Thanksgiving in Baltimore

We had a lovely time in Baltimore with Mike's family and my family (who made the trip from Virginia). Never let it be said that there wasn't enough food. I didn't have time to take many pictures because I was so busy with the food -- preparing and eating. Check out our smorgasbord.


The Dinner
The Dessert

Goodbye Mobile Attic -- Part II

As we left for Thanksgiving in Baltimore, this was the status of our new little house.

Goodbye Mobile Attic

We are very very close to getting rid of our "garage" that we've had in our driveway for over a year. It was supposed to be temporary until we built a real garage. Since the plans for the real garage have been delayed a bit we decided to go ahead and build a shed. The spot for the shed has been cleared. The footings have been dug. The lumber has been delivered. Hopefully it will be finished before the end of the month. It will be 12' x 16' (twice as big as our Mobile Attic), so we should have plenty of room to put STUFF. And boy do we have lots of stuff. Even better, it will have proper walls, etc., so I'll be able to hang shelves and hooks so that our STUFF will be somewhat organized. It's all very exciting.

Here's a sketch of our future shed. We like to think of it as a Pool House. Never mind that we don't have a pool.

Gavi's 9th Birthday

We invited 8 girls to spend the night and solve "The Mystery of the Missing Ring." We got 6 hours of sleep -- 11:30pm to 5:30am -- and had a fabulous time. This was our first real sleepover party and I think it went remarkably well. No one called their parents to come get them. No one cried. Everyone was asleep before midnight. Nothing got broken.

Election Day

We're hoping this is going to be a good day. Mike is working at the polls in the morning and in the "Legal Boiler Room" from noon until 7pm.

I took the kids with me to vote this morning. We were at the nicest polling place in the country - Glendale United Methodist Church. The church elders must see the election as a social event because they were all there passing out cookies to the kids and free coffee to the adults. We never had that in Virginia. Oh yeah, no lines!

Long live democracy (unless the people can't make the right decision and then we might have to rethink the whole majority rule concept).

Happy Halloween

Halloween was a month-long celebration here in Nashville - and that's not even counting our multiple pumpkin patch trips. Each weekend provided its own special Halloween experience. The kids loved each and every one and were sorely disappointed that it's finally over. It's a good thing though because those store bought costumes really aren't made to stand up to multiple wearings. As it was, Juliana had to trick-or-treat with only one antenna (instead of both antennae - also known as "antlers" by a certain kindergardener).

Weekend #1 -- Sophie's Pony Party
Gavi's friend Sophie has a Halloween party each year. I was surprised to find that the highlight of the party was bobbing for apples. Somewhat to my surprise, the girls were much more skilled than the boys (bigger mouths?) and quite fearless in sticking their entire heads in the water (makeup and hair be damned - how long will that last?). They didn't hesitate to taunt one of the boys to "Be a man!" Ben wasn't interested in riding the pony, but he did try to stuff a large inflatable spider into a much smaller Jack-o'lantern.



Weekend #2 -- Ghouls at Grassmere (the Zoo trick-or-treat)
The weekend before Halloween we met friends for a night at the Zoo to enjoy a haunted hay ride, the "Scary-go-round" (carousel with creepy music and no lights), trick-or-treating, campfires, a haunted maize, and much much more. The only thing missing from the zoo for Halloween were, yes, the animals. I guess they didn't want to worry about the monkeys eating their fill in discarded Tootsie Rolls and Sugar Daddies. Juliana got a piggy-back ride from Gavi's friend Camille. Gavi had to cover her skimpy go-go dancing outfit with a not-so-70s fleece borrowed from mom. Only Ben in his furry tiger was mostly warm. It was pretty cold that night, but we had a good time until we reach the witching hour (about 8:30pm) and called it a night. The kids love it and we love that they love it.


