Hello December.

Wow. It's officially December...only 24 days until Christmas. I only need to decorate the house (at least we have our tree up), finish shopping, wrap all the gifts, get going on our Christmas cards...oh, and work on my December Daily. I got Ali Edwards' kit at Studio Calico and I'm going to try to just use what's in the kit or anything else I've got in my stash. Try to keep it simple so I'll actually work on it.

Before I post anything Christmas-y I wanted to share Thanksgiving. I only took one picture. Gasp! It was just the six of us at home. (We're planning to be in Miami for Christmas this year.) Mike did all of the cooking, of course. For lunch/appetizer he made spanikopata, or spinach pies. Our traditional Thanksgiving dinner was turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, green bean casserole with homemade fried onions and rolls. For dessert we had a pumpkin pecan streusel pie and, since Helen doesn't like pumpkin pie, we also had carrot cake. Everything was delicious. Will took a nap and missed most of the meal but woke up in time for cake. We spent the rest of the evening sitting around the fire pit relaxing. I even got to "chat" with my friend, Val, via text message. So great to spend time together.

Halloween

I know it's practically Thanksgiving, but I hadn't had the chance to post our Halloween photos. What can I say? Life gets in the way sometimes. First up on Saturday was the community Halloween Party. This was our first year attending (last year we hadn't gotten our membership) and we all had a blast. The kids found their friends and hung around the playground. Every so often they would come over to the pavilion to grab some food and drinks. We all wore costumes and Mike even carved a pumpkin for the contest. His is the one on the far right. "The Haunted Hizzle" He won first place and got a copy of It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. We were so excited because we were actually debating whether or not to buy one at the store. Every time we went we'd pick it up and then say "Maybe next time."  For Mike's and my costume we went as a sword thrower and his assistant. Originally Mike was going to wear a blindfold, but while at The Dollar Store he picked up some Mr. Magoo glasses...to explain why he kept "missing."

The kids this year: Jason, an alien, a cat and Batman.

We were smart about trick-or-treating this time around. Instead of walking all the way from our house, we parked the car at the end of the neighborhood "hot spot." Of course, we still brought the wagon...and of course the kids still complained about all of the walking, but it was a great night.  And I think the kids finished all of their Halloween candy in about 4 days.

Studio Calico September kits.

The latest Studio Calico kits have shipped and mine should be arriving today. Brown box love! The main kit, Glee Club, is pictured above . I also ordered all four add-ons. Usually I just get the main kit, but I had a $5 off promo code since it was my birthday. It was only for one add-on, but I figured if I was buying 1 I might as well buy the other 3. Makes sense, right?

Thespian has lots of goodies for Halloween. I've already got a mini book planned for this year so I may hold on to this kit for next year. Or some cards perhaps?

The Home Ec add-on has those adorable hand stiched tags made exclusively for Studio Calico by Amy Tangerine. Great on a he-said/she said layout.

Debate Team sold out fast. Maya Road, Basic Grey and some new Amy Tangerine (she is the guest designer this month).

The last add-on, Pep Squad, has beautiful Pebbles, Amy Tangerine and Pink Paislee. Love that cute sprinkles background stamp. Now I just need several uninterrupted hours of scrap time. Sigh.

His first day.

Today Will went to pre-K for the first time. It's also his first time being away from mama. We tried to talk to him about school beforehand and anytime we mentioned the "s" word he would go into fits screaming, "I don't want to go to school! I want to stay home!" I kept putting off signing him up because I think secretly, I wanted them to tell me they were full, or it was too late. I know he'd probably have a blast, and I'd rather get the I-hate-going-to-school-fits out of the way now, but he's the baby, my last one...and he actually wants to be with me. We all know that doesn't last very long. So, fighting back the sobs, I enrolled him at Ladybird Academy (no relation to Ladybird Johnson).

