Thanksgiving Recap. The lazy way.

The lazy way. That means mostly pictures. Not so mostly words.

We went to Atlanta to visit all sorts of Andrew's family. Also, we used multiple cameras because my silly brain forgot to make room on the memory cards before leaving...so some of the pictures are way below my standards...but apparently this laziness ensued prior to leaving, and is continuing right along.

So...Atlanta.

The drive took 9.5 hours. Should have taken 6.5.

Luckily, when we got there, we were welcomed with warm food and lots of toys to play with, as well as room to run around and wake up after a long drive.
The kids even got some early Christmas presents, which to them, made the whole long drive worthwhile, I'm quite sure.

We also enjoyed a cozy hotel stay...Hailey and Keelyn LOVE hotels. Especially Keelyn. I think I've mentioned before how when we go to a hotel, she loses all normal ability to be rational, and immediately begins climbing on things and behaving like a monkey. This was no exception. On the way, I told them we were staying in a hotel, and Keelyn's response was, and I kid you NOT, "Party!"

Truth be told, I love a good hotel stay as well...it's so nice to let the kids be messy and silly for a few days.

Here are the two pretties on Thanksgiving Day. I got a lot of great photos, some of which are for our Christmas card, so I won't share those just yet.

Keelyn thought the Macy's Parade was spectacular.

Hailey enjoyed having extra adults to trick into reading super long stories to her.

Keelyn mostly feasted on Mama P's brown rice. Hailey, though not pictured eating, mostly feasted on bread. When there is a dinner involving bread, she always mostly feasts on bread.

The other thing we all love about a hotel stay, is sharing a king sized bed. It's amazing to spend those hours snuggled up safe together as a family. The kids nested together in the middle for most of the night, Hailey even rubbing Keelyn's back as she fell asleep.

We also had a nice visit with Grammi, involving lots of baby doll play, coloring, silly talk, and chasing the poor tired cat.

Upon returning home, we got one last visit with Cooper before he headed back to school. I think the kids were pretty much done with pictures. This was our best attempt.

We ended the weekend by picking out a tree, and decorating it. It's an awesome tree. Reminds me of the ones my Grandma always gets, chopped right out of the woods for her. It's strong and full of beautiful branches and open space.

The lights went on Saturday evening, and of course there will be more decorating photos from Sunday coming soon!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well. We definitely have a lot to be thankful for this year, starting with our healthy little family of four.

Thanksgiving Feast for the Little People

Hailey's preschool class had Thanksgiving Dinner earlier in the week. It was the quintessential preschool Turkey Day Celebration.

Complete with a kid-crafted centerpiece...
Indian headdresses (which of course my child refused to wear for the better half of the party...before my camera battery died)...but she was "Soft Wind" which I think was the perfect name for her...

And of course, no preschool Thanksgiving celebration could be complete without making colorful turkey hand prints to adorn my refrigerator.
Such cute kids she spends her days with. Such a happy place.

Kicking off the Holidays!

What better to get you in the holiday spirit than the sight of an enormous cow in the local parade? Forget about the big impressive balloons, glittery floats, and music-playing marching bands...no, no, our favorite was the cow.

The other day, we were stopped at a light near a Wendy's. Keelyn thinks every fast food restaurant is a Chic-fil-A, and with every ounce of excitement in her body, she yelled from the back seat, "Found it, Found it, Mommy! Lay, Lay!" Apparently we are on a constant search for them, you know, just in case we need some nelade.

This was Keelyn's first year at the Christmas parade because last year it was negative below too-cold-for-a-baby degrees outside, and we skipped it. I think she was impressed.
After the parade, the kids played in the leaves by the capitol building for a few minutes, while I took pictures of them in their cute little matching dresses. My kids love to match. Love it.

Drew was throwing leaves on them, and they both loved feeling them blow by.

