Happy Holidays!!

St. Nicholas dropped off a surprise tonight and the boys just about lost their minds--SCORE!!!

Carter singing with the school choir

Carter singing at the Christmas tree lighting at the Town Square. You can't really see him but he is in the front row to the left of the director. It is freakin' cold tonight!!

You've been shared an iPhone video!

Hey Blog,

Majkrr1@gmail.com has shared a video with you that was made on his/her iPhone! You can watch it on your iPhone or your computer by following this link:

http://animoto.com/play/1qCfm3AwV1y18Rh1F11miw

If you like it, why don't you try creating one yourself? You can get our app (for free!) in the app store with your iPhone, or in a regular web browser just head here:

http://animoto.com

Thanks,
The Animoto Team

J-E-L-L-Ohh!?!?

Props to Mary Kay for a delicious cranberry mold on Thanksgiving! It was DELICIOUS tasting and DELICIOUS fun watching everyone's reaction!!

Carter's Christmas Wish List 2010

Can you read this in one breath without passing out?? Extra credit given if you can correctly pronounce everything on the list :)

(click the images for a larger version...)

Helping Mom shop, butt...

Dinner @ Gus's with Paul and Tonia (thanks again Paul!)

Teacher's Pet? Hopefully! Richard sent Beth flowers for surviving first week of 5th grade(ers)!

Halfway to becoming a Tiger Scout (wanted to wear new uniform shirt out of the Scout shop)

Breakfast @ Brother Junipers

Lulu goes for a ride while Erek snoozes

Day 7 of Vacation - Huntsville, AL

Day 6 @ Beach - Seeing the sites beyond the dunes

Happy Birthday Erek (2010)

Erek's birthday breakfast while on vacation at the beach. This is Bright Mornings cafe on Amelia Island, Florida.

Erek turns 6 today!!!

Day 5 @ Beach - Breakfast at "Bright Mornings"

Day 4 @ Beach - Unwinding poolside

Day 3 @ Beach - Dinner at "Barbara Jean's"

End of Day 2 @ Beach! (even though we are poolside after dinner here)

Visiting Paula and David

The front door...


and the back door...

Day 1 @ Beach!

Summer s'mores @ VBS "after party"

Today's tomato harvest

Photos from my iPhone

Used a new iPhone app called "Animoto" to create a short slide show from photos I've taken with my phone.

You say Tomato, I say YUM!!!!

In May we planted two heirloom tomato plants and two cherry tomato plants. This morning I picked our fourth harvest already. Nothing like a cherry tomato right off the vine, all warm from the sun and bursting in your mouth with flavor! I've never had a tomato plant live long enough to even produce a tiny green tomato so this is a milestone in my gardening "career".

I was hopeful that growing our own vegetables would inspire the boys to actually want to eat them. Here is a transcript of our conversations over the past few weeks:

DAD: Guys, who wants to help prepare the garden to grow some tomatoes?

CARTER & EREK: We do!

D: Who wants to go to the nursery and pick out tomato plants?

C&E: We do!

D: Who wants to help plant the tomatoes?

C&E: We do!

C&E: Daddy, can we water the tomato plants? (repeat every day for four weeks)

D: Who wants to pick the first red tomatoes?

C: I do!

E: No, ME!

D: There are enough for everyone to pick!

C&E: YAY!

D: Who wants a slice of our very first tomato we have grown as a family?

C&E: Yuk! Not me!!

If only chicken nuggets and ice cream grew on vines...

Snow cones at VBS!

Praise Party at vacation bible school. The kids spent the week
collecting diapers and toys for orphans in Haiti as part of the Hands
and Feet Mission. They got to meet the orphans via daily Skype video
conferences. The kids also made pillows and care packages for the
Haitian kids.

Guess who's coming to dinner?

Aunt Carol and Uncle Donald!



The boys had a great time visiting with Beth's Aunt and Uncle from Kentucky. Here Erek is showing off his Memory Book from Kindergarten this year, and Carter is playing some videos of his robotic dinosaurs he took with his camera.

Thanks Cousin Adrienne!

We LOVE our new Dino flashlights!

Lord of the (small) Fries

Fun at Target

Snapper moves back in!

Since August, Snapper has been living in Beth's classroom while we sold the old house and moved into our new house. Today he officially moved back in to kick off the start of summer break. He even has his very own room: the Laundry room! Richard gave his tank a thorough cleaning, which included throwing out the old living greenery. Not to worry-- after a stop by the pet store this week, Snapper will have some fresh plants to hide in!

