So last night about 3 am, Georgia comes into our bedroom,
and says, “We forgot to make Christmas cookies!”

Here we are filling out Christmas Cards:

Georgia’s Birthday pictures…finally downloaded from the camera:

The Morning began with a surprise, decorated enterance into her birthday day.

Then the small party of ballons and streamers… note the sheer joy!

She was promptly crowned:

Pictures with the cake:

MMMMM cake

I took a regular yellow cake from Koger and added Spongebob to the motiff

Chuck E Cheese

Daddy & Birthday Princess

totally distracted, can’t focus on getting picture taken

Playing video games

Dylan and his big cheese

Big Kid

We went home for opening presents

If you have a site here, I am sure that you look at the foot prints that are left by the folks that surf to your site.
I am just curious, who in DC is looking at my site?

I find it interesting.  I often wonder if the “Man” is surveilling me…I can’t imagine that would be any fun…good ol’ white bread gal that I am, certainly not worth the attention. Who knows, maybe I have got a friend in  DC that I have forgotten about or just a reader…It still just piques my interest to know.

My husband and I attended his holiday party on Tuesday. It was the first company function we have been able to go to. It sure was nice to get dressed up and go out with my hunny.  The event was held at the Macaroni Grill, there are only about 30 employees so it was nice and intimate. We had a gift exchange, it was called a White Elephant Exchange. All the presents were up for trading. It was more fun than just getting a present.  It was nice to talk to adults that I don’t work with, but of course inevitably we discussed where we all work and what we do at work etc.  Imagine that.  Then the really fun part happened, they handed out Awards. Dwayne had perfect attendance until his folks came to visit, so he did not get that one, but I am positive he will next year! In all, there were 6 that got the award. They received a gift certificate and a framed certificate. Then they gave the Employee of the Year, which went to the shipping manger for the warehouse. Apparently it was well deserved, everyone clapped. Then they gave the Salesman of the Year, which even though he missed a month of sales due to a promotion to Route Manager, they gave it to Dwayne. I almost cried.  He worked so hard and he got it! 

It was a great night!

I wanted to take a minute to write.

I have been on the road traveling to and from Phoenix most
of November.

How nice it was to be in the
warm weather, though missing the family terribly.  The first trip out I went for two weeks and
took in a weekend. My Pop who lived there for 10 yrs, gave me the insiders tip.
He just never disappoints when it comes to adventure. He told me to go out to
this place called Apache Trail; it is a long road that eventually turns to
dirt. The road winds though the mountains, passing a few lakes and many deep ravines.
 I sure wish I could have traveled that
road with my Pop. I could just hear his voice in my head telling stories and
laughing with his wide smile.  That trip
made me officially fall in love with the desert. What a beautiful and strange
place. It is as if everything out there is saying “get the hell off of me”. Here
is a tip, don’t lean a Saguaro Cactus, it don’t want your touch.

I did not see much wild life except a roadrunner and
quail.  I visited the Botanical Garden at
Papago Park and shopped at the swap meet. I had a lot of fun running around the
city.

Then I went back home for little
Georgia’s 4^th birthday. We took the family to Chuck E. Cheese. My
brother & his girl went.  I was not
sure what to expect, but we all had a good time. Both kids got a toy with all
of the tickets that we won.  We returned
to the house to open presents and eat cake & ice cream.  Georgia got to open her present from us twice,
as she decided to open the gift when it was delivered by Fed Ex just days prior
to her birthday.  Dwayne found her
playing with the toy in her room and scolded her. I was heavily disappointed. I
had no idea how bad it makes a parent feel to find the surprise to be sprung without
watching. So I wrapped it up and she opened it again on her birthday. We finally
played with it last night, only two weeks later. It is a Eye Clops, you plug it
into the TV, like a video game and then you put the Eye ball on something and
it magnifies by 200% or something. FYI, mostly everything is very disgusting really
close up. Georgia Loved it.

I went back to Phoenix for a
week. It was good the second time around but I did not have a weekend.  I came home on a Saturday and went back to
work Monday so it didn’t feel like I got a weekend at all. Such is life
sometimes.

Dwayne & Georgia went to see
Playhouse Disney on Friday; it was a Father/Daughter date. It was very cute.  It was part of her birthday.  She got her picture taken with Handy Manny
which she promptly informed me that he “is Plastic”, mildly disappointed.  There is just no fooling my girl.

Gold Field Ghost Town at the beginning of Apache Trail

Along the Apache Trail

Apache Lake

I love these barrel cacti, they look like desert jack-o-lanterns!

The Sunset at the botanical garden was Amazing.

