Un Nütencracker

Tiffani recently moved to Alabama for her clinical rotations, and although her schedule has been hectic, she and Athena came to Atlanta last weekend to stay. This time our family got a special treat and got to meet her boyfriend, Ethan.

Athena and Tiffani have a tradition to see The Nutcracker every year, but the closest place the Moscow Ballet was having a show was Jacksonville, FL. So, this year they bent tradition a bit and came to see the Atlanta Ballet perform. She was gracious enough to extend the invitation to Mason, Brian and I. However, with ticket prices as they were, Mason was the only one that went.

The four of them got all gussied up on Saturday morning and headed downtown to the Fox Theater. The Fox is an old-school theater where they still have ushers that dress in a traditional usher uniform and escort you to your seat via flashlight – part of the whole experience, I suppose.

Come back any time! Miss you already!

Wii Fit Fun

The Tree –

This year I wanted to share a fond childhood memory with my family – cutting our own Christmas tree. To some this seems like only work; but to others it's about the experience of going to the Christmas tree farm and choosing the perfect tree.

I scoured the internet to find a Christmas tree farm in the Atlanta area. Okay, so I didn't have to scour...Google worked just fine. Anyway, we found Thompson's Christmas Tree Farm in Lawrenceville and off we went.


Most of what Thompson's had were Cypress trees. Cypress trees are a little flimsy for hanging ornaments on and we were looking for something a little more sturdy. They did have Fraser firs, but they had to be shipped in from North Carolina because that type of evergreen doesn't grow well this far south. Who would have thought I could have learned so much looking for a Christmas tree?


We found a beautiful Fraser fir and Brian started sawing. Woops, those were already pre-cut (you know, because they were shipped from North Carolina)...so no sawing necessary. It was the experience we were after, mind you.


Mason got to visit with Santa at the tree farm as well. He ran up and gave him a squeeze like they were old friends.


"Have you been a good boy this year?" "I'd like Bolt, in 3D, please," Mason said, totally avoiding the good boy question.


Cheesy 5-year old grin for the camera. Yay!


I am guessing the experience of Thompson's wouldn't be complete without a hay ride behind the 1952 Ford tractor in 30º weather.


Nothing like relaxing on itchy hay bales.


I took this photo with the camera at arm's length...and Mason was warning me not to drop the camera.


We got our beautiful Fraser fir home and Brian trimmed it up so that we wouldn't have to cut a hole in the ceiling. I had made paper origami stars to decorate the tree with, but Mason seemed to prefer the more traditional ornaments...


...so I hung the stars myself.


Mason stood on the arm of the couch so he could reach higher. I have visions of him falling into the tree and being stuck in the needles. EEK!


Of course, we had to put our K-State ornament front and center. Go Wildcats!


A closeup of one of the many paper stars that Mason and I made.

...and the final product! Merry Christmas!!!

I have wanted to do this for the last 8 years:

This Post is for YOU, Julia –

We are going to get our Christmas tree this weekend. I suggested we not get one this year because our living room is the size of a large walk-in closet, but you would have thought I asked Brian to cut off his arm! Okay, so Christmas doesn't really feel like Christmas without a tree, but dangit, our living room is the size of a refrigerator box!

Brian is right, though. A child shouldn't have to go through Christmas without a tree. So, I quickly caved (cuz I'm a wooz) and we are going this weekend. I hope we find a perfect, non-Charlie Brown tree that fills our entire living room. I will post photos of the journey next week!

Conehead:

Callie is a working dog. No free rides for this pup. She goes to work on the golf course with Brian every day. She enjoys running along side the golf cart, chasing geese, and swimming in the ponds. That sounded like a singles ad.

Anyway, poor Callie managed to scratch here eye. It got so gross that Brian took her to the vet. Look at what that mean vet did to our beautiful dog! I really did think that cones were something from the movies, and that vets really didn't do this to animals. I couldn't help but take a picture...and laugh hysterically.

Apparently while Callie was at work, she used her cone to scoop dirt. I am amazed that she can even see where she's going. Maybe that is why she's always bumping into me.

She went back to the vet yesterday for a checkup and was sentenced to 3 more days in the cone. Poor thing! I almost feel bad for kenneling her at night because she can't move in her crate. Only a few more days, girl. Hang in there!

A Boy and His Train:

Meet Thomas. Thomas was given to Mason in 2005 by his great grandparents. He was not quite 3. We assembled Thomas only once after opening it at Christmas, but at 3, I could see this wonderful (and no doubt expensive) electric train set getting broken into a million pieces. So, Thomas went into a box...


...and was totally forgotten about until yesterday. The controls for this Thomas train set are simple and seemingly durable; with the exception of the wiring. Mason had no difficulties figuring out how to make Thomas go as fast as possible. Counting to 100 was a piece of cake for him.


He also had no difficulties figuring out how each piece fit together and went onto the track.


It also didn't take him too long to figure out that the passenger cars won't go without the engine.


I only kicked the train over a few times to get this photo. Honest!

Okay, so I also had to kick the train off of the track to get this photo...

...and this photo. Look at how he concentrates to get the train just right! I only kicked the train off so that he could work on his finger dexterity! That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Happy Thanksgiving...

...and we are not having turkey! Yes, you heard it here first – a family does NOT have to have turkey on Thanksgiving. This is especially true when yours truly is doing the cooking. I like turkey, don't get me wrong. However, you can't make just a little bit of turkey, so our family of 3 ends up eating turkey for a week. Bleck!