Weekend #3 -- The Real Deal

Finally, after much anticipation, came the big night. We stayed in our neighborhood and went trick-or-treating with our friends/neighbors, the Cramers. This was the friendliest trick-or-treating experience we've ever had. At our second house, the neighbors offered the grown-ups beer. As responsible adults leading five children through a neighborhood devoid of both sidewalks and streelights, we declined. We ventured onward to the mansions at the end of the road. The first mansion required a climb of 73 steps. Fortunately, they had candy waiting at the top. The second mansion is always the best decorated holiday house in the neighborhood and Halloween is no exception. They had orange lights, dancing ghosts, and a big sign on the front door proclaiming "The Witch Is In." The Witch was not in. No one was home except an old dog who eyed us suspiciously through his window. We gave up on the mansions and returned to the "regular" houses. We met other neighborhood trick-or-treaters (the only other kids we saw out the whole night) who gave us a map indicating which neighbors were home with candy and a special notation for those elderly neighbors who look forward to getting trick-or-treaters. It was a good night for candy gathering. In the end, only Ben wanted to keep looking for more candy - the girls were cold and ready to go home for Halloween hot chocolate. So we did.

The Animals

It occurs to us that some of you who haven't been to visit recently aren't up to date on our current assortment of animals. The animal shelter is the best place to get pets. I think they know that you rescued them and give you extra love.

We adopted Oliver "Ollie" the cat from the Humane Society in September 2007. He was supposed to be our spider catcher. I'm not sure if he's earning his keep that way, but he sure is soft and cuddly. He is, however, very adept at catching low flying birds within a 1 mile radius of our home (a.k.a. the location of his food bowl). He likes to wander the neighborhood and sometimes follows us on our walk to school. Once he jumped in another family's car at the school and took a ride home with them. He's a little too friendly for his own good. Hopefully he'll choose to stay with us for a long time.


We adopted Lily from the Humane Society in May when we had decided that we should give another cat a home. But when we went to check out the cats we thought we should really walk a few of the dogs. Now we have Lily. She is very sweet (her shelter name was Sweetie), full of puppy energy, and thinks dining room chairs are a tasty snack. Lily likes to sleep on her back with her legs spread wide. She also has a flatulence problem. We love her dearly.


And, of course, we still have our first baby, Izzy. Izzy is 11. She isn't too happy about all of the animals in the house. All she wants to do is sleep and have peace and quiet to contemplate her live as top dog and all of that contemplation is somewhat disturbed by the three kids and new animals. But she's a tough old girl and she perseveres through adversity.

Juliana Rock Star Moment

Juliana was a rock star for the afternoon at her friend Gemma's 6th birthday. The girls dressed up, got their hair and nails done and generally got their sparkle on. Their rock star moment was complete with a ride in a pink limo to and from the party. Needless to say, the girls all had a great time. Thanks, Gemma!

[Note from the mother: normally I wouldn't consider another child's birthday party fodder for our blog, but since it's probably the only time in her life (at least in the near future) any of my children will find themselves riding in a pink limousine, I've made an exception.]

Pumpkin Patch(es)

We are lucky enough to have visited pumpkin patches in two states this year! We'll aim higher next year - each child will visit a pumpkin patch in the state of his or her choosing.

First we visited Honeysuckle Farm in Tennessee. Honeysuckle Farm features the world famous "Hillbilly Pig Races" and a Cow Train Barrel ride. We also wandered through a maize maze in the shape of the head of Johnny Cash. And, of course, there were the pumpkins.

Next we drove seven hours to visit a pumpkin patch in South Carolina. Actually, we drove seven hours to see Nana and Papa, the pumpkin patch was just an added treat.

The early bird gets the cookie. Sept. 20, 2008

Today (Yes, today. How timely am I?) Mike ran the Christy Cookie 5K and the kids ran in the Cookie Kids Fun Run. The race promotes a balanced lifestyle and good old fashioned values. Wake up early, get some exercise, eat cookies and ice cream at 9am. It made the remainder of the day interesting, what with the kids exhausted from getting up early and running, and hopped up on sugar and the excitement of getting medals. At dinner Ben said the best part of his day was wearing his "Cookie Shirt."