I really love how in each of these individual pictures of the girls, they have their tiny hands placed against their thighs so you can see just how perfect their little miracles of fingers are. Seriously, I am so thankful for their perfect little tiny fingers.

That evening we had our friends the Hansen's over for dinner. Kate and Hailey have been play buddies since they were babies, and the girls do a great job including Keelyn in their play now too...though the little one tends to get a bit defeated trying to keep up with them once in a while. She really needs some friends her own size, but she adores the big girls. Anyway, we made pizza...see how well Keelyn follows instruction while the big kids eat the toppings?

My attempt at a group picture. This was the best of about five. Hailey is a goofball.

Sunday morning my grandmother flew in to stay with my mom for the next few weeks. The kids have been looking forward to this for a long time, as have I, and it is just so wonderful to have her here. We spent the day visiting with her, but I'll have to post a photo later because none of them were post-worthy. Except this. This was post-worthy. Dontchathink?

And, finally, the only thing that seems to excite Keelyn more than the sight of a Chic-fil-A is her Unlce Cooper. She has these little cadences she repeats, particularly when we are in the car and she needs to entertain herself. One of them I hear regularly goes something like, "Cooper, school, eight, nine, ten, eleven, Cooper, school, eight, nine, Cooper, school." When I was explaining to Hailey earlier in the week that she'd get to see Cooper this weekend on his school break, Keelyn piped up quite annoyed yelling, "Me! ME!!" And, I absolutely love this picture of her enjoying a giggle with him, after running wild around the house and turning somersaults all over the living room floor, high on Cooper Kool-Aid.

What a weekend.

Sleeeeeeepp.

So some sharp pains and short breaths on Tuesday, combined with a racing heart and extreme fatigue on Wednesday, led me to a doctor's appointment and chest x-ray yesterday. Though I have none of the very bad things that can cause it, I still seem to have pleurisy. So, bless their little hearts, my babies have had to entertain one tired mama this week. And they're just so cute and helpful.

Like today, the phone rang, and Hailey ran as fast as she could to grab it from the table to answer it for me. I mean she tore out of the living room to get it. But. On the way, she suddenly needed a drink of water...which she stopped for. Then she brought me the phone, confused about why no one was there. Tricky callers we have. She must have been really thirsty.

And Keelyn brought me every single book in our living room to read on the chair together. I never had to get up. The girls just sat and listened to stories, and read them to each other when mommy got out of breath.

You'd think I just ran a marathon. But I don't think I could even run to the mailbox.

And I'm not that pathetic. I mean, as long as I sleep during nap time, and again from the time we have dinner until the time we kiss the kids goodnight, I at least have enough energy to write this post. Do you know how much energy it takes to write a blog post? Seriously people, I am ded.i.cated. I'm also done, and going back to bed. I have to run at the Little Gym tomorrow, which requires way more distance than a trip to the mailbox. The Little Gym! Where we climb on things and laugh and sing. Where my cutest of the cutest likes to walk on the beam!, and climb through the donut!, and run and hide! So, back to bed.

For now, enjoy my beautiful children.

Our new facelift.

Let's start with a picture from last Christmas...messy kitchen, but you get the general idea...that's what it used to look like.

A very, very, very, long time ago, we decided we'd like to tile our back splash...and last week we finally did it! My dad is a tiling pro, as he's done multiple impressive projects in his home (even made some of his own tile!)...so he brought the tools and brain power.

Andrew and I are lucky that we have very similar decorating tastes, so, though we liked a million ideas, we were able to come to one that was perfect for both of us, and really affordable. We also decided to hang a microwave to free some counter space, so that already made a big difference in the look of our kitchen a few days earlier.

Last Wednesday was a complete bust for our local landscapers due to amazing rain, which meant Drew could stay home, and Dad took the day off to help us get started. The kids stayed in their jammies the entire day since we didn't need to go anywhere and it was nasty out. Hailey didn't have preschool for Veteran's day. Things just kind of fell into place for the perfect home project day, staying nice and cozy on the inside.