This year I decided to go against tradition and cook a standing rib roast. Translation: prime rib with the bones still in it. Yes, this type of meal is usually reserved for Christmas, but we are having guests for Christmas – meaning I can make a turkey and not have to eat it for a week. It's all about consumption, you know.

I still have a lot to do before Thanksgiving, despite the fact that it's only the three of us. Tonight I am making pumpkin cheesecake. A friend of mine got me into this delightful treat last year and I swore I would never eat pumpkin pie again. I also have to check my grocery list to make sure I have everything I am going to need to start cooking tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!! I hope you all get to spend the holiday with friends and family. More posts to come!

Madelyn Gosselin –

The television show, Jon and Kate + 8 is a guilty pleasure of mine. However, there is one 8 year-old annoyance that infuriates me every episode – Madelyn. Don't let this cute little face fool you:

...she is an absolute terror. She has a temper tantrums that would send me into a frenzy of suitable punishments like pairing socks or cleaning out the bathtub drain of soapy hair.

I am always amazed at Kate's patience with Madelyn despite her impatience with so many other things! God bless her and Jon, because if she were mine...that little bottom would have been sitting in time-out for over half her life!

5 Things I Already Miss About Summer:

1.) Unrestricted blood flow to my extremities
2.) Daylight after 4:30 p.m.
3.) Little bare feet running on a Florida beach
4.) Weekend festivals in Downtown Atlanta
5.) Not being a slave to a school schedule

These are in no particular order...what do YOU miss about summer?

A seemingly innocent pile of leaves...minding its own business, relaxing on our lawn.


A seemingly innocent 5 year old boy...adding friends to the seemingly innocent pile of leaves...minding its own business, relaxing on our lawn.


Oh NO! Save us! We're being attacked...


...by a boy, a man and their dog!


They seem to be getting great pleasure out of squishing all of my leafy friends!


Thank goodness, one of them got up! Run for it!!! The little one is returning...


...a seemingly innocent boy, relaxing on a seemingly innocent pile of leaves...both relaxing on our lawn.

Tree Hugger:

Our neighbor, Alex, has the most beautiful maple tree in her yard. Each year we have lived in our townhouse, I have looked forward the fall when the leaves change to bright yellow and orange.


Okay, so this year, the leaves were mostly yellow than orange...but still very very pretty!




Despite the smile on his face, Mason was not pleased to be up in that tree. I'm sure he will be in therapy later in life because of it. Just know, sweet boy, that I did it because I love your beautiful face...especially in a tree!

Welcome One and All!

I got very excited today when I checked my Google Analytics reports and saw that people have been stopping by! Not only have people been stopping by, but people that I don't know have been stopping by. Sweet!

People from 26 different countries have been stopping by! Thank you for stopping by...come back and play again sometime people!!!

Imagine...

...if the city of Atlanta got rid of all of the graffiti! Shots like this would not be quite as interesting. Thanks Jen and Rich (and Chako) for being good sports! I love this shot!

In Cast You Didn't Know...

I found this to be quite interesting. Seeing the states colored according to political affiliation really puts this election in perspective – to see how close could actually turn out to be!

No surprise here. Georgia is a notoriously Republican state. Again, WAY closer than I thought it would be in a notoriously Republican state.

Just For Fun...

Welcome to Hoschton, Georgia...

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of photographing a friend of mine and her husband in Braselton, GA – about an hour north of Atlanta. On the way to the location, we drove through Hoschton and there were scarecrows EVERYWHERE! At first, I thought they were a little creepy, but then quickly realized they were probably all there for a reason.

Hoschton, GA set a Guinness record for the most scarecrows in one place. Their goal was 4,000 scarecrows...and they ended up with 5,441!!! You can read the article here: (click here).

Although our weekdays are usually filled with regularly scheduled activities such as homework, bath time and reading; we thought it would be fun to take a break from our routine and drive up to Hoschton to see the scarecrows. As you can see, Callie goes with us nearly everywhere that we can take her. Here we are at the golden arches for a quick on-the-go supper.


I'm not sure why Callie was sniffing Mason...perhaps she thought he smelled like french fries.


So, Bear goes with us nearly everywhere as well.


No, my photos are not out of chronological order. Mason and Callie fell asleep ON THE WAY to see the scarecrows. I guess work and school tucker them both out.


We finally arrived in Hoschton after fighting rush hour traffic (my bad!). I never knew Mason was so good at climbing fences...


...but up and over he went. I was there to help him, but Mason assured me that he could do it himself. I sometimes forget that he's not a baby any more...but that is another blog post.





Each scarecrow was tagged with an official "Guinness Book of Records" tag with its own number on it. We didn't view even one quarter of the scarecrows that were up around town.


After safely scaling the fence, Mason had a good time looking at many scarecrows up close.


He had a good time posing for photos and climbing up and down the fence time and time again.





I have never known him to ham it up for the camera before, but I was loving it, of course!


The sweatshirt he was wearing made him blend right in with these scarecrows. A veritable "Where's Waldo".


Hoschton received a lot of criticism for doing something as frivolous as setting a world record for the most amount of scarecrows instead of giving back to charity or feeding the hungry. I think sometimes you just have to have fun with something and if that something brings a community together...I'm all for it! Besides, how else is a small town supposed to gain publicity for their annual Fall Festival? Thank you citizens of Hoschton for bringing a little fun into my otherwise routine weekday!