waiting and more waiting

davis says he keeps "WAITING" on christmas. i'm currently waiting on daddy. waiting on daddy to get home. waiting on daddy's plane to get in. waiting on daddy's one hour commute from the airport to be over. waiting on my laundry to get folded. waiting on my presents to get wrapped. waiting on my dishwasher to get emptied. but they are not getting done by themselves.

one night without daddy throws everyone out of whack. i'm sure daddy's just waiting to get home and get to sleep. we are all "READY" for him to be home.

crazy thing happened to today at the store. standing in line (forever) at sam's to buy two things for office party and one LAST christmas present. look in cart. there are only two things for office in there. ooh! i have to get out of this line and go back for the present. that's not the crazy thing fore-mentioned. retrieve present. come back. get in line again. this time there are two parents and their two toddlers waiting behind us. the mom keeps calling out to the little boy, "william, come here." "william, come back." "william!" i whisper to davis to see if he heard that little boy's name was william too. still standing in line 10-15 minutes later, we get our turn at the register. however, parents behind me decide to split up and the mom takes the kids to the car while dad waits and pays. (been there. done that.) as the mom is walking off with the kids she calls out to the daughter this time, "allison! come on."

huh?!?!?! what? i look back over my shoulder at the dad and ask "are your kids william and allison?" he says yes. i point to my two in the cart and say, "same here. william and allison." he says, "really?" "yes, really. good taste."

we hear of a lot of williams. that's one reason we use davis. but we RARELY hear of any other allisons. but william + allison? that was crazy.

well now, i am ready for bed. and hopefully my little sugar plum fairy will be dancing in my head soon. but of course i cannot log out without sharing her little christmas dance with you, my devoted reader....

...and to all a GOOD NIGHT!

the real thing

santa came to church supper last night. i'm not quite sure which santa describes him best. disco santa? miami vice santa? jersey santa? you see, santa wore sunglasses to cover up his entire face due to keep a low profile amongst our youngest members. these sunglasses were red, plastic, and had a red, plastic grill across each side kind of like this.....

when i asked davis and allison if they wanted to go talk to santa, davis quickly said, "no." when asked why, he explained he liked the macy's santa better than the santa with sunglasses.

i don't see why?

little things i love

.....and i'm not just talking about the kids! i LOVE good things. martha stewart good things. luxurious good things. indulgent good things. simply good things and creative good things.....I REALLY LOVE!

tonight for dinner, i concocted another good thing. and when i find something good, i like to share with others. this is one of those things where you are just trying to come up with something to make for dinner. on a budget. on a dime. on a tight schedule. i'm sure someone, somewhere may have published this for credit. but nothing pleases me most when something so easy comes out really good.

what goes better with a very cold day than a warm bowl of soup and creamy grilled cheese? nothing. so tonight's menu consisted of cream of tomato soup and everyone's favorite toasted sandwich. no, i'm not going to share my recipe for grilled cheese. that could go one forever. but the next time you have change your pocket and no idea what to make for dinner, here is what you do:

1. Combine two 28 ounce cans of good crushed tomatoes with your basic boxed chicken stock. (just one.)

2. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder and basil to taste. I only used a wee little bit!

3. Simmer on low/medium low heat for as long as you can.

4. Right before you're ready to dive in, add cream to taste. I used as little as 1/4 cup.

5. Stir, pour and dip that sandwich!

It's so good, you'll be glad you did.

Now let me introduce to the other good thing we've grown to love around here. His name is Piper and he's our very own house elf! Piper reports to Santa every night at the North Pole to inform Santa of our daily behavior. He returns before we wake up and makes himself at home. Crazy little elf. Caught him going through my cabinets to make s'more soup for breakfast just the other morning. Last night he got his hands all in Zach's tools trying to help fix a cabinet. He has moved around toys and climbed to the top of our tree. And got into Dad's old tackle box to fish for a day. What will he get into next?

gobble gobble

a few pictures from davis' thanksgiving celebration at school last tuesday......

pilgrims line up for lunch

a blessed feast

in good company

no serious pilgrims allowed.

ouch

last friday we got the call.

that went like this:

"come get your son. there was an accident on the playground. he needs stitches."

my next question went like this:

"zach, do you want to stay here with allison or go get davis?"

zach comes back with davis.

