Thanksgiving 2010: part 1

Okay, so I cheated a little by making 2 parts to this Thanksgiving post.  Can I tell you how much more work editing pictures with people in them is compared to the photos without them?  In this post I am showing you the "easy" edits without people.  Which are basically pictures I took before anyone got here, just me having some fun with my camera.  Hopefully I'll get the important pictures ready soon so I am not posting about Thanksgiving on Christmas!

As I briefly mentioned we had the big dinner at our house this year.  It was fun getting this ready.  I had a lot of help from my wonderful husband and my mom and sisters (Thank you, thank you, thank you ladies).  And of course my children, who did their best not to mess everything up as we cleaned.

We had two tables, because there were 18 people!!  Although our big dining room table (the one with the turkey and pilgrims for decorations)  ended up with some empty seats, not everyone was able to come.  It was kinda funny, the big table with too few people and the smallish extra set up table had 8 adults crammed onto it.  No, I didn't get a picture.  I was too busy eating to pull my camera out.  All of the food was wonderful and abundant.  We had 4 turkeys!!  My family is big into left overs.  I didn't make any of the amazing food you see pictured here.  I did, however, contribute to the feast with sweet potato casserole and squash casserole and well as some appetizers to keep hunger at bay while waiting for everyone to show up.

Getting Ready for Christmas!

We've been decorating the house for Christmas since the day after Thanksgiving.  I am so happy because last year we didn't get to it until about a week before Christmas.  We'll be able to enjoy it so much longer this year! And it's fun to take pictures of, there may be more in the future . . .

Compromise

Clara has decided she only likes dresses.  But all of a sudden it's 40 degrees outside!

'A Hunting We Did Go . . .

Good grief, it's been a while!  The only excuse I can offer is that I got sick:(  We went on a weekend trip to Georgia, that I am blogging about now, as soon as we got back both kids were sick.  And then I got sick.  And seriously I was SICK for 8 days.  I can't remember the last time I was sick and this bug just wouldn't go away.

But now I am better and Thanksgiving is past (we had the big dinner at our house this year) so now I can blog again!  I know you all are cheering :)

Dr. Dale Meeks (whom Adam bought the dental practice from) and his wife Patty invited Adam and I up to Georgia to their hunting cabin for the weekend.  Early Thursday morning we dropped the kids off at Grammy's house and drove about 6 hours into Georgia.  It was so nice to have time together to just talk!  We got there at about 5pm and Adam and Dale got dressed from head to toe in camo and off they went.  The Meeks own several hundred acres in southern Georgia and during the season they hunt.  Deer, wild turkey, coyotes, and I don't know what else.  This is a whole new world for both Adam and I.  And yes, I did go out twice hunting (can you image? you'll see picture evidence soon . . .) Although I shot pictures instead of fire arms, it was fun.  I haven't done a lot of nature photography, and with no kids I took full advantage of the opportunity.  Adam, sadly, didn't get a chance to shoot anything.  But we had such a wonderful time.  The weather was cold and felt like a nice brisk autumn, the Meeks were warm and generous hosts.  They made us feel at home and perfectly comfortable.  We had fun being together with friends and experiencing new things.

Now you can see some of the pictures I took, fair warning . . . there are a few.

*I have to say here that I know my legs are the size of Adam's waist in this picture.  But I am wearing some awesome winter overalls with sweat pants underneath and Adam is only wearing a regular pair of pants with some layers underneath.  Anyone want to guess who was warmer at 6 that morning?

Target Practice

Adam and Dale

Off they go . . . 

Halloween 2010

We had a great time at our Ward's Trunk-or-Treat this year.  There were carnival games and hot dogs before we went out to collect candy.  The kids had a lot of fun!

Clara and Ian are the princess and her froggy.

Adam dressed up his Bishop's suit with a few "clowny" pieces

And I was lame and didn't dress up.

Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest

We had over family for our pumpkin carving contest the Friday before Halloween.  Everyone takes this contest pretty seriously;)  We had several participants spend more than 2 hours on their entry.  Those who didn't carve had a good time watching those that did and eating yummy Halloweeny food.

Ian doesn't have the attention span to even help with the pumpkin carving, so he helped in the kitchen

Clara picked out her design early this year.  She wanted to make a Hag-o-lantern , that she found in my Martha Stewart Living Magazine this year. (Unfortunately, I didn't get a great picture of hers)  Click on the link to see a good picture of what it looks like.  Brittany was nice enough to help her put it together.

Adam decided to see how his dental instruments would work on pumpkins (he made the owl pumpkin)

Buddy decided to carve a pumpkin dedicated to Florida State University, since he and Brittany have both graduated from there.

Niky and Paul brought some cute mummys in a blanket and carved up an awesome scary scarecrow pumpkin.

Ana worked really hard on her fiery pumpkin face.

Here are the results:

And of course we made some yummy pumpkin seeds.

We are already excited about next year and have plans to get better tools for even better jack-o-lanterns!