Screen on the Green

Tonight's feature was Shrek the Third!

There's a Vac for that!

Carter developed an earache Saturday and by Sunday morning his ear was bleeding. We took him to the minor medical center and found out he had a perforated eardrum...ouch!! On Monday he had a follow up visit with the pediatric ENT specialist. Dr. Chanin was wonderful and the good news is that Carter's eardrum should fully heal in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, we have antibiotics to administer as well as eardrops 3x daily. In this video, Dr. Chanin is "vacuuming" the gunk out of Carter's ears. What a trooper! He said it did not hurt, and in fact made his eyes "jiggle":

Crank Dat Erek

Screen on the Green 2010

Tonight was the first Screen on the Green at the Carriage Crossing
mall. The movie was "Up!" and the weather was perfect (not too warm
with a nice breeze). We met up with Joe and Mary Lynn and their
kids. Our boys are over at the fountain playing with bubbles.

Hibachi? Youbetcha!

After the B&N book fair event, we (Beth and I) decided to head across the parking lot to Stix for dinner. The boys were not thrilled and almost reached critical meltdown mass on the way in. They are ok with Chinese food, but not sushi and somehow know we are at a Japanese restaurant the minute we walk in (could it be the sushi counter that gives it away?).

Anyway, as you can tell from the video below, it was a miserable experience for all! Actually, Carter ate his entire steak serving, half of his brother's, and a good portion of my chicken. Plus he ate some vegetables AND even dipped his broccoli in one of the sauces! We expect him to grow a foot within the next few days. He told both the chef and waitress that this was the best restaurant EVER! I asked if it was even better than McDonald's and both boys said "YES!". Erek has declared that we need to eat there every night from now on. Maybe, if service was a little better -- it took forever to get our check once we were done.

Guess who graduated from Kindergarten?

Who?



EREK DID!!!


Having lunch w/ Daddy at Chik-Fil-A after Three Piggy Opera (Kindergarten graduation program).

Carter the Entrepreneur

Carter is now marketing the world's first Snuggie just for dogs! Here he took a picture of HRH Lulu modeling his creation:

Safety First!

Erek has determined that in addition to the booster seat and seat belt, safety glasses must be worn at all times the car is in motion (nevermind that he HATES wearing them for their original purpose - Home Depot kids workshops):

First Day of Spring 2010!

Saturday was the first day of Spring 2010! That means FREE ices at Rita's!!! The boys had Cherry, Mom had "Peeps" flavor (yes, the Easter candy), and Dad had Florida Orange. The weather was incredible -- sunnny and 70 degrees!!!! (only to be followed by a very rainy and cold Sunday)



After Rita's, we picked up Lulu (our chocolate Lab) and took a hike along the Wolf River. The boys spotted this tree that looked like a number 4!

Carter's trip to the ER

This morning shortly after midnight, we woke up to Carter in tears screaming that his belly hurt. Vomiting started a few minutes later and the pain seemed to be getting much worse. Fearing appendicitis, Dad rushed him to the ER (which thankfully is now only a couple of miles away). They checked him in, drew blood, and started an IV. Although his belly was very tender, his bloodwork and further exam ruled out an acute appendicitis attack. Nausea medicine and a bag of IV fluids made a world of difference. A couple of hours later we were headed home (after a stop to the 24 hour Walgreens, which thankfully (again) is even closer to our house than the ER). The doctor feels it was a case of the nasty stomach bug going around, but it could still be the early stages of appendicitis. We are to keep him on close observation for the next 36 hours.

Just arrived in the ER and had blood drawn and IV started:


Feeling much better a few hours later:

Ice Storm 2010

This past weekend we received a "wintry mix" of weather that blanketed the area in ice. Fortunately not as bad as 1994. I read in the news that about 17,000 people lost power compared to 250,000 in 1994. We lost power for a few hours during the night, and I heard that others were without for a couple of days. Back in 1994, I recall people living for weeks without power.

On Sunday, the sun came out although the high was still only 31 degrees. We were all ready to get out of the house, so I took the boys for an extended bike ride. We ended up riding 8 miles, including a stop at the Water Spray Park which was covered in ice. The whole time we were riding was very surreal -- all the trees and shrubs were covered in ice and it seemed like we were riding around in the Land of Glass:

Before & After

Amazing how content you feel after a hot meal on a cold night...

Before getting in the car:


After getting in the car (haven't left the parking lot yet):

Happy New Year from Atlanta!

The only thing bigger than a stop at the Varsity...




are the mustard bottles at the Varsity....