house where my brother and I had our own “personal” branch each, along with other branches which had specific functions and uses. 

We’d sit in that tree and make noises at the business people in the adjacent office parking lot.  We thought it was such fun to make monkey noises and watch them try to figure out where they were coming from.  (Of course now I wonder how I would’ve reacted as the adult and not the silly child in the tree.)

There was the attic space (in the same grandma’s house) where we created our own “apartment” complete with bedrooms and a living room (all of which had their own repurposed furniture that had been stored up there)

We spent many happy hours playing in the attic. I remember being devastated when we finally moved out of that house, knowing that my attic hideaway was going to be gone forever.

My mom and step-dad have temporarily moved home (while they are renovating theirs) and the girls have found some new hideaways here in the new house.

There’s the attic space above the front porch that they have turned into their “apartments” (hmmm… sounds familiar)

Their daddy set them up with little carpet remnants and lamps to light their spaces.

 

  They each had their “apartment” with separate entrances in each upstairs bedroom, but they could visit each other by crawling across the attic space to each other.

 

And so it goes – the circle continues.  Two more little girls finding imaginary worlds and secret hideaways in the most unlikely of places – and yet finding entertainment and joy in the simplest of things.

Thanksgiving Cooking

We had lots of fun cooking over the last few days. It has truly been a group effort.

Big Girl and Ammi made the sweet potato casserole.

She decided that sweet potatoes were a little gross to be mashing, but she persevered in helping in spite of her gross-out.

She also helped with the deviled eggs. (I think Little Bit was part of that project for a few minutes)

I helped with the turkey, the vegetables, and the rolls.

SuperMan was carver extraordinaire and the official masher of potatoes.

Little Bit wasn’t too interested in cooking, though, she spent her time playing online.( and eating donuts)

 

It was fun to have everyone a part of not only the eating but the preparing. 

Now, we’re fat, lazy, and enjoying the leftovers. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is hoping you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

We have much to be thankful for today.

Not much more to say

I got this from Little Bit one day after school.

I am not sure there is much you can say in response to that. Other than a great big hug and a kiss.

I’m so lucky.

Mother to Daughter

Above all, remember to treat people the way you would want to be treated.* And remember that your sister will be your best friend for your whole life, no matter what comes. Treat each other with love and respect and kindness. * Don't listen to rumors; and don't fall prey to spreading rumors. * Be true to yourself and always follow your "gut" feelings. They are usually right. * Dishonesty never pays. * Quiet time is a good thing. It is always good to get back in touch with your own thoughts. * Being right is not always the most important thing, but being considerate is almost always important. * Don't let people treat you badly - never shy away from standing up for yourself (or each other) * Attitude really is everything. If you approach life with a good attitude even the most unpleasant tasks are not so bad. * Pray * Even when you think something is impossible, don't be afraid to give it a try. You might just surprise yourself with the things you can accomplish. * Lying never works out well. Tell the truth, even if you have to do it carefully so as not to hurt someone. *  Trust God and love each other *

Game Night

On Friday, Big Girl was under the weather. She had a virus and a nasty fever and spent the day at home. Saturday she was a little better but still not feeling great. However, she was feeling good enough to get “cabin fever” from being at home with little to do for two days except watch TV and rest.

So, we broke out the board games on Saturday night and played Scrabble together.

What started out as four separate “teams” turned quickly into two “teams” playing.  What was interesting was how hard it was to make words even when we had fourteen letters to use (instead of the usual seven).  You would think it would’ve been easier. But, when you have six “A’s” and few consonants, I don’t think it matters much.

We had a good time, though.  I was very proud of the girls’ spelling ability and their creativity in coming up with words. SuperMan’s creativity was impressive, too – especially his “creative spelling” on a few words. 

I’m looking forward to more game nights this winter.

Wordless Wednesday

Knit one…

My babies are learning to knit.

They are having such fun.    It’s a Saturday class and the lady who is teaching them is so patient and kind.  Much more patient than I would be.  

And they’re having a blast.

Losing Innocence

Image via Wikipedia

We had lots of drama and trauma this morning. All before 7:30 in the morning.

Driving to school these days, Big Girl sits in the front seat. She is very proud of the fact that she is now big enough to legally sit there and likes to be “in charge” of the radio and environmental controls wherever we go.