  

Clara's Disney Birthday

As I mentioned earlier, we decided to take Clara and her BFF Ava to Disney for her birthday instead of a big party.  I made an appointment at the Bippity Boppity Boutique for the girls where they were magically transformed into princesses for the day.  They got their hair done, along with make up and nails.  Clara decided to be Ariel (with pink hair) and Ava was Cinderella.  The rest of the day was spent at the Magic Kingdom where they got to meet the Disney Princesses and the Fairies.  The whole day everyone said things like "Look at those beautiful princesses!  They look so pretty!"  It was cute to see those two little girls pose for everyone.

And Clara was wished Happy Birthday all day.  It was really special.  And we all had a great time.

Happy Halloween!

ps~ How can anyone stick to a diet when there is so much candy around???????!!!!!!

I had a 'hankering' to make some homemade applesauce this last week.  Unfortunately, Florida doesn't get cold enough for apple orchards so we didn't get to go and pick our own apples for this activity.  I went to Costco.

That afternoon I got started.

I had to take a few breaks to be a parent, by bedtime I had LOTS of delicious applesauce!

Then I decided to take some of that applesauce and made apple butter.  This I have never done before.  I am really pleased with how it turned out.  And my family was happy because we had a yummy Halloween inspired breakfast with pumpkin pecan pancakes topped with the apple butter.  Seriously good.

Through Rose Colored Glasses

I have been putting off this post because I have had a hard time deciding how to express my feelings about it.  Emotions are sometimes hard to capture with words.  Even now as I write this I find myself staring at the computer screen waiting for the perfect words to appear.

We have had a very emotional few weeks.  On Clara's birthday we noticed something not quite right with Ian's eyes.  I think throughout that day I saw little hints of it but ignored it.  It actually took my brother coming to me and quietly pointing out "Lianne, Ian's eyes are doing that thing yours used to do when you were little."

Yes, my eyes were 'not quite right' when I was little too.  That fact actually makes the whole situation more difficult and emotional for me.

The correct term is accommodative esotropia and is commonly  referred to as a lazy eye.  I suppose up to this point we have been blessed because our children have had no problems.  I don't know if every one of those 'imperfections' hits you as hard as the first one.  But this first one was difficult.

My baby's body is not perfect, and I gave him that imperfection.  How will it affect his life?  Will this be difficult for him? Will I be able to help him?  A 2 year old baby shouldn't have to deal with something like this yet!

Like I said earlier, we noticed it the night of Clara's birthday, a Monday, and by Tuesday I had called a Children's Opthamologist and made an appointment for Wednesday morning.  I can't express to you how painful it was to look at  those beautiful little eyes all of Tuesday and not be able to tell where he was looking.

The prognosis from the doctor was about what I expected.  Glasses.  Hopefully they'll solve the problem for him.  If they don't then we have to use eye patches and drops and maybe even surgery.  I did grow out of it by the time I was 18 without surgery, and Ian probably will too.  Hopefully it will be a smooth process.  I have negative feelings about my childhood with glasses.  Of course, the glasses I had were a lot bigger framed and thicker lensed than they are these days.  And I was an extremely shy child.  I know that just because that was my experience doesn't mean Ian's will be the same . . . but it is hard not to worry about him.

The wonderful thing is that Ian is adjusting so well!  He is pretty good about keeping them on ~ but when he wants a break I give him one.  I don't want him to hate his glasses because I keep pushing them on him.  He is such a happy little guy and having glasses hasn't changed that at all! And he really does look cute in them :)

I have faith that this is something that Ian can handle and will help to shape him into the individual Heavenly Father wants him to be.  Thank you to all of my family and friends who have been so positive and encouraging and tell my little guy how cute he is in his new glasses!  It has meant a lot to me.

One Beautiful Morning

I looked out the back window one morning and the sky was awesome, I had to get a picture.  I loved vibrant color with the softness of the fog.  

Meanwhile I'm once again on a dewy, grassy hillside with the mosquitos out in droves despite the chill in the air.  I had just jumped out of the shower when I saw the sky so I threw on whatever I could grab fastest including Adam's work shoes.  And don't forget about the towel turban thingie I had on my wet hair!  I had a little chuckle at my own expense while I was jumping around to keep the mosquitos away :)

Clara is Six!

My baby turned 6 last Monday!  Here she is posing with her cake ~ can you tell she is making a '6' with her fingers?  She is such a ham :)  I wasn't ready to take on a huge birthday party with all the kids from school yet.  (It seems like that is the current trend)  

So instead of that we decided on a family dinner with Clara's favorite . . . 

*actually she likes cheese best, this one was for the adults.

And of course we had a lovely cake

*no I didn't make it, my talented friend Robin did!

Ian loves to blow out candles, so he got his own candle on Clara's cake to blow out with her.

And of course there were presents!  

It was a great little party, thanks to our family for being so supportive and coming after a full day of work!

In lieu of the before mentioned 'BIG' party we decided to have a special day with BFF Ava at Disney.  Great day, pictures coming soon . . .