"he doesn't need stitches."

"mmm....i think he does."

an hour later.....

zach says (with a lotta-bit of pride),

"well, NOW davis and i look a lot alike....right down to our matching scar above the eye."

dreams do come true

six years ago zach and i got married here. big celebration for big plans ahead. didn't know those plans came in little packages. didn't know then exactly when those packages would arrive. especially so close together.

davis and allison have always seen pictures of our wedding, pictures of the church and so on. it was so much fun taking them to see it in person. just wish taking pictures with them would have been a little more fun.

.....you'll see what i mean.

walking out to the river....

these are the typical shots for the day ....

best cute shot i could get:

watching the crabs below:

ding dong! it's finally here!!

hooray for halloween! the most favorite time of the year is here! i have to admit, i've somewhat recovered from the kids not allowing me to make the costumes this year. especially, matching costumes. i have a feeling my run is over. (or so they think!) i've got great things in store. the hardest part will be waiting 364 days from now. well without further ado, here they are.....in their very own costumes, for the first and, maybe, the last time. at least i got to add a little extra something with gas candy bucket and pupcake basket. and i can honestly find a good bit of satisfaction in the majority of allison's costume coming from the closet.

davis chose to be.......



LIGHTNING McQUEEN PIT CREW


allison is starring as.......



STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE with her dog PUPCAKE!

i'm starting to think we are invited to more halloween parties than christmas parties. sounds a little bizarre, but at least you can wear the same outfit to all parties. however, by the time halloween night gets here all costumes are a little frayed and tatttered. the price you pay for free candy.

each year, gardner-webb student activities groups and athletics sponsor an octoberfest for the community. every club or team host a carnival game, face painting, or halloween game for the kids. its a madhouse but we love it. davis and allison's favorite stop every year is the women's softball team. walk-around-the-bases cakewalk to decorate your own cupcake. last year we made the mistake of making it our first stop. chocolate icing and white feathers don't mix. allison likes the cupcake decorating and eating part, davis likes the girl part.

allison walks away with her own 'death by chocolate' creation:

painting pumpkins with daddy:

i take that back. the cakewalk was not davis' favorite game. i forgot about the athletic trainers' table.....shoot emperor zurg or the joker. i wish i could describe to you the look on davis' face when he realized he got to

1. shoot a gun.

2. shoot at emperor zurg.

thankfully, this table was one of the last by the door. we stayed there for 15 minutes. davis didn't want all their candy. he just wanted all shots on zurg. (note for some: emperor zurg is a bad guy from toy story 3.)

we were glad to have good friends join us at octoberfest. the kids were so excited to see rowan and henry all we got were blurry pictures from all the jumping around.

who is that g.i. joe? oh! it's our good friend brye.

the mask finally comes off later in the night.

and this is what we look like at the end of the night. trust me allison got the best of octoberfest and not the other way around. it only looks like a bloody nose, but this is what happens when strawberry shortcake's red hair rubs off and mixes with gooey candy residue.

hope your halloween is fun and sweet!

reach, reach! giveyourselfahug

raining cats and dogs

cats? did i really just say cats? dogs, yes. we are dog people. you can tell from the dog hair on our clothes, in the car, and the lint roller falling out of our pockets. of course we love all dogs, but we really love real dogs. real, big dogs. dogs with real dog noses to sniff things out. dogs with really strong tails to welcome you home. the better to wag with. dogs with deep barks to fool those who don't know us. dogs who bring things back you (or are supposed to). dogs who hug you back when you hug them. and dogs who take us on a walk, not the other way around. when i told my parents after college i wanted to get a dog, my mom said, " you're always on the go...how are you going to keep a dog?" my dad said, "that's understandable. you've never had a day in your life without a pet. why would that change now?" and when the day came, mom went with me to bring rio home.

now back to the cat. our dogs have never liked cats. they always thought of them as big squirrels in fancy outfits. chase squirrels. chase cats. makes for a very, good day. but there is this cat who lives across the street. well, really he has taken over the neighborhood as an outdoor cat. i fed the cat a couple days when i noticed my neighbor was out of town. now the cat comes over every morning asking us for his breakfast. this cat thinks he's a dog. derby chased him the first time he saw him and the cat rolled over to show him his belly. this happened several times. now derby lays in our grass and oscar (the cat) sees him and charges derby to play. derby just gives him "the look."