Family Photos taken while my Husband’s Folks were in from AK:

We had a really good time getting these photos taken. My husband & his Dad kept us in constant laughter.

boooger. I forgot to pay my premium bill now I have to wait until my payment registers so I can post pictures again.

UG.

Why aren’t I a life-R?

Who knows, maybe I just don’t want to drop a bill on it. I should tho’

New pictures coming soon!

Holey moley, busy.

Did I tell ya that being a working mom is HARD! 

Ug.

It is hard to keep in mind 24-7 that my kids are not obstacles,
but rather blessings.  They ask me to
stop to smell the flowers to enjoy the summer breeze in the middle of October
and to just give those hugs. Whatever would I do without them?

Let’s see, what have we been up to?

Georgia was interviewed last week for a magazine article on
her LemonAid participation.  The magazine
is called Keeneland, it is a quarterly publication, which is due in November.
We are ensured a copy. She was very shy, but we told our story. Georgia is
working very hard to learn her letters, she is very interested in trying to
read, she often pretends to read to me after I read to her.  She has also been learning to draw and paint
and cut paper. She is a relentless learner, she wants to do lessons even at
10pm. I can hardly keep up with her. 
Dylan can impede a bit. I am trying to find a balance for the two of
them.  She was having trouble finishing
her dinner and has been a little underweight and finally I figured out a solution.
While she eats, I read a story and she will quietly sit, listen and eat. Unfortunately,
I figured this out at midnight after she was up sneaking cheese out of the
fridge.  She is extremely smart, well
spoken and devious. There is a lot to be thought of with regards to this child.
I cannot be lazy and expect that she will just listen to me.  Dwayne has great ideas about how to interact
with her; he identifies with her personality quite a bit.  I am a simple Taurus, like my son. All this
trickery is confusing to me, I am glad Dwayne has it all figured out, it will
be our daughters saving grace.

Dylan is still struggling to get a word in edge wise. He
talks a lot, but no one can understand a darn thing that comes out of his
little mouth.  He likes to exercise his muscles;
I always find him picking up heavy things. It worries me a bit, as if he did
not learn a lesson when he dropped the sealed soda can on his toe – he lost the
toe nail, it was gruesome.  Recently, I
have caught him picking up a 12pk of soda and launching it off of the two step
deck.  He also filled a 5 gallon bucket
with rocks the size of softballs and bigger, only to realize with much
frustration that he could not drag the bucket around. He LOVES to put on
Georgia’s pink crocs, well one on one foot. Then he flips out when he can’t get
the shoe off or on again.  Mostly, he
walks around with one on, and mostly on the wrong foot, looking confused each
time he takes a step. You can really see the little Taurus bull rear its ugly
head. When he gets mad, he opens his mouth and throws his head back like
Charlie Brown and wails, “AHHHHHH-IE”, Like he is saying “I” with extra
pronounced “E” at the end.  It is the
only time I really get to inspect his teeth and the progress of their eruption.
Sometimes though, when he is tired, he will just sit down on the ground and
open his legs to each side and put his forehead on the ground and whimper.  He is entertaining to say the least.
Yesterday, I walked around holding him for a couple of hours. He loves to be
held and walked around the house. I think it is because he likes boobs, he will
even say “bubs”, with a lot of air between the lips.

Dwayne has been watching Football, he has even been watching
University of Kentucky Football. Which is unusual, but he still will not wear a
UK t-shirt, “Unless my kids are going to UK.” He has been struggling with the
Truck, he got the starter replaced, and then the water pump went bad. He has
been driving his motorcycle. He has also been fighting the Mighty Mouse
Brigade. We have a army of mice, courteous of your truly, rampaging the house
and Garage.  He is pretty sore at me for “saving”
the babies, but I just couldn’t throw the little red skinned things out in the
sunny grass to burn to death. So we have quite a problem. They came into the
house through a chewed hole in the floor, now they are using the ventilation pipes
to get a round.  The other night, I saw
one come out of the closet and run behind the TV. I called Dwayne who was
upstairs, He said, “What do you want me to do?”, just then it ran behind the vacuum
cleaner in the corner of the room. I told Dwayne he needs to come downstairs.
When he did he was irritated I was making him stop what he was doing, then I
told him that the mouse was hiding behind the vacuum cleaner and so he picked
it up and saw the mouse and squashed the mouse. It was gross. Georgia was
fascinated.  He set a bunch of traps with
Potato last night, but they were mouse free this morning. We tried Peanut
Butter, but that didn’t work either.  I
was thinking about something like this:  http://www.amazon.com/ISS-Its-So-Simple-Mouse/dp/B000KAHY2C   but what if they jump out?     Anyway, the beat goes on.

