The Goldilocks Effect

Poor Uncle Jeff.

He had one request for the grocery list.... steel cut oatmeal.

Well, apparently my kids, and everyone else love it too.

We fixed some oatmeal for Jeff for breakfast, but by the time Jeff got out to the kitchen to have some, all he could say was, "someone's been eating all of my porridge."

Well, apparently I've lost the pictures of Jeff's sorrowful look over his pot of oatmeal, so on a brighter note, I decided to include this photo that Nana took of Jeff finally getting some food.

Walking in a Winter Wonder Land

This year, Christmas has taken us to the Great White North.... Canada.

On our first day here, we went out with Uncle Peter for a sleigh ride.

Daddy and Uncle Peter took Drew on his first sled rid

Drew and Uncle Peter had a great time dashing through the snow.e

We took Drew out in hopes of running off some of his energy.... I think it was Peter that slept so well that night.

Snow angels came in all sizes this year.

Little Man had the time of his life.

Santa's Coming to Town

Today was the big "Santa Picture Day." All things considered, it went pretty well. Emma and Drew are at the ages where Santa could have been almost impossible. Drew is now 2 1/2 and Emma is 11 months. That's pretty tricky.
Before we met Santa, we had dinner with Melinda, Michael, and Sadie. The original plan was to take the kids outdoors for pictures, but by the time that I had them dressed and ready, it was already 5:15 and the light was just about gone. So I opted for Plan B. Melinda had said that she was going to have Sadie's picture taken with Santa tonight, so we crashed their party and showed up for them too since the kids were dressed in their Christmas Cuties.
We ate dinner first and Drew did EVERYTHING Sadie did (as usual). He would walk to the end of the world with her, I swany!
Then off to take pictures.
When we got up there, the kids started to cry, and I thought, "Oh no! This can't be!" But after a few raisins and some Ho Ho Ho's, they were at least not screaming anymore.
This was the best that we could do (which was better than I thought we were going to get when they first sat down).
Santa was so good to the kids. Drew told him he wanted "presents" (in a whisper) and then got a lollipop for being such a good boy.
Emma got lots of attention for being such a cutie patutie.
So here they are.....
(drumroll please)

Playing Chicken

So Kim, our very creative and talented art teacher, is teaching her absolutely gorgeous girls about a self sustaining life all while fulfilling a lifelong dream.... ok, maybe that's overstating it, but she always thought it would be very cool to have a farm. She has taken her suburban living to the next level by starting what she calls "The Underground Egg Co." That's right folks, Kim has acquired some chickens. I'll let you figure out why she may call it "The Underground Egg Co" (hint: it probably has something to do with that suburban life, I'm guessing). After much research, she found the perfect breeder in Florida for the chickens that she wanted.

Isn't that gorgeous! Who knew!?! (I guess Kim did)

Anyways, the girls have become so attached!

Is that not the cutest picture!

Ezra has taken a real interest in them.

She's such a little "mama" to them.

She has even started "showing" them and she's quite successful! I love this family for taking something so "quarky" and running with it. I want to be this family. It just looks like so much fun!

Even Ellison is getting in on this gig.

Then Ezra's art started to, what do they say, "reflect life."

She has actually put some pieces in some shows and she makes a little cash on the side! Kim has taught her about philanthropy in the process and Ezra has donated to organizations such as Whale Wars with her earnings.... Now do you see what I mean when I tell you I want to BE this family. They are so cool!

Ok, so not all of her inspired artwork goes on the gallery wall. But this cool doodle scores total rockstar points with me!!!!

Kim has also done some fantastic things with her inspiration.

I love hearing about how the chickens are doing. Kim is so funny telling the stories about the chickens and how the neighbors are so wonderful about it and how it's embarrassing to buy eggs in the store when she has to. I love to hear it all Kim.... please keep the stories coming!

Celebrate

What better topic to blog about for my 300th post (I know.... crazy!) than Melinda's 30th birthday celebration!

For those of you that know Melinda, you know she doesn't particularly want to be the center of attention, but Michael, Mary and I decided that's just tough! So we planned a surprise party for her.

Happy Birthday Melinda!!!

Drew helped me make the Italian Cream Cake for the party. Mama Horton made a carrot cake and Mary made the pumpkin cake. They were de-licious!

Emma settling in with some snacks getting ready for the party to begin. (I just realized that it looks like she's eating the chips and drinking the ice tea... that's not the case folks... don't worry. She had her own stuff.

There's the birthday girl... this is the moment that she's starting to figure out that this is her birthday party. Her first statement was "so it was all a lie!?!" Not "wow, what a surprise!" hahaha. She couldn't believe that she was left out of planning.

Sadie is enjoying some food at her Mama's birthday party.

Melinda's worst nightmare. Mary had told the staff that under NO CIRCUMSTANCES were they to sing to Melinda. She has always been VERY adamant about that. However, some way or another, they still did.

You can see it all in "the look." Melinda knows who's to blame for this.

Jill got Melinda random 30's for her 30th.

Michael is counting to check that there were 30 post it's

By the end of the night Sadie looked like a wild woman. Even still, isn't she adorable!?!