but today, oscar greeted us this morning when we walked out to take davis to school. as we walked davis to school, i looked back to keep the kids moving and on track and there i saw oscar following us. i pointed this out to allison who adores all animals, and she coaxed oscar into following us the entire way. to davis' class and back - there we all were. davis, allison, me, derby on his leash and oscar in step right beside derby. for a moment i wished i had the camera. but then i thought, to get the real picture someone would have to be capturing the moment from a distance.

people have always compared our dogs to horses and lions. i wonder if oscar thinks derby is a lion?

**update** here is a t-ball video as promised....click here.

still trying to adjust to from a month of interrupted routines that the blog is missing several posts and many pictures and videos. but they are all in my head! just have the find the time to transfer to the keyboard.

davis finished his 2nd season of t-ball. on the day of his last game, he told me on the walk home from school how he hasn't been the pitcher yet. i told him to ask his coach to put him in as the pitcher and he actually followed through because guess who was the starting pitcher in last night's two inning thriller?

allison still comes up with the craziest sayings. just this weekend she told zach, "daddy, you make the best food! i looove your macaroni & cheese!"

and

a couple weeks ago she told me that "i'm a big girl because i got strong elbows! i'm very strong. that's what i says."

i'm trying to upload some recent videos of dance and baseball. keeping my fingers crossed that i get them done soon!! we'll keep you posted. ha ha.

the toys are back in town

we had to work hard for this picture. you would think simply mentioning his new, super-cool buzz lightyear would light davis up for a smile. no. i think i had to bribe him somewhere along the lines of, "if you don't smile for my picture, the show won't start."

little white lies. i catch myself giving them to the kids more and more often now. if you don't sit still in your seat the food won't come. they're not going to call our name until you be quiet. you can't go to mission friends unless you start fighting. no matter what, the result will happen. they eventually bring the food, call our name and no way, no how, will i give up a wednesday night child-free activity.

back to the big event. we learned you can save big searching for discounts for the show, but they get you back before you even get in the door. programs! cotton candy! popcorn! souvenirs! snow cones! step right up, suckers.

the spinner battery didn't even make it to the end of the show. the top to the buzz snow cone cup popped off and we were lucky enough to be able to pop it back on. however, the popcorn was devoured by the handful for the full two-hour show. davis consumed a bucket on his own. eyes straight ahead, hand in bucket, other hand grasping spinner for 120 minutes straight. what was his favorite part? the claw and the doll in the blue clothes. (that would be barbie.) there he goes.....favoring the blondes again.

woody and buzz

green man group

most of the cast

and the award goes to......

Granddaddy of The Year!

Jim Henry Winslett, Jr.

September 27, 1943 - September 23, 2010

the past two weeks have definitely been a blur. for all of us. glad we were there. glad its over. time to recuperate and get back on a normal schedule. even if normal has changed.

people are so kind. people are bringing over so many kinds of food. right now, i have two cakes on my counter. the kids ask, "who are the cakes for?" i answer, "because granddaddy died." they ask again, "is it his birthday?" "it was." "and he didn't get any? so we have to have it for him?" "that's right! we should celebrate his birthday even if he's not here with us. he would like that."

i like how kids think.

the bear.

por fin!

davis just asked me, "mom, how do you speak spanish?"

how tickled am i!

please understand my delight comes after many, many, MANY conversations with the kids trying to incorporate spanish words in their vocabulary only to hear the response, "mom! ugh! stop speaking spanish!"

so i asked him what did he want to say in spanish and he asked, "how do i count again?" a simple hint of uno and he completed 1 to 10 perfectly. verbal osmosis. even if they are not listening, it sinks in somehow. yippee!

hats

we all wear different hats. mommy hat. chef hat. chauffeur hat. baseball hat. coach hat. soccer hat. dance hat. meeting hats. choir hat church hat. daddy hat. police hat. volunteer hat. time out enforcer hat. seems like this week we've been switching hats 100 times a day. which reminded me of this:

davis and peyton at tball:

playing on the NEW computer (daddy started this):

our not-so-honest babe, but boy is he cute!:

camp parade day:

vacation bible school w/our best bud, rowan: