Happy Birthday Georgia!!

Big Brother

My big brother Andrew and his wife Michelle came for Thanksgiving. It's always fun to see them. We hadn't met up since July, so a visit was long overdue. Michelle is expecting a baby girl in the Spring. They have 5 nieces already, with no nephews, so they'll be adding another princess to the mix. Holy hormone-y. Family get-togethers will be high-drama for sure with all these females running around! Andrew is the most excited expectant father I know! I'm thrilled for them too!! My girls can't wait to have another cousin around.

Brad likes to comment on how loud my family is. We are pretty loud really. The volume is always on high for some reason. And when my mom and I laugh, you can hear it 3 doors down. I have neighbors tell me they know when I'm outside because they can hear me laugh, or guffaw, as Brad likes to say.

Sweet mama-to-be Michelle. She was itty bitty before becoming pregnant. Now, at 6 months, she's still itty. She definitely makes pregnancy look easy.

Off now for some ham rolls, ham sandwiches or just plain ham. I bet tomorrow we'll have ham biscuits.

I Went For a Walk on An Autumn Day

Ahhh... The scent of Autumn is in the air. There's a crispness to the wind, colors against the sky, and of course, football.

Maggie and I enjoyed the wonder of it all in the backyard, where she found the biggest leaf I've ever seen, while Brad enjoyed the wonder of consecutive first downs.

What a beautiful day for a little walk. Kiki joined us, sniffing the new smells of the Season. Maggie likes to play follow the leader with her, but she can't quite get to the places the cat can-though she tries.

Oh Look - my favorite pink Vans are having a good time too!

I love this tree in our front yard. Red is my favorite leaf color, and we have a beautiful Gazing Light tree in front. I made that tree name up; I have no idea what kind of tree it is. But lovely just the same. Sidebar- my brother and I share many things - a birthdate, love of sweet tea and chapstick, and overuse of the word 'lovely'.

With Autumn comes Thanksgiving. Maggie's class had their Thanksgiving feast the other day at school. Her teacher painted her face Indian style. Or is it Native American style? Either way, she dug it.

People are always saying she looks like me and Georgia looks like Brad. This is true. But, at the store the other day, a woman in line behind me and Maggie says to me: "You two have the same wave pattern. There's no denying her." Wave pattern??? Is this code for something?? I realize she means the wave in the back of our hair. Odd - I know. Do you comment on people's 'wave patterns'? A first indeed. Lovely.

Oh.My.Gosh.

I took my Brownie troop camping this past weekend. I'm so happy this is past tense. As Daisy Scouts last year, we could not go camping, much to my relief. My camping skills are nonexistant. Brad got a big laugh out of the idea of me attempting this feat. So, I had all required camping training through the Girl Scouts - HOURS of it, and all it did was increase my anxiety levels. Square knots and make-shift slings?? My head about exploded.

I put most, not all, of that anxiety aside and 6 out of the 12 girls in my troop and I, along with my co-leader, headed to Camp. I was a mess the 2 weeks leading up to the trip. All the packing, Girl Scout required paperwork, and worries over these 6 year olds being away from Mom reeked havoc on my poor fingernails. I've bitten my nails for 30+ years and have been fairly successful in quitting (Finally!) until this trip came up.

On the ride up I was literally shoving pretzels in my mouth just from the nervous energy. Note: I HATE pretzels. I'd rather go hungry than eat them.

We bunked with 3 other troops in a cabin. I was told the cabin was the nicest accommodations there, and we got it since my girls were the only first graders from Brentwood to attend (Yay us). Hmmm.... the leaky shower and funky floors made me think otherwise. Remember - I've never been camping in my life. There were 40 girls and 10 leaders total in this cabin, and it was pure chaos. The girls were up until 11pm, WAY past their bedtimes, and I finally fell asleep at 2am. My co-leader and I were in a room by ourselves next to the only bathroom. Girls were in there all night, and the shower dripped water on the cement floor relentlessly. It was some form of sleep deprivation torture. And, all parties up at 5am! 40 girls in one room = one up, all up. My head was pounding.

The mattresses, and I use this term very loosely, were about 2 inches thick. Fine if you're a newborn, but not so good for grown adults. I slept on top of my sleeping bag, which was purchased solely because of this trip, for a little extra comfort, therefore I froze. I had Georgia's coat on my feet, another girl's towel around my middle, and my sweater on my shoulders. Aww, sweet dreams came easily that night (NOT!).