I have been very busy at work. Stress stress. Working long
hours and still trying to keep the house in line with the winter coming on. I
had a yard sale last weekend and go rid of a bunch of clothes that no longer
fit and other junk. It was cleansing to get rid of that stuff.  We made enough money for Dwayne to get the
water pump fixed.  I have been thinking
of cookies and what I want to make for the holidays. I wish I had some money to
get the fabric I need for the next quilt. I have one in mind.  I am sure I could keep myself occupied all
winter with all of the other unfinished projects that I have lying around.  I guess we will see.  I have also been working with the Neighborhood
Association. I am now the editor of the newsletter and webmaster.  We are in the process of handing out the end
of summer newsletter and gearing up for the next meeting. I got involved with the
hopes of bringing some new energy to the group.  We have a fantastic city park that our
association borders, so there are plenty of things we can gather together to do.  We will see what happens. I am excited to
meet some of my neighbors though.

WOOOP!!

Good
news everyone!

Big
M—-is unable to obtain the liquor/wine license
they are seeking.  Thanks to a tip from one of your neighbors, I again
called ABC to check about this situation.  A store which sells the
commodities that Big M does is unable to sell wine /liquor.  The letters
that have been sent already will be fine.    

Great
team work!

Congratulations!

First District
Council Assistant

Hi there, it is raining. Yes I should be happy. I should be
jumping for joy. But the crops are mostly dead, so it is not much help now. The
garden had the makings of being AWESOME, but it was just *ok* this year. The
vine borers did much damage to the cucumbers and peas. The squirrels ate all
the corn before it was time to harvest. The potatoes did very well and were
quite tasty. The broccoli flowers were every producing, I harvested as much as
possible and let the rest go to seed.  The
KY Pole beans…I had many pots of Green Beans, Ham and Potatoes, much to my
husband chagrin.  He just LOVES green
beans…much like a dirty sock in the face. 
The radish did terrible again this year. No real bulbs, just skinny
little tubers, not worth the effort. I tried two different varieties and even
the planting medium was different, so I must be way off. I didn’t plant the
onions deep enough and the water played a role. Mom called them pearl onions,
but I swear they are bigger than pearl onions. The asparagus, grows. We will
see what it has to offer next year. The loofah is doing good, I water it
semi-regularly. I am excited to see how the loofah turns out. This is my first
time. The cantaloupe will produce a little melon, then it will shrivel and fall
off.  There is one that is hanging in there;
it is the size of a medium bouncy ball that you would get from a gumball
machine.

I have been getting involved in the community, probably
biting off more than I can chew, but I am tired of just complaining about the
state of things. I have been in touch with the first district council woman.
She asked me to help organize a petition against the issuance of a bottled
liquor license to the neighborhood grocer. The grocer is a small mom and pop place
that sells convenience stuff as well as deli sandwiches, fresh beef cuts and
slab bacon. It is a nice place to have down the street, the kids of the ‘hood
go there to get soda and freeze pops.  I
grew up down the street from a place much like this one, and when I turned 16 I
was all about trying to get older cats to buy me vodka.  So after much deliberation, I believe I am
opposed. I drew up the petition yesterday and a nice “form” letter to pass out.
 We will see how it goes.  In general, I think I am just sad that the
owner is interested in bringing this type of clientele into my ‘hood and
exposing all of the kids to the drunks. His kids hang out in the store too. Granted,
I used to be one of those, but lesson learned… the hardway. Hippocrate, maybe….proud
& protective Mama, definitely.

Dylan is trying to talk. Let me try to list his words:

Hi  —with much enthusiasm

Sera –almost sounds like sue

Mmmmm –means mama is a good cook!

Tickle – tickle

Bad

Freeze pop

Mama

Dad

His hearty attempts at words:

Ba  –ball

Babob babas –spongebob square pants, and he will totally
sing and dance every time the jingle comes on.

Yesterday Dwayne got a 
“Hi Dad” when he got home from work.  Every day the two of them greet you at the
door with big HI!’s  and hugs.  It is very sweet. Georgia is so active it is
hard to list all of her accomplishments, unless I wrote daily. She and I have a
tea party every morning before I go to work, (most people call this
breakfast)  We eat toast and drink tea,
she has any kind of fruit tea w/o caffeine and I usually go for the standard Earl
Grey. We like honey in our tea. We also sometimes have nutella on our toast,
Georgia thinks it is chocolate.  She can
be very sweet and just the most precious thing, until she starts talking about
her butt and the noises that come from it. 
Kinda ruins the tea party, you know? 
Somehow, I can’t get the idea through to her, because she thinks it is
just the funniest thing to talk about body functions. This should come as no
surprise to me. Today we did not have the tea party because we watered the
garden, just in time for the rain storm.

Maybe tomorrow we will have a tea party.