This morning, however, I was wishing she was still in the back seat.

We were driving down a stretch of road that, for our rural area, is fairly busy in the mornings with commuters and  mommies headed to school carpool lines.  There was a car in front of us and we were cruising along when out of nowhere a raccoon dashed out of the tall grass on the side of the road and in front of the car in front of us.

I quickly told Big Girl “don’t look, don’t look,” but I think it was too late.

The poor raccoon was rolled under the car as the driver was traveling too fast to stop and to swerve to avoid the creature would’ve surely meant a wreck.

It was the first time she’s ever seen anything like that.  Understandably, she was very traumatized.  (hysterical is a more accurate description, actually)

My poor baby.

How do you explain to a child those split-second decisions you make where you choose the safety of yourself and, most likely, the children riding in the car with you, over saving a creature’s life? She is such an animal fanatic that all she could think about was the poor animal dying and that the person had not even swerved or slowed down.

As a driver (and a mom) I can only imagine what went through that driver’s mind in the milliseconds before they hit the raccoon.

I hate that she had to see that. I hate that a little bit her innocence was taken away today.

I know it’s part of life. I know that she is going to see things and experience things that I will want to shield her from – and that seeing a raccoon get hit by a car is probably one of the milder things. (although I hope and pray not)

Big Girl is also dealing with some new realities this year at school.  Fourth grade involves a lot more responsibilities (and less hand-holding) than last year – they actually change classes! And, she is dealing with the realization that some friends are not “forever friends” but more friends of a season – and that it’s ok that people move on to find other friends.

I hate knowing that I can’t wrap that protective bubble around my babies anymore.  I want to keep them safe in the cocoon of mommy’s protection and shield them from anything negative or harmful.  Unfortunately, life is not that way.  Kids grow up, expand their horizons and experience new things – not all of them good.

Watching her deal with these things is hard. I want to swoop in and fix everything – make it all better and sunshine and roses for her. But, I know I can’t. I know she has to work through some of this on her own.

And I know that my job now is to be there to support and guide her as she learns how to deal with these things – as a big girl, not a little one.

But I still wish I could pull her into my lap and keep her there, safe, forever.

 

And so it begins

School started today.

The girls were so excited, bounding out of bed without any moans or groans
(I know it won’t last, but I’m enjoying it while it does)

Warm biscuits for breakfast, chased down with some chocolate milk, and we were out the door.

Well, after a little photo session, that is.

They wanted me to walk them in to their classrooms. I was only to happy to do so… glad they still want me to be a part of that part of their first day. 

BUT

Once inside the halls of school, they walked ahead of me, chatting and laughing with their friends. I was just the pack-horse-mom carrying the 85 tons of school supplies to their classroom.

Still, it was fun to watch them happily reconnect with their friends. I’m so glad they like their school and feel at home there.

I can’t wait to pick them up this afternoon and hear all about the day.

Of course, I know I’m going to get extremely detailed answers to my query of  “How was your day?”

Things like “good” and “great” or even “okay”

and that will be it.

sigh.

I’ll have to fill in the blanks in my imagination.

I love parenting.

I can Zoo, can You?

I'm a little under the weather, so rather than a big post, I'll be finishing up my story from last weekend’s little adventure to Chattanooga…

After a very restful and relaxing evening in our beautiful (free) hotel room (thanks, Mom, for the hotel points!) we woke early (I was up at 6AM, what is wrong with me?!?) and headed downstairs for breakfast. Being post-surgery girl that I am, there was not much on the carbohydrate and sugar-laden buffet for me to eat. But, I was prepared and had my trusty protein drink ready in the room just in case that happened. 

The girls and SuperMan dined on reconstituted eggs, blueberry muffins, biscuits, yogurt and grapes (yum, not.)

Then, we headed out to the Chattanooga Zoo to see the animals before it got too hot.

I am so glad we did.

The zoo is fairly small (tiny) and has about 20-25 exhibits. Most of the animals are of the smaller kind – no zebras, giraffes, or elephants here. But that is part of the charm of the zoo, to me. It’s full of all sorts of animals you would not normally see in a zoo of a larger size. 

There were capybaras

and coatis

spider monkeys

This little guy wanted to eat my glasses through the glass.

and red pandas

They look like stuffed animals, but they were real. Just real lazy, too.