The day went like this: Breakfast, flag raising ceremony, 3 legged race, tug-of-war, hay dive, egg race, pee break, swinging bridge, trail, lunch, horse loving and groomin, crafts, tie-dye, then home. This was all between the hours of 8am-3pm. I was literally throwing stuff in my car to get the heck out of there. Don't get me wrong, everyone had a great time, but I was in serious need of a hot shower and bed.

Oh, and that swinging bridge part. Remember I don't like elevators and trams, well swinging bridges are on that same list. I envisioned rainbows and unicorns as I crossed - twice nonetheless.

We all survived. The anxiety and preparation were worth it. My troop got shout-outs from other troops for doing such a great job their first time around. They really were super little girls out there. It was magical and all that which is required for perfect scrapbooking.

I seriously have no idea how people tent camp. Too bad we won't be the youngest girls there every year!

Girly Ghouls

I took the girls to the Ghouls at the Zoo on Sunday night. Yay- a chance to dress up before Halloween and get candy too! We hadn't been in a couple of years, and the zoo really went all out. We went on a haunted hayride that had Maggie scared. Actually, most things scared her, especially the mad Scientist lab. You know, cauliflower brains, that sort of thing. She was literally running out of there. We walked the zoo for 3 hours! My feet were scared (scarred-either will do) too after that.

Georgia took some pleasure in her fear - as big sisters do. It was a warm-up for the real deal tomorrow night. I snuck in Georgia's room that night while she slept and swiped some M&M's. Tee-hee-hee.... I'll have some great pickings tomorrow night for sure!

Generations to come

Today is day #2 of Fall Break for Georgia, so we spent the morning with Brad's grandmother, Ms. Willie. Brad has 2 grandmothers living, and both are in Nashville. How wonderful is that?! I would give anything to have a grandparent still alive, but also in town would be the best thing ever.


The girls and I went to visit Ms. Willie, take her to the store, and then to lunch. She was thrilled to see the girls, but I think the girls were more thrilled to see her. Ms. Willie moves a bit slow now - she is 91 - and I always forget this when we go out. I'm used to running around like a maniac in a store just trying to get out! With 2 children with me, I don't like to mess around. But, mess around we did at Dollar General today. I must have done 5 laps of the store, saw every item available, vetoed those items for purchase when asked, and paid for what we needed while Ms. Willie perused the cards. The girls actually gave up on begging for things and just sat down in the floor while we waited.

I wonder if that's what I'll be like as I age? It's hard to imagine your life slowing down and speeding up at the same time, as so many people and things change around you. Anyway, waiting for Ms. Willie to shop was nice. It was heartwarming to see the pleasure she got from being out; she kept referring to it as 'a treat'.

I used to bring my grandmother, Virginia, chocolate milkshakes when she could no longer get out. It was such a simple thing to do and it brought tremendous joy to both of us. I'd bring her a shake every day now if I could.

Back to today, we then headed to lunch. Ms. Willie chose Shoney's for the food bar. Lunch went long, as eating is slow too. The girls were surprisingly well-behaved. It's like they don't want to push their limits when out with Ms. Willie. Perhaps she needs to be with us more often!

She was bummed that we couldn't come back into her apartment after lunch, but Maggie was due a nap. Ms. Willie was all smiles as we dropped her off. So were we.

Put a smile on the face of someone you love today.

Finally!

The weather is finally cooling off. We can look forward to crisp days and cool nights. Football weather! It's also the time of year that holidays start bunching up with birthdays. It seems like we quickly go from one to the other. We start planning for Halloween and Thanksgiving in September and Christmas in October with birthdays sprinkled everywhere in between. We have 8 family birthdays between now and Christmas, assuming I haven't forgotten someone. Just in our house alone it's Georgia's in November and Brad and I in December. Also in December my Dad and brother. We'll be celebrating left and right! Cakes, cakes, cakes.


The girls have their Halloween costumes picked out. As you know, this is serious business. Georgia picked the 'perfect' witch and Maggie is going as the latest Barbie princess, The Island Princess Rosella. I think they time children's movie releases in time for Halloween and Christmas to maximize merchandising opportunities. And of course, we oblige with open wallets.