This morning, I woke him up as usual. Got Helen and him breakfast then drove to the bus stop. He even kept his backpack on the whole time we were waiting for the bus. The bus arrived and as the kids started climbing on, he tried to follow them. I told him that he wasn't going on the bus, not until next year, but that mommy was going to drive him to school. And that's when it all went downhill......once we got in the car, he noticed we weren't turning around to go home, and the screaming began. I'll spare you the gory details but at one point I managed to get him out of the car by saying that I would walk in with him (for pre-K you're supposed to stay in the car line and the teachers take the kids inside from the curb). Once inside I explained to one of the teachers the situation and she said that we could wait until the car line was finished and that I could walk Will to his classroom. Fifteen more minutes of howling "I want to go home!" and we were ready to head inside. As I was helping Will put his shoes back on (he had thrown them off to show me that he wasn't going inside, EVER! he told me, "You know when I say, 'I hate you' I still love you." Awwwwww. OK, no school for you. Let's just stay home and cuddle. j/k. sort of.

I walked him in, met both of his teachers and while Will lined up to wash his hands the teacher explained all of the classroom procedures to me. When she was done, I looked around the room and Will was already sitting on the rug with a bunch of the kids. Mama who? Somewhat relieved and somewhat heavy-hearted I made the walk back to the car...alone. Maybe someday I'll relish the "me time" but for now I'm missing my sidekick. I feel like Batman without Robin or Mermaid Man without Barnacle Boy or...you get the idea. At least it's only until 12:00 PM.  

UPDATE: I picked up Will and we have success! He climbed into the car clutching his blue folder and candy from his teacher. As soon as he sat down, I asked about his day and he said he had a great time. "The teacher gave me candy! And we went to the park (playground) and we had popsicles!"  I was so happy to hear that he had fun. He was a little disappointed in the candy (Whoppers) "These don't taste good." Luckily, I had his Skittles from yesterday stashed in the car. As the afternoon wore on he shared little tidbits: "I used scissors and didn't cut my fingers. The teacher helped me."

and "If you sneeze on your hands, you can't touch the teacher's things."

 Not sure what this was about but "We had to hit the colors. Not the red one only the blue one and the green one." Maybe it was some sort of game? Also, he was on green! And he has a homework sheet to do this weekend. Pre-K + Will = the start of a beautiful friendship.

(Let's hope next week goes as smoothly.)

getting older and tough decisions.

Last Tuesday I celebrated my 37th birthday. I was lucky this year because my mom decided she wanted to come up by herself, spend some time together and then watch the kids so Mike and I could go out. She left around three to take everyone to see the Smurfs movie. I had about three and a half hours to myself before Mike got home from work. What did I do with those glorious hours? Watched bad movies on Netflix. Why didn't I take a nap? No idea. Anyway, we had a nice time at the Ale House. At first, we pretended we were on a first date...asking questions like "Where are you from originally?" and telling stories about our childhoods (even though we've both heard them a million times). After dinner we moved outside to the patio for the beer portion of our evening. There we played "What's their story?" We go around the bar and make up little stories about the people. Of course, the more outrageous the better. It always gets us laughing. I think 37 is going to be a good year.

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In other, more serious, news we had to make a tough decision about Helen and school. She had a rough time in second grade last year. I don't know if it was because it was a new school, she didn't mesh with the teacher or the material was just difficult for her. She began the year a little behind grade level which is normal after coming off summer vacation. However, she consistently stayed below grade level and no matter how much we worked with her, she basically made no progress on her achievement tests. At the end of the year we met with the principal who suggested we retain her, but that if we worked with her more over the summer, they would reassess her before schools starts to see if she would be ready for third grade. We ended up enrolling her in the reading program at Sylvan Learning Center and did some additional work at home. In six weeks she made a tremendous amount of progress...some areas she was beyond an incoming third grader and other areas she was about a middle-of-the-year second grader. The assessments at the school showed the same results. So what the decision boiled down to was: move her to third grade where she would be clawing her way through or have her stay in second grade where she would be most likely to succeed, even be in the top of her class according to her teacher. We opted to stay in second grade because we felt that having that feeling of accomplishment and confidence in doing well would benefit Helen so much more than just being in the grade she's "supposed" to be in. It was difficult for all of us, but in the end I think we did the right thing. The girl is gonna be alright.

