Thanksgiving Fun

Read bedtime stories to these cutie pies! Harper tried to talk me into sleeping in her little bed.
Met that cute little Charlie!
Had dinner in SL with Andy and Lindsay at Buca di Beppo. Yum!
Went to Taylor's Thanksgiving football game with Parks. We decorated a little tree for the kids' bedroom. They are using it for their night light!

She's a cutie pie!

Being Thankful

Andy and America
Books and BarbeQue
Church and Christmas and Candy
Desserts and Dreams and Disney World
Eternal Life and Eating
Family and Friends and Fun and Food
Grandkids and Gum
Harper and Home and Humor
Invitations
Jesus and Jack
Kindergarten and Kids and Kindness
Lauren and Linny and Laughter
Mason and Mountains and Movies
Neighbors and Naps and No Noise
Open Doors
Parents and Prophets
Quilts from My Grandma and Quiet
Recipes and Rest and Restaurants
Sweetheart (Phil!) and Siblings and Summer
Taylor and Time and TV
Utah
Visiting and Vacations
Wishes
eXcitement
Y'all
Zzzz

Witches

My favorite holiday is Halloween- all the spooky scary stuff is what I love.
My grandma made a witch costume back in probably 1959 or 1960. It's our family heirloom. My aunt wore it first. Then it was handed down to me. My two sisters wore it. Lauren wore it. She didn't want to be a witch because they're not glamorous enough for her, but I forced her to wear it when she was probably in second grade. I had to doll it up with orange ribbon and such. My nieces have worn it. I'm not sure who has it their possession, but I'm looking forward to my little Harper wearing it trick or treating someday. Weird tradition, huh?
Anyway, I'm sure Grandma Ruth never thought that costume would get that much action. Thank you Grandma!
P.S. Andy- you're lucky I didn't try to make you wear it!

Almost October

I love this time of year! I love cool mornings and chilly evenings. I love that I 've been back in school long enough for routines to set in. Life is pretty good.

BTS

Lauren and Rachael- Kindergarten 1988
Those three exhilarating words that parents love to hear. Can you guess what they are?

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

One week left and it's back to school. I love summer!

1. Played with my grandbabies for 7 weeks!
2. Organized my craft room
3. Painted two rooms
4. Worked in my backyard
5. Put on a swimsuit for the first time in years- yuck!
6. Watched a lot of tv
7. Rejoined Weight Watchers
8. Stayed east of the Mississippi
9. Learned to use my Cricut
10. Slept in and stayed up late lots!
11. Visited with family
12. Enjoyed some solitude

My Summer Spider

This summer a Golden Silk Orb Weaver, or "Banana" spider made its home on my front porch near the light. She has frightened many guests as they enter our front door. I've been watching her for about a month. Cheap entertainment! She catches food and bundles it up in a neat line. I don't take pleasure in watching her kill poor insects, but it is what it is. A spider's got to eat.

The other night, she had a little friend with her. He was a tiny little guy. I found out he was her boyfriend. There was also a spider carcass in her web. I thought she had eaten another spider just like her, but she had molted. (I found out all this info after I googled spiders. I'm a nerd.)

Well, last night we came home from an outing and there was a frog in my spider's web! He was just hanging there. I thought, on no- she's gonna eat a frog! I took a closer look, and my spider's legs were sticking out of this frogs mouth! I knocked the frog down, and the darned thing hopped away to devour my spider. I guess a frog's gotta eat too.

Poor little boyfriend was still there all alone. He's gone today. Now what will I do for entertainment?Blasted frog! See poor little boyfriend helplessly watching. I know. It's pretty gross.

Fun Places to Visit

Charleston Farmers Market on Saturday morning
Palmetto Park
Edventure in Columbia
Mount Pleasant Waterfront Park

This One Was Just Right!

Harper loves chairs. She tries them all out.

School's Out!

I finished my first year back at COKSM. It was great and flew by soooo fast. I'm already thinking about next year. But- I have something to occupy my days 'til then!

Stuff? Junk!

I'M BLOGGING ABOUT JUNK.
This is Jack sitting in his favorite chair in our driveway. Why? Because I'm tired of looking at it and my house feels cluttered. YARD SALE! There were two of these lovely chairs, recently reupholstered, and they went for $50 each. Sorry Jack.

I'm cleaning out junk.

I've been in this house for 20 years. I have 20 years worth of stuff.

I'm the girl who went to 11 different schools and graduated a year early. You know what that means? We were always on the move. I think it's good to move. You get the chance to go through all the stuff you'll have to pack and move if you don't get rid of it.

Oh how I would love to move, but that's not happening right now. So I had a yard sale. Thank you for your assistance JoAn! (She's the queen of getting a yard sale together.) I didn't take any stuff that didn't sell back in the house except for two framed prints that cost me about $180. I couldn't bear to let them go for nothing. Oh- and I did keep a mirror that a lady was ready to buy for $8 when I realized that it would look great hanging over the bed in Lauren's old room. I told her sorry, but I changed my mind.

I told Andy I was having a yard sale and he said (seriously) "Don't get rid of any of my stuff- especially in the attic." Oh my! I haven't looked up there for at least 15 years. Who knows what kind of junk we've squirreled away up there. And yes- the squirrels have probably been in it.

