Chesnuts roasting on an open fire....

Last year when we moved into this new house I was a little disappointed that we would not have a propane heater to stand in front of on those cold winter nights. In the old house it was the only thing that really kept us warm. I loved being able to go stand in front of it and just get warm.

I knew we would have the central heat here, but there is nothing like being able to instantly get warm when you've got a cold chill. P kept telling me it'll be even better at the new house, there's a real fire place and we can actually use it. (As most of you know, we had 5 fireplaces in the old house, but were unable to use them because they had not been used in a LONG time and needed to be cleaned out. With the house being so old it just wasn't safe to use them!)

So I thought whatever! It just won't be the same. If we have a real fire the house will smell  and it's just too much work. Well I have to admitt I was wrong!! P started a fire one night and I fell in LOVE! We have had a fire every night that the temp. has gone below 50 degrees I think!

I don't know how I ever lived without the flames for all those years. As you can tell from the pictures, the girls love the fