A new nephew! December 30, 2010

Everyone was so excited waiting for Cade to arrive. We were happy we stayed so late in Athens to see the little guy. We love him to pieces!

Grandma Charles 80th Birthday- December 29-30, 2011

We had fun celebrating our cousin's, Nicole, birthday at the Cabbage Patch Hospital in Cleveland, GA. The party ended with fun times playing in the fresh snow.

We arrived at the Dillard House to a beautiful white snow. The grounds were beautiful and of course more playing in the snow at every chance.

We celebrated a late Christmas Christmas and enjoyed spending time in the living room of our rooms. The cozy fire and hot chocolate warmed us up from the day in the snow and everyone enjoyed exchanging presents.

We enjoyed a crisp winter day at Tallulah Gorge.

We stopped at Goats on the Roof to feed the goats and enjoy a snack around the outdoor fire.

We enjoyed an afternoon walking around Helen, eating some yummy food and of course more playing in the snow.

We ended the celebration with a yummy dinner at the Dillard House.

Eats like a MAN!

This was a proud moment for Carsten. He ate an entire Homewrecker meal at Moe's. If you aren't familiar with that restaurant, it is a burrito, the size of a newborn, chips and a drink. We were all in shock when he actually finished.

Carsten's Birthday

We celebrated Carsten's birthday a couple of days since we were going to be out of town on his birthday. We wanted to do something fun for him, so we took him rock climbing. All the kids had so much fun. After rock climbing we caught a movie and then came home to open presents. He loved all his gifts and couldn't wait to try out the new skateboard and ramp we gave him.

Christmas at Home

Carsten was the chef for our Christmas dinner. He was a great help and I really enjoying spending the whole morning with him. We made a huge spread of food including ham, homemade rolls, mashed potatoes, cranberry relish, green bean casserole, mac-n- cheese, carrots, and pies. Carsten worked so hard that day he wore himself out.

Caitlin was the chef for our Christmas Eve hors D'oeuvres dinner. She had a lot of fun working with mom and I had a blast spending time with her. She helped make everything; celery sticks, cheeseball, bacon wrapped jalapenos, bacon wrapped chestnuts, meatballs, spinach dip, creamy bacon dip, carrot, chocolate covered pretzel stick, and meat cheese and crackers platters. We ate the dinner while enjoying a movie as a family. We really enjoyed spending so much time together.

We got up Christmas morning and had fun opening presents for the first time at home. The kids loved everything they got. We drove to Athens to visit with family as soon as we were done and got to drive home is a beautiful snow storm.

Cookie Decorating 2010

We had a great time decorating cookies this year and invited some friends to join in the fun. The Ketchems and Clantons enjoyed a yummy soup and sushi dinner and then had an awesome time decorating till we couldn't decorate anymore. Shoji definitely won the cookie decorating contest with his work-of-art cookies.

Sisterly Love

Caitlin got hurt and I found Carissa comforting her. So sweet it melted my heart!

Dali @ High Museum of Art

The kids love going to the art museum, they especially loved this day when they got to make little hats and mustaches. We had so much fun with all the special events they had for Black Friday. Caitlin was even chosen to help with a magic show.

Carissa's Early Birthday Surprise

I surprised Carissa with an early birthday present... Seeing the midnight showing of the latest Harry Potter. The night included watching the previous 2 movies before the new one. She had a blast and was completely surprised.

White Oak 2010 Talent Show

Carissa was in her schools talent show with the dance club. She was too cute and shook what her momma gave her!

Herman Cain's Take Back Our Government Tour

The kids were so excited to go see Herman Cain. They have listened to him with me on the radio and it often gives us a chance about politics and explain the way the world works. It was a little chilly but a good time all around.
At the end, Caitlin sneaked pass security and was standing right in front of the stage just listening to Herman (wish I had a picture) and then got to shake his hand. They also got to meet Krista Branch, a former American Idol contestant. It was a great night.

Muffins with Mom 2010

Trunk-or-Treat 2010

This was our inspiration.

We had a fun time, only wish Eli could have come. We won for family costume.

Caitlin's Birthday Weekend

We had a fun weekend celebrating Caitlin's 6th Birthday. We started the weekend going to the Gwinnett Gladiators hockey game. Nonna, Poppa, Corie, Wendi, Maddie, Wesley and Grace (Carissa's friend) came with us.
Saturday was the big party day. We had the party at Imaginations at Play in Buford, Ga. Most of Caitlin's friends from church, neighborhood and school came. Caitlin had so much fun playing with all her friends. Nonna made an AWESOME cake, exactly as Caitlin requested... Ariel holding Flounder with crabs around the cake. We ended Saturday letting Caitlin be the princess and opening all her presents at home. She loved everything she got and couldn't wait to play with everything. Can't believe my little girl is six! She is such a joy and always keeps us laughing with her wit and charisma.

Weekend Project...

Before

After

Our latest Saturday project, BUSHES! I have always hated the way the little landscaping we had looked. Originally the side was a 6 inch strip of pine straw all the way down the side of the house with out any plants at all. For mother's day we widened the flowerbeds and put in some flowers for the summer. We finally put in bushes this weekend and I LOVE IT! A shout out to my design team...BRANDY!

Dollars for Darby

Check out Darby's story.

http://www.dollarsfordarby.blogspot.com/

Our NOT Garage Sale

So we have been needing to clean our garage out for a little while now. Not only was there bins and tool drawers that need to be cleaned out, but our bins didn't match our decor. If you me, you know I am a little OCD with stuff matching, organizing and cleaning. It bugged me every time I pulled into the garage, so I finally bought matching bins and a matching cabinet for all the tools. So this was the weekend we tackled the daunting task. We started by taking everything out of the garage, and I guess we have some pretty good stuff because we began to immediately be bombarded with people getting out of there car to shop from our stuff. Before we could even say "Not a garage sale," people already had there kids out of the car heading towards our stuff. After having to say "Not a garage sale" over a dozen times in less than 10 minutes I came up with a plan... PUT UP A SIGN. We quickly learned we had written it the wrong language, so we called a friend and got our sign translated. It helped some but we still had to stop some shoppers. We also gave our neighbors a good laugh with the sign.

Our final results... an organized, matching garage!

Labels make me happy! :)

Bikinis for dinner?

We were sitting down to dinner tonight and Caitlin chirped up, "What are we having again?" Before any of us could answer her she answered herself..."Oh yeah, bikinis!" We were having paninis! She is our constant comedic relief! I love that girl.

Eli turns 30!

Eli was turning 30 so the kids and I decided to make sure everyone at work knew. We went the night before and decorated his cubicle. He was surprised when he got to work the next day and then again when we showed up with a cake for everyone to enjoy!

No pictures...

So I don't have any pictures but I went back to school! I am going for Business Marketing. I was really nervous about going back after being a stay-at-home mom for 11 years, but have quickly gotten back into the swing of things.

First day of School

Carissa, Carsten and Caitlin were excited about beginning school! Carissa began 5th grade in Ms. Wallace's class, Carsten 3rd grade with Ms. Rainwater and Caitlin started Kindergarten with Ms. Brundle.

End of Summer

We finished up the summer with some last minute fun. We went to Six Flags, 2 different Gwinnett County waterparks and the High Museum of Art.

July 4th 2010

We celebrated 4th of July in Athens, GA with Corie and Josh. We had a great time grilling out and then getting front row seats to the fireworks thanks to Josh's hook up at the Y!

When the kids are away, Mom and Dad play...

Eli had to work the whole week but while the kids were at Camp Nonna we were able to work in some fun. We went out to eat most nights and that was nice. Actually enjoying a meal without cutting someone's food or getting them a drink, I forgot what that was like. We went to a Gwinnett Braves game and had a fun time, even though it was burning up.