But the most fun part was the fact that we got there so early in the morning. We got to see all of the animals having breakfast.

The jaguars were awesome to watch. They were a pair of male brothers, about 18 months old. The zookeeper had just hung boxes of food in their pen and we got to watch them DESTROY the boxes as they ate their breakfast.  They were right in front of the viewing area, just on the other side of the glass. If the glass hadn’t been there, we could’ve pet them while they ate (pet? petted? which is it?)

The zookeeper also put some treats (cheese) in hiding places for the jaguar boys to find.  This was on top of about a 7 foot high pole. He just climbed it like nothing and ate the cheese right away.The other neat thing was, surprisingly, this crow (of all things) . He had a fixation with SuperMan and kept sticking his head out of the cage and looking at SuperMan like he wanted him to do SOMETHING.  Finally, SuperMan decided to try scratching his head (nothing like risking a big bite from a big beak).

The stupid bird loved it.

The girls were afraid Daddy was going to be arrested by the zookeepers. (hee hee)

The first (and last) thing we saw at the zoo were the chimps.

They had just been fed and this female kept grabbing PILES of food and holding in in her hands (and feet) like she was hoarding it.  It was really funny to watch as she fussed at the boys whenever they went by.

“Hey! This is MY food! Go find your own!”

And then there was Hank.  He’s their “special” chimp who gets an exhibit all to himself. He’s old (40’s) and reminded me a lot of my late step-grandfather (hee hee) with his grey, balding head and arthritic legs.

He came right up to the window to see the girls and had a (mute) conversation with them through the glass. It’s a little eerie to see so much intellect in his eyes when he looks at you. Makes you wonder what he is thinking and what he thinks about all this zoo stuff.

We had a great morning at the zoo. If you are ever in Chattanooga, you should carve out a few hours of your day and visit. It’s worth it.

Hanging out in Chattanooga

After our visit to the Aquarium, we had lunch at the Big River Grille (our usual lunch spot) and the walked over to the Children’s Museum to spend the afternoon.

It’s usually SuperMan’s backside in these type pictures, not mine!

The girls love it there – you start out in a water play area that has a huge climby-thing.

Then we visited the dinosaurs

and dug for some fossils

Then, the girls practiced their medical skills

   

and produced a play and created with clay

And then we all collapsed from exhaustion.

The end.

Not really.

We went out for dinner, the girls went swimming in the hotel pool and THEN we collapsed from exhaustion!

More on our Saturday fun soon.  

A Quick Getaway

I mentioned we had a great weekend – we made an impromptu trip to Chattanooga to visit one of our favorite sister cities.  We love hanging around in Chattanooga. There is so much to do and the fact that it is only 2 hours from home makes it a great place to go for a day or a quick weekend getaway.  This past weekend was no exception.

We headed up Friday morning – SuperMan and I were both off work for the day.  The girls planned our itinerary and we started out at the Tennessee Aquarium and then moved on to the Children’s Museum after lunch.  I think I took close to 200 pictures in two days (well, SuperMan did this time, I gave him the camera and I just played with the girls) so I will not post them all on today’s blog post. I’ll force you to see more later in the week. :-)  I think I’ve got enough that I could just about do an 8x8 album easily with the pictures.

SuperMan takes pictures from a totally different perspective than I do, so it was interesting to review what he took and to see his take out our trip.  Very different than some of the things I usually take pictures of, but I loved that he captured our mini vacation from his perspective – and I love some of the shots he took.

Here are the pictures from the aquarium:

Hanging out in the Butterfly Garden

Little Bit is as tall as an Emperor Penguin

Watching the Penguins swim by to say “Hello”

Hanging out watching the fish hiding in the little cavey-like area

We just love these guys. It is so amazing to think that they have no brains, no sentient thoughts, and yet they move about as if they know exactly where they are going and what they are doing.

These were in the tunnel that goes under the big salt water tank.

This is one of those that SuperMan took that I just LOVE. I would’ve never tried that.

They have a “stream” that runs between the two Aquarium buildings and all the kids “swim” and splash in the water. I couldn’t resist myself given that it was 96 degrees with 100% humidity.This is another one SuperMan did. I love it.        

And this one… Great!  

I’ll share the Children’s Museum and Zoo pictures later this week.