Well, most of us anyway. Dad and Drew braved the rain on the porch and froze their fingers while making the cuts. The kids and I watched from inside.

And then the kids got bored with their jammies, so they added some flare.
Once my dad got us started, he left us to it...Drew did an awesome job laying the tile. I take credit merely for placing the small accent pieces and taking pictures. Oh, and keeping the little ones happy...there was that.
The next day we grouted. I helped a bit more with that process (particularly because it meant finally being able to clean up!!)...but again, managed to be the picture taker.
I also helped the kids build a fort to play in while we tiled. Forts are their favorite thing right now. They will do anything in a fort. Everything is more fun if you are hiding under blankets. You can read, eat, sing, play with baby dolls, or whatever you want...but if it's under blankets, it's extra special! They never get bored, which is great when you need them to entertain themselves for hours upon hours so that you can spruce up your kitchen! I highly recommend it as a parenting technique.
So, then there was some caulking, and we were through. Here it is up close. The small tiles are randomly placed, and I cut them so that the four colors vary from square to square. The glass looks so nice...pictures don't do it justice.
And here's the whole kitchen...new microwave and all. Since purchasing our house, we've redone the floors, hung the pots, added hardware to our cabinets and drawers, upgraded the faucet, added the microwave, and tiled the back splash. I'd say it finally looks the way we love it!
My friends with tattoos say they're addictive. It's like once you realize you have this space that can be decorated, you suddenly want to decorate all of it. I'm suddenly realizing how many walls we have in our house that could benefit from our new-found skills. And the floors. This could be dangerous.

A commitment to self.

So I have a confession to make.

But first, take a look at those cheeks!
Now, it's about those cheeks. You see, until those cheeks grew walking legs around this time last year, I was completely on my game when it came to my position as family archivist. I realized a long time ago that my scrap booking days would be put on hold until forever, which is why I started this blog. However, I had a system for organizing pictures, and it was (and still is) something I take very seriously.

I just can't stand the thought of losing moments (like this blissful tiny dancer with her tiny doll) into the black hole of computer files we all seem to be accumulating.

That, and, back when I was only a little older than Hailey is now, my grandparents lost everything they had to a house fire. Everything. Paintings, pictures, jewelry, letters, and more. I think I've always been determined to protect us from that same thing by over doing it a bit. Also, pictures are just indescribably important to me. If our house was burning, my exit strategy involves kids (with respective lovies), cat, and pictures. No lie, we've actually talked about this. In fact, during the important events in our lives, getting pictures is almost as important to me as enjoying the actual event. It's part of my process for remembering. For marking moments in my mind.

And I require pictures frequently. Mostly, daily. Because tomorrow, she might not put all that jewelry around her neck and insist on splashing in the sink, you know?So what is this archiving process, you might ask? It goes something like this:

First, I load every picture we ever take on the computer. And I do not delete anything, even if it's out of focus and horrible. I organize by year, then by season, then by event. It all gets saved. If I edit lighting or cropping, I still save the original, just in case.

Then, I back those pictures up in two places...our own external hard drive, and Carbonite, which is an online back up system. It slows the computer a bit, but it's worth the peace of mind to me. When we bought our new computer, Carbonite restored everything for me just as it was on the old, no problem.

Then I go through those images every few months and select our favorites (probably about 20% of what we actually take). I order those in 4x6 prints from Snapfish, and organize them chronologically in slip albums, where I also write short notes such as the date or names of people, etc.

Obviously I blog religiously, and that allows me to elaborate on things that I truly want to remember, and unless the entire Internet crashes and burns (which I have to believe will actually happen some day...you know, like The Great Crash of 2027?) then those images are saved forever.
So, the problem is, that about the time Keelyn started walking, I stopped archiving. The pictures are organized properly on our computer, but that's where it stops. Our external drive is now out of space, so it has pictures up until a few months ago. Thank goodness Carbonite works all on its own. Anyway, I haven't pulled favorites or uploaded to Snapfish in an entire year as of Thanksgiving. Nothing is printed. And never mind an album for Keelyn like the one I made for Hailey with a few favorites from her newborn, 3, 6, 9, and 12 month photo shoots. But hey, at least we managed to get the pictures taken. And at least they're waiting for me quietly on the computer, right?