On Saturday we had our big adventure. Neither one of us had ever been golfing and Eli convinced me to go. So we got up early and headed to the course. It actually turned out to be a lot of fun and I was better than I thought I was going to be. We were cruising along till we hit the ninth hole. The three guys teed off then it was my turn. They were ahead of me and insisted that I go ahead and swing. I did and it was a line drive straight towards Eli, it hit him in the ankle and shot 30 feet back towards me. By the time I got to him, his ankle had swollen up to the size of a golf ball and so our first golfing experience ended in the ER with X-rays but luckily nothing was broken. I don't think he will ever stand in front of me again. We finished our fun week with me wheeling Eli around the High Museum getting a look at the car exhibit.

Camp Nonna June 2010

One week out of the summer all the grand kids spend a week at my parents house called
Camp Nonna.
Usually she emails us the events of the day and I would use that as the caption for all the pictures that come back with the kids. This year there were no emails, so instead of interpreting the pictures I have decided to have the kids write their own captions.

Day 1-Monday


Caitlin-We swam in the pool and made pizza. Ms. Wardy's grandsons came over and we played on the jeep.
Carsten-So we woke up and then we asked Nonna if we could go in the pool. She said she knew some boys who might be able to come over and swim. Elijah, Demetret and Christian came over to swim and we were having fun. We were riding the jeep and then we were thinking about what we wanted to eat and Caitlin said "Why don't we make pizza?" So we made pizza and then it was time for bed.
Carissa- The first day of Camp Nonna we had guests. Nine year old Christian, six year old Elijah and 2 year old Demetret came over for a swim. It was Demetret's first time swimming, and it was an honor to have him with us. Maddie and I had a blast playing with him, and we called Wesley and Demetret the twins. After hours of playing, we had dinner, kid made pizza. We each made our own pizzas, and then ate, each bite as savory as the first.

Caitlin- We fighted and I did good funny faces. We took pictures of our pirate faces. We were wearing our bathing suits and Wesley was in his underwear.
Carsten- We watched Goosebumps and then sat around for a little bit. Then Nonna said she had stuff for pirates. So we had pirate duals with the swords. Then of course, somebody got hurt. It was Maddie. Then we went to bed.
Carissa- After dinner, we dressed up as pirates, the theme this year, and had sword fights. The best thing about it was when you were run through the heart, you could get back up and fight some more. We sure made some of the funniest faces!

Day 2- Tuesday


Caitlin- We made pirate faces. We holded our telescope on our eye and weard our pirate shirts.
Carsten- So we got up, Maddie wouldn't get up. We took pictures with our outfits on.
Carissa- On Tuesday, we got up and got dressed in some Camp Nonna shirts Aunt Wendi had made us. We took serious pictures, then silly ones. The silly ones were the most fun! After Maddie came down and took her pictures, we took serious and silly group pictures.

Caitlin- We saw the movie Ice Age 3, the Dawn of the Dinosaur.

Carsten-We went to the movies and saw Ice Age 3. Then at the end of the movie, we started dancing. Then we went to the Verizon Store. Then we went to bed.
Carissa- The pictures were fun, but nothing beats a good ol' movie theater. We saw Ice Age 3- Dawn of the Dinosaurs. When the movie finished, we waited till everyone was gone and then danced to the music. After dancing we went to Delmae Elementary, where Nonna works, for lunch.

Day 3- Wednesday

Caitlin-We went to Mrs Wardy's to see the chickens. Mr Wardy let us hold the chickens. We holded some eggs and then we went to play baseball.

Carsten- We woke up and ate breakfast. We got dressed in our Camp Nonna shirt, then went to Mrs Wardy's house. We saw the chickens, I picked up 5 different chickens. I picked up a huge white chicken. We saw the white chicken lay an egg. We got to hold eggs, they were spotted and really, really hot. We played baseball with Mr. Wardy and then saw the neighbor's ducklings. Then we went to eat at a school. We were playing transformers on the Play Station. Then packed up the Play Station and TV and then we left.
Carissa-On Wednesday, we went to Mrs Wardy's house to play with their chickens. Carsten, Maddie and Caitlin held chickens and we all held chicken eggs. After a little while I went in and read, while they played baseball. After playing we all headed to the camp site.