Anyway, I probably sold $2000 worth of stuff for $350. JoAn said I cut my prices too soon. I did start marking stuff down before we even had customers. When JoAn would go inside, I'd hurry and sell stuff for less than half of what I was asking. I just wanted to be rid of it. (She caught me! Sorry Jo!)

Guess what? I still have tons of junk!

I am not buying any more stuff! Except for a great shelf I found at a furniture store today. I have junk to organize!

Utah Fun

Fat Cats!

Linny's a winner! Look at all those tickets! She got some cool prizes!

Phil and Andy enjoying the games. Look how intense they are.

Bowling with Andy and Linny at Fat Cats. Fun!!!

Lunch at Cafe Rio

Digging for fossils at the Dinosaur Museum

Shopping and lunch at Ikea.

Yummy breakfast at Magleby's Fresh

Shasta the Liger at the Bean Museum

Harper reading her favorite book, Goodnight Moon.

Mason looking cute in his jeans- rare as he hardly ever wears pants at home.

Pretty Lulu

31 Years & She Still Loves Me

Hey everybody!
I'm not the blogging type.
I don't have time for it.
I've got too many other things to do.
But, this time I have to tell you that 31 years ago, Pam and I were married in the Washington DC Temple. I've loved her since the day I saw her walk into Sunday School class. The more miraculous thing is that she still loves me! I could not have asked, nor chosen, a better friend and companion. When all else fails outside of the home, I know there is one that I can depend on to be by my side. I Love you Pam! Let's go for 31 more?

Spring Break!

Hurray! Spring break begins today. Phil and I are flying off to Utah. We are so excited to see all our kids- without preference I will list them in abc order:
Andy
Harper
Lauren
Lindsay
Mason
Taylor

Jack is staying at the Bed and Biscuit. Fat camp for Jack. He always comes back slimmer.

We are hoping for great weather and fun times. It will nice to spend Easter with the kids. We will make sure the Easter Bunny remembers to fill everyone's basket. We love these guys!

Shoot!

We were doing yard work and accidently cut a cable. Phil called Comcast and heard a recording saying that there were outages in Mount Pleasant. Oops! Could be a coincidence..... If not- sorry :(

Look Alikes

This is a picture of Lauren and a picture of her baby. They could be twins! I know, the hat on Lauren looks dumb. She loved that hat! It went with a newborn outfit. She used to wear it all the time. So cute!!!

March Bee Bulletin Board

Don't you just want to eat this car?

I saw this car in the parking lot at Belle Hall Shopping Center. It belongs to the tasty little shop, Cupcake. http://www.freshcupcakes.com/index.html

The car made me want a cupcake, so Phil bought me one. Red Velvet! Yum!!! He's so sweet!

Yawn...I Need Some Help.

Help me! I'm a sucker for infomercials. At three a.m. when I can't sleep, I watch them. I have made many a foolish purchase in the wee hours of the morning. Yes, I have the Magic Bullet. I have the Microwave Pasta Cooker and the Ronco Electric Dehydrator . I had the Thigh Master and Jane Fonda's Treadmill. I have the Ped Egg, and a nail sysytem that is impossible. I have this lint roller set that is supposed to last forever. Guess what? They're all big fat disappointments:(
Well, the latest item that has intrigued me is the Instyler. It is supposed to perform miracles with bad hair. I saw it happen with my very own groggy eyes on the tv! I just came this close to ordering it online. It's a two-for-the-price-of-one deal. Only $14.99 and three monthly payments of $39.99! And you can even pay extra to have it shipped within 14 days! Well, just before I clicked the order button, I decided to google some reviews. Some love it, some hate it. Does anyone own this marvel of magic for hair? I've had bad hair for quite awhile now.
Ah heck, maybe I should just buy a sleep aid and get a good night's sleep. Has anyone seen a good infomercial about one?

Mason and Pop

Phil's mom gave me this silhouette of Phil that was done when he was in kindergarten. I am amazed at how much Mason's silhouette looks like Phil's.

Healthy Healthy Harper

Lauren just sent this photo from Harper's 18 month check-up.

Pretty sturdy looking little girl, right? She looks like she's eaten a few meals at OINK! or could be their poster girl.

I think she's adorable!

OINK!

Phil and I tried out the new barbeque restaurant down Hwy. 17. It's called "Oink!". I loved it. Phil didn't. The barbeque was the N. Carolina kind. It's chopped really fine with very little sauce. They have the red vinegar based sauce that is soooooo good! I had two sides- baked beans and rice and tomatoes. Phil had the green beans and barbequed potatoes. He said the beans were too hot. Waa! I was very pleased with my side items. My only complaint was with the cornbread. It was flat, dry, and hard. The service was great! We were seated immediately. Our food was delivered to our table in less than 10 minutes. I say Melvin's has some competition.

Happy Valentine's Day

Lauren has the most amazing sister-in -law! Jessie is so talented and takes beautiful pictures. She has the best ideas. Thank you again for making my day! I love seeing these pictures. Being far away from our sweet little grandbabies is so hard. Your pictures warm our hearts.

You can see Jessie's photography blog by going to my favorite sites.

Food = Harper

Why do I post about Harper and food? That's what Lulu asked. 'Cause I love those things most of all! She's so cute I could just eat her up!