(And all you people who think you know better and say it never happens for the second child, that's just not me. I will admit there are less pictures of Keelyn on the computer because I just had less time to take them, but there are just as many that are worth printing, and she will have the same album as Hailey, as it is simply just that important to me).

The point is, it's a lot to keep up with, and even more to catch up on, and if I don't get my ducks in a row now, I never will. I can't take pictures this Christmas without knowing the pictures from last Christmas are properly filed. It's just unsettling.

So enjoy the images above. You might not hear from me for a bit. I'm devoting my precious computer time over the next few days to getting this stuff in place. And meanwhile, I'd actually be interested to hear what your process is. How do you archive? Do you think I'm a maniac? (Be nice).

Party like it's 1999.

So it's been ten years since I graduated from high school. That means that at our reunion, nearly every conversation began with something like, I saw on Facebook that you... It also meant that our slide show was made up entirely of grainy digital scans. Weird. That actually makes me feel older than seeing that most of the guys I hung out with now have receding hair lines. Some of them have lost all hope and shaved to bald, ya'll. Lost all hope. That's old.

I almost didn't go to the reunion. Literally, I decided at about 5 o'clock that evening, and that was that. I have no idea why I didn't want to go. I had a wonderful time, and got to see people I haven't seen in, well, ten years. Imagine that. And it was even great to get the chance to see the people I have seen more recently... like within the last five years or less. Time goes by so fast as an older person, five years just isn't even that long. And, yes, I called myself an old person. Not old, old, but older than I was. The reunion made that glaringly obvious.

I have a few very good friends that I still see regularly, but otherwise, this was a few hours of catching up on ten years, and realizing just how much has changed... for myself and for my fellow graduates. There are babies and marriages and engagements. Jobs gained. Jobs lost. Degrees earned. More degrees to go. I went to an extremely diverse high school, and it was really cool to find out where life has taken everyone. It was just great to be in the company of people who all knew each other when life was simpler. When the biggest decisions consisted of where to go for lunch, what to do for spring break, and whether or not to go to the football game. Actually, I'm not sure I ever missed a football game.

Anyway, it was a blast. And, what did Andrew think, you might ask? Well he had a blast too... he lived with a few of my friends from high school at one point (so they're his friends too), and he's also gotten to be great friends with a few husbands of my girl friends... so he had just as much fun as I did. It was, after all, an evening with adults, which is quite rare these days!

And, in case you were wondering, no I did not take a thousand pictures like you might have expected me to. In fact, I didn't take a single picture, but I managed to be in two that were taken with my camera, so here they are.

This first one is friends, Marissa, John, myself, and Kara... Kara whom I've known for a very long time, and was one of my closest high school buddies, especially during that awkward first year.
And in this one: Sarah, Renee, and myself. Sarah and I see each other when we can... we don't live too far apart, and she has two little ones too. We've been friends since middle school. Back when we were babies. Renee has been one of my very best friends forever (since we were somewhere around 12 years old, which I guess means middle school as well) (she's shown her face on this blog quite a few times I believe), and though she doesn't live as close as I'd like her to, we keep pretty good tabs on each other, and get together as often as physically possible. She also has a new baby boy. So we're just three blogging mamas now!
I'm so glad we went... what a great chance to catch up and laugh with old friends!

Gotta love this weather...and these girls.

When the contractor comes to visit, he might as well stay a while.

So our contractor...the one who replaced our kitchen floor when we had a massive sink leak...the one who replaced ventilation on our roof when we had a massive roof leak...apparently brings leaks when he comes by.