R.I.P. Dan Peek

Today my mom sent me a copy of Rolling Stone magazine that she received at the office (which she thought  maybe I signed her up for a subscription). I was sad to see that Dan Peek, of America, had passed away on July 24th. He was only 60 years old. He was my favorite member of the band. This was a cherished song. I'll miss you, Dan.

It's official!

We have a teenager in the house. On Monday we celebrated Jimmy's 13th birthday. He decided that he wanted to go to The Fun Spot on I-Drive.

The boys immediately wanted to ride the go karts.

After one ride Alex decided that he'd had enough. He said it made him queasy. Hard to imagine going in circles with gas fumes in your face could make someone queasy, but oh well.

We got Helen and Will armbands for the "Kid Spot" which is designed for the smaller thrill seekers. She loved the swings.

Jimmy and Alex headed over to the bumper cars. It's good to know they have the desire to inflict bodily harm on one another but can have fun while doing it.

This girl knows how to work the teacups...

while this boy prefers to sit back, relax and let the ride do the work.

Not too long after the teacups it started raining so we decided it would be a good time to break for lunch. After everyone filled their bellies it was still drizzling so we opted to stay indoors and play video games. Mike quickly discovered that most of the games upstairs were free...his favorite word. Some skee ball games later, the rain had stopped and we headed back outside. 

Helen and Will tried the Frogger. It takes you up real high and then "jumps" back down and takes you up again. It's funny because when Jimmy and Alex were 6 and 4 we took them here and they unknowingly climbed on the Frogger. Needless to say they did NOT like it and wouldn't step foot on it again. When it first started Will had the same look Jimmy and Alex had, but after a while he actually started smiling. They ended up riding it five times in a row (there was no line). 

Mike, Jimmy and Helen rode the big ferris wheel.

Then we let Helen and Will ride go karts. It was a much smaller track, but they still had a great time. Will crashed into the side a few times but quickly got the hang of it.

Look at that focus!

Jimmy and Mike tried their hand at some of carnival-style games. We won a couple of inflatable balls (they give them away to everyone just for playing). We spent the rest of the day playing more games and riding go karts and bumper cars. On the way home we picked up Chinese food for dinner.

Then it was time to open presents. I got this banner for Jimmy's 5th birthday and we've used it every year since. Alex informed me that I should get one for all of the kids. Silly me, why didn't I think of that? Doesn't he know by now that the firstborn gets all the good stuff.

Jimmy was excited to get some new pajamas.

He also liked the new shades he got from Yiayia and Papouli.

We sang Happy Birthday and had a yummy cake. We love you thirteen-year-old boy!

summertime...the living's easy.

We're having a great time around here. How about you? The summer is quickly coming to an end...school starts in less than three weeks. We've got three birthdays to celebrate this month starting with Jimmy's next week. Still cannot believe that boy will be 13!

Back in the Saddle Again.

We're back from our camping trip and ready to start the rest of our summer vacation.

Breakfast and Books.

Doing a little photo catch up. Sunday's picture was today's breakfast. On Sunday we have our "big" breakfast of eggs, usually hash browns, sausage, bacon, grits and toast or biscuits. If we have hash browns I like to have over-medium eggs and then just mix everything together. It looks gross, but tastes so good! 

Yesterday's assignment was books. Books are my favorite thing. Right now I'm reading South of Broad by Pat Conroy, next up is Beach Music also by Mr. Conroy. I've read it before and absolutely loved it. I also got the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series: Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. Mike and I watched True Blood on HBO so I'm curious to see how the books compare to the show. 

Clouds.

I was hoping to capture some great storm clouds, but we haven't had rain for so long. We need it bad. Our pond is practically dried up...it's more of a mud pit than a pond.

