Fire

The in-laws got us a firepit for our aniversiary. We used it for the first time a couple of weeks ago with some friends. It was freezing, but the fire was hot, and the s'mores were yummy. And the Monkey loved it! (even though he wouldn't eat a s'more)

How did this become about clothes?

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
-William Morris

This is one of my favorite quotes, and I go through spurts of doing this in our house. I think I'm going through another phase with this, which involves much throwing/giving out of things. For example: sometime this week, I want to go through all of our clothes and give away the ones we never wear anymore.

And I want to go through the Monkey's clothes to give away the ones that I really don't want to keep, or that he never really wore. (again. It's not like I've never done this. :) ) Oh, also, he's growing big, so I need to go through his drawers to take out the stuff he's outgrown, which means finding a place for it in his clothes storage. There's a lot of guilt/attachment for me with his clothes. I don't want to get rid of them, because what if we have another baby boy. Then I do want to get rid of them because we might not have another baby boy, and besides, we'd probably enjoy shopping for a new baby, too. Then, I don't want to get rid of them, because they're his sweet baby clothes, and he looked so cute, and we had such good times with those clothes. Or they were given to us by someone we love very much, so I don't want to get rid of them because of that attachment.

And then there's the issues with RJ's clothes! haha! just kidding. Sort of. mostly.

Best Thing Ever. (It's actually a planter.)

Finally... Normal Life

I am so excited about this week- life is almost back to normal!

We've got a normal work-week. Nothing canceled or the office closed. No more loooong days doing the entire building in one go.

There are no more out-of-the-ordinary, special occasion things to do.

And, Best Of All, I've got my car back!!!!! My husband and his very generous friend finished the clutch replacement on Saturday night. I'm so excited that it is done, and so proud of my husband for doing it himself!

For Grandpa

Showing off his muscles and his new shirt...

Car Curses and Friend Blessings

Background: We already aren't driving the Jetta right now because the clutch is mostly gone. RJ's ordered the parts to fix it, and he's going to (hopefully) have it fixed before school starts again.

Then this happens...

Yesterday afternoon, RJ was pulling out of the driveway to go meet some of his VW friends, and his left front strut snapped. Snapped! He was able to get it back into the driveway, though. I saw it after he pulled the tire off and the thingy that the tire goes on (the brake, etc...? What is that called?) was just resting on the ground.

Needless to say, I had a little bit of a freak out. It's one thing to be down to one car when RJ is off of school, but it's quite another to have ZERO cars!

BUT, RJ has some amazing friends! They all came over to our house instead of where they were meeting. They stood around and looked at it for a minute, then decided what to do. One of them had a spare set of struts and he brought them over and they all worked to replace the front ones. I'm just blown away by how generous they were with their time and talents and possessions.

So today I am thankful for three things. First, for RJ's friends. Second, that the strut didn't break while I was driving it on the interstate late last night. Third, that the strut should still be under warranty. (oh, I hope!)

Again with the cuteness...

This is how excited he was about Christmas...

I do wish I'd gotten him from the front, but this is still really funny!

The Child and the Peabody Christmas tree.


Gingerbread house that Grandpa gave him.


He loved it!


The Men of the family at Christmas Eve. They are gaining on the girls!


So excited on Christmas morning!

If this isn't the cutest thing ever...

I don't know what is.

Christmas Outtakes

About half of our pictures had the Monkey wiggling in them.

Angry faces.

Surprised faces.

Serious faces. (this is my favorite of the Monkey!)

Forgot to turn the self-timer on!

A Funny Day

The Monkey wearing his one mitten. I finished it today, and he wanted to wear it while he did his schoolbooks. Now I've just got to finish the other one.

We had friends come over for breakfast and coffee this morning. The Monkey was leading his little friend around by leaving him a trail of raisins on the floor.

It's my birthday gift to me

Guess who discovered photoshop brushes?!?!?

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

This stack of monochromatic presents gives me an unusual amount of happiness. I suggested we wrap our ornaments in the same paper, an ode to Jeanne-Claude and Christo, but RJ vetoed.

Our tree.

Funny story: We had troubles with the lights, so RJ went to Target by himself to get some new ones. He came back with new ornaments. Star Wars and Transformers ones.

And I felt so Efficient

I've discovered the drawback to having all the Christmas shopping done, wrapped and under the tree.

The never ending questions.

"Mom, can you tell me all the presents? Mom, is it Christmas time? Mom, can you tell me what the presents are?"

Go Callie!

Saturday, LRCA was in the final of the whatever football thingy they are in. They lost. It was pretty bad.

BUT! Callie and the band were so great! They performed at halftime. Mom told me later that they decided to perform and learned their routine Saturday morning!


THEN! They were in a parade on Sunday! Mom and the Child and I went to watch. The parade was pretty fun; the Child loved it! They tossed out candy, and my purse was bulging with it by the end. (and his Halloween candy was almost gone!)





Don't they look great?!


Callie and her Clarinet.

They did a really good job, and they even got second place prize. I'm really proud of them! And, I'm proud of Callie, in particular.

Video from the game on Saturday:

Memories

My computer has been having issues lately, so I'm backing up all of our pictures. I always forget what the Child was like as a baby...

Announcement

I've finished my Christmas shopping. Mostly. And what I have finished is all wrapped up. It makes me feel so refreshed and on-top-of-things.

If only the Child would stop asking all day long about when we are going to put up the Christmas tree, and if when he wakes up will it be Christmas? And after it gets dark will it be Christmas? And have you found a box for that present yet? Are you going to wrap it? Mom? Mom? Mom! Mom? I have something to say. Mom? Are we going to put up our Christmas tree tonight? Are we going to put up our Christmas tree when Daddy gets home? Where is Daddy? Where? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom! Mama!

Pictures from the Temple's camera

RJ selling our extra tickets, because Nathaniel and Megan are the best, ever:

Sharing the fantastic scarf I made on the ride up, and driving around town during the day:

Dave's not so interested in sharing:

Self-portraits:

Getting the very chipper lady behind us to take a picture:

It is, in fact...

my husband's birthday!

Fall in Fayetville

Pics from last weekend. We went up to Fayetville with Amy and Dave. They stayed with her aunt, we stayed with Nathaniel and Megan. We hung out with friends, went hiking, hung out with some other friends and went to the football game. And then drove home. It was a long, but satisfying day. There are more pictures, but they're on Dave's camera. When I get them, I'll post some more!

These are for Tami:


The trees here aren't so pretty this year; they are all sort of brownish.

RJ and Dave, talking:



Obligatory group photo:

Aaron and his new toy:

Aaron fixing his new toy:

Shortly after this picture, Aaron popped his new toy.

And this is what was on my camera when I uploaded pics this morning, the famous "RJ's self portrait":

He's had a really long week- two tests on Wednesday, a test and a presentation today.

Happy Halloween!

The Monkey was insisting on scary faces. So we did Strong Mad and Jack the Pumpkin king (the mean version). The VW is, of course, for RJ.

Ready to go out!

He was the cutest firefighter ever!

Going through his candy. His favorite are Dots.