Boy Haircut - March 10, 2008

Some things I do. Some things I don't do. Giving haircuts to squirming boys is one of the things I don't do. Actually, that's not entirely true. Mike once, in an ill-planned attempt at being frugal, bought hair clippers and asked me to cut his hair. The result was not one either of us wanted to repeat. I'll blame that on him being a wiggly boy. In any event, after that experience, I decided that I would take Ben to a real hair cutter person for his big moment (no need to look lopsided just because daddy does). We went to one of those kid places where they show videos and give lolly pops. Here is the result.

Ben's Birthday -- February 16

Ben had a "ball" themed birthday party - a theme that might be viewed as inappropriate for a teenager (you decide). Gavi helped me make an ice cream filled chocolate cake that in the end looked a bit like a basketball. There were moments when we weren't so sure it would be recognizable. Fortunately, thanks to the demi-sphere pan, it would have fit the ball theme even if it just looked like a brownish-orange ball. No matter what it looked like, the most important thing was that it tasted good. It's hard to go wrong with chocolate cake and ice cream.

Ben's favorite gifts were round and bouncy. Nana and Papa gave him a set of Clemson balls that he carried around all afternoon. It was amusing to watch him try to pick up all of the balls at the same time. Given the body proportions of our two-year-old, it was a bit like watching an adult juggle four medicine balls.

All in all it was a successful day. Ben turned 2. So far it isn't terrible at all.

Happy New (School) Year

We're Back!After a long hiatus, I am going to make a real effort to update the blog regularly. My New (School) Year's Resolution is to post something once a week. We'll see how it goes. We were quite busy all spring, so check back for pictures of:

• Ben's Birthday
• Soccer games
• Juliana's Pre-school graduation
• Summer vacation
• Flower girls
• Wedding boy
• First Days of School
• Juliana's birthday
• Visit to the Cabin
  

Hanukkah (Part II)

We your family lives far away there is absolutely nothing wrong with adding a 9th night to Hanukkah. The menorah wouldn't accommodate, but if you drink enough wine before lighting the candles, it's hard to count them anyway. Gathering with the family allowed the kids to participate some historic reenactment - pyramid building - a traditional Hanukkah activity.


I would be remiss if I did not apologize for tainting the festivities by my children stealthily (and entirely unknowingly) transmitting a rather vicious stomach bug to half of Baltimore. Sorry about that, everyone.

The Value of Toys

Ben loves his toys. Really he does. But you can see from these pictures to our friends' house in DC that it really takes very little to entertain children. Darcy and Ben tossed balls through this cat door for a very long time. It would have been longer if only one of them could have reached the ball after it dropped down a few steps. Instead they just looked through the hole at the balls they had lost and then looked at us, to them just the "long-arms who also give us snacks", and said "Ball. In there." It's as if they wanted us to get the ball out of the hole so they could do it again. Now that I think about it - maybe the cat door wasn't the game. Maybe WE were the game.

I've been played.

Merry Christmas!

I thought I should post some Christmas pictures at least before Ben's birthday. It turns out that I don't have so many pictures from Christmas. It must be because I was so busy having a great time that I neglected to properly document the occasion.You can see here the Pusey family gathered for a lovely Christmas dinner. The Abelows were at the other end of the table, except for Ben who prefers to sit under the table. We decided that this was not the moment to enforce table manners. Besides, who needs table manners if you're not at the table? Right?


After the dinner we began Phase I of III of present opening. This Christmas we learned that when you move away people miss you and buy you more gifts. Think about whether this incentive well thought out.

While sitting on the chair upon which no actual human has ever sat, Ollie ponders, "I wonder how long it will take my people to open these presents so I can play with the ribbons."





Uncle Mikey with Ben, Juliana, and Gavi. Those of you who have not seen us in a while should take note that this is my brother Mike, not the husband Mike. Distant relatives sometimes get confused. People who know us would find this incredibly funny.