Hands.

Helen's hand in mine. Hands that have been held in love, grief and joy. Hands that have held new life. Hands that can provide comfort. Hands that never want to let go.

Favorite shoes.

For June 2nd we had to photograph our favorite shoes. Right now my new walking shoes are my favorites. They encourage me to put them on and go for a walk in the neighborhood. They make me want to get outside and get healthy. I can't wait to see where these shoes take me.

Self portrait.

The challenge for June 1st was a self portrait. My least favorite. I chose not to do the typical "take a picture of yourself in the mirror" picture. (Note: Objects in shadow appear larger than in real life.)

Not sure if that's true, but I just wanted to say it.

June Photo Challenge.

As if I don't have enough to do, I've decided to (try to) participate in a photo challenge I heard about on Alissa Fast's blog. I don't think I'll join the Flickr group, but I figure it will help me take photos for Project Life and heck...it just might be fun! The challenge was originally posted on A Feathered Nest.

Picking Blueberries.

This past weekend we headed over to Mark's Blueberries in Clermont. It was about an hour long ride and Will kept asking, "Are we there yet?" (I don't know if I'm looking forward to our camping trip next month. We'll be driving for six hours at a time. Note to self: Buy earplugs!) We finally arrived and headed over to Field 2 where we met Mark, at least I assume he was Mark. He told us which areas had the most blueberries and which ones were sweeter than others. With that we gave each kid a bucket and started picking.

The kids did quite a bit of tasting. They had to make sure they were picking the ripest ones, right?

On our way in we saw a sign that said "Enter at Your Own Risk." We all laughed and made a joke that maybe coming here wasn't a good idea. Then, while we were in the fields, Jimmy found a shotgun shell. I guess the sign was right. Wonder whether Mark was aiming for an animal or a person.

We ended up picking about 8 and a half pounds of blueberries. Looks like we'll be eating blueberries for a while now. Reminds me of the scene in Forrest Gump when Bubba is describing different ways to prepare shrimp. In our case it would be more like: blueberry waffles, blueberry muffins, blueberry jam, blueberry ice-cream, blueberry yogurt, blueberry pie...

We had packed hot dogs to grill, but everyone was too hungry to try to find a park so we ended up eating at Red Lobster. After lunch we decided to try picking some oranges at The Showcase of Citrus . Nothing was in season but grapefruits and a few varieties of tangerines. We skipped the picking and let the kids play at the playground there. Helen and Alex were also able to wrestle a gator.

Before heading for home we grabbed some drinks and souvenirs while the boys were able to catch this huge shark. (Ignore the fact that we're on the lake.) 

Lake Wales.

Last weekend we joined Yiayia and Papouli for a little fun in Lake Wales. They arrived at our house Saturday morning to pick up Helen and Will. I had to wait for Mike to get off work, Alex had a friend over and Jimmy decided that he would wait and ride with us. Helen and Will spent the afternoon swimming and playing at the playground. The rest of us arrived around 7:30 PM and had a delicious meal waiting for us. (My mom did not suddenly become a master chef...the clubhouse now delivers food.)

On Sunday we took shifts going to breakfast. Some of us wake up later than others. We spent the morning relaxing, talking and reading the paper. At lunch time we decided to head over to Bok Towers to walk around and have lunch. So beautiful and peaceful there.

We saw this cool hanging air plant "wall." Mike wants to try this at the entrance of our house.

After lunch Yiayia and Papouli treated the kids to ice-cream. Nothing tastes better on a hot day.

And of course, time for cuddles with Yiayia.

We made our way back slowly, stopping at The Window on the Pond which is always a favorite. It's amazing with all of the TV, computer and video games today the kids will sit there quietly, completely mesmerized, staring at a pond watching ducks, birds and turtles. Nature truly has a calming affect.

Before heading back home we jumped in the pool. The boys (Mike included) practiced their cannonball techniques. Such a perfect weekend getaway.