Caitlin- We went to the water park, me and Wesley played.
Carsten-After we went to the cabin, we changed and went to the water park.
Carissa- We played at the Splash Pad. We had fun in "The Shower," "Froggie," "Rainbow Spurt,"and "The Super Sprayer." I had fun naming them!

Caitlin-We went to the loggin (log cabin) and had a fire pitch (pit). Then we went to bed and the beds were comfortable.
Carsten- I went over to the other cabin. The boys played the Play Station while the girls walked on the river bank. Poppa was cooking on the grill while we walked the river bank. Then we ate and went fishing. We made a big, huge fire and cooked marshmallows and I almost burnt myself. Then we took showers and I slept over with the boys.
Carissa-After playing we headed back to the camp site. We went to the Canopy Walk. We went fishing and didn't catch anything. Then we went to our cabins and played. Now came the best part. Hot dogs, hamburgers, corn-on-the-cob and SMORES! Bed came late and with open arms.

Day 4- Thursday

Caitlin- We woke up in the morning and had pancakes and bacon. Then we played on the punch buggy. Then we picked sunflowers in our bathing suits and then went back to Nonna's and got dressed up into paper cuts (pirate outfits).
Carsten-We went fishing, then I found a big stick. We went to the Canopy Walk, it was freaky. I found a caterpillar and walked around with it on my head. We left the whole camp ground and picked sunflowers, they made me sneeze so I went in the car. We went home and played with Pongo, our turtle. We took showers and then played a game with the laundry, where we had to stack and fold the clothes. Me and Maddie won.
Carissa-Pancakes and fishing in the morning, it was going to be a good day! We even put our feet in the squishy mud under the water! After packing up, we went back to the Canopy Walk, and then to a cool room with a microscope. When we left we picked sunflowers. After a little while in the pool, we named a turtle Poppa had found. Pongo was perfect! We played a game. We would fold a piece of clothing and go back for more, it was called the Laundry game. Everyone won a bracelet.

Day 5- Friday


Caitlin- We did our flags and then swam in the pool.
Carsten- We woke up and swam. Then we played with Pongo for a really long time and I made him a cage. We ate and then made our flags.
Carissa- On Friday, we made pirate flags and swam in the pool. We had a blast! We even had pirate names! Iron Charity Rackham was mine, but I went with Charity Rackham.



Caitlin-We played marriage and that was it. Carsten and Maddie took pictures.
Carsten- We played dress up and made monkey bread. We ate pizza and then ate the monkey bread and I burned my finger.
Carissa- I had found a big jackpot...Nonna had four big books about animals. I went through, fixing and reading them. While I was in my own little heaven, the others made Monkey Bread. I took a few bites , then went back to my work. Maddie, Caitlin, Wesley and Carsten went upstairs and put on costumes. They (and I) put on a fake wedding of Caitlin and Carsten, then we took funny pictures. The day ended with a tragedy, I had a toothpick go through some of my foot.


Day 6- Saturday


Caitlin-We swam in the beach, we swam in the pool, Carsten got on top of the submarine and we pressed all the buttons and that was it.
Carsten- We went to the beach. I boogie boarded and the waves were so big I kept getting thrown under. Then we went to the kiddie pool and I climbed up to the top of the submarine and then I jumped down. We played boccie ball and I won.
Carissa- We packed up and headed to the beach. We would go back and forth from the ocean to the pool, and then to a really cool kids play area. At one point at the beach I got stung by a jellyfish! OUCH!!! I was treated with hot vinegar and water in a spray bottle by the lifeguard.

Day 7- Sunday


Caitlin-We were going to church, everyone found money on the counter, and then Carsten earned 2 dollars and then we played, played, played in the classroom.
Carsten- I was so happy. NOT! I was in a grumpy mood and I was missing my mom. I wanted to wear shorts to church and Nonna wouldn't let me. I was in one of my funks.
Carissa- We got all dressed up for church and took pictures on the stairs. The people who had good attitudes got paid a dollar. We went to church and then came home and took pictures of crafts we had done during the week. Then we waited for Mom to come!