Like, if we think his name, maybe there's a leak. Like, leaks are his specialty, and he enjoys working in our home. Like, when it rains, it's not really raining, it's just another massive leak.

He came to install a new microwave today. Our old one broke a few months ago. Well, kind of. It broke enough that we wanted a new one, but not enough that a little tape couldn't keep it in working order for life's necessities in the meantime. Yes, tape. And I used clear packing tape, so as to not totally ruin the aesthetics. Never mind the gentle touch with which you had to push the release button so that the door would actually open, while also not sending said release button flying across the kitchen.

So, we decided to buy one for over the range, and free up some counter space, since my tape job did not carry a lifetime warranty.

Anyway, I had to work hard to get this microwave. In fact, the guy at the appliance store wouldn't let me buy it at first. I think he must have been up for some sort of award or something. That, or Jiminy Cricket actually lives on his shoulder. I couldn't for the life of me get him to go back to the storage and get one for me to take home, before I went home myself and measured to make sure that the area I knew for sure was big enough, was in fact big enough.

And, in case you are wondering, it was big enough. With room to spare.

So, another trip out there, and we had a microwave. The contractor came today to complete what should have been about a 30 minute installation. Except apparently our builder did not have Jiminy Cricket on his shoulder, and we found that much of our stove ventilation was held together by some tape and staples a preschooler could have done more neatly. I bet if I had looked hard enough, I could have found a wad of gum.

I should have taken a picture. Ridiculous.

Anyway, I tell you that, so you understand, that two hours later, the microwave was still being installed. The contractor was working on some project that might even baffle the guys at NASA, which involved fitting a circle into a square hole, while singing his ABC's and standing on one foot. Backwards. This delay meant that Andrew was outside grilling dinner, which he never would have done otherwise.

So, I guess in many ways, we are lucky the dudes who built our house graduated from a good preschool so that the microwave install could take 4 times longer than normal, so that we would need to cook outside, so that we would find this problem that must be fixed right now, while the contractor just happens to be around.

What problem, you ask?

Any guesses? I bet it's a leak.

Ooh!

I just bet it is.

Drew comes in and says, "Hey, whatever you're doing is making the heat vent outside go crazy."

Contractor: "Nothing is turned on."

Drew: "Come look."

Men walk out laughing. Men walk in not laughing. With wet feet. Massive water heater leak. Water is turned off. Contractor is at hardware store. Cha-Ching! It's going to be a long night. Maybe while he's here, he can fix the light switch, redo the weather stripping on the back door, and paint the front porch trim. Wonder how much he charges for an all-nighter.

But hey, our microwave looks spectacular.

Family Pictures

So a few weeks ago, my friend Janell offered to take pictures of our family, following a wedding I assisted her with. I'm so excited to start assisting with a wedding again here and there!

Anyway, we've been really anxious to get some cute shots of the kids at this age, and it seemed like a great idea...only we ended up with a dreary, rainy, 40 degree day. We went to Yates Mill which is beautiful, but also posed some issues for Hailey's sensory stuff (bad call on our part), and we ended up cutting things short due to weather and tears. Janell was awesomely accommodating and was able to get some wonderful shots before our bones froze, as you can see here:


So, since Take One was cut short, we decided to try again, and given the fact that we are blessed with a billion friends who are photographers, we had my friend Sara do Take Two. The trees had changed a bit more, and the weather, though still a little dreary, was much more picture-friendly.

Sara and I have known each other forever through dance, and funny enough, she and Andrew randomly ended up in a required physical education class at State together. I'm pretty sure it was something like speed walking, and they bonded over their shared ridiculousness. Anyway, you can see some photos of the family here, and some photos of the girls here. We took the kids to their familiar happy place, Pullen Park, and they really had a ball.

We LOVE all the pictures...thank you Janell and Sara both so much for capturing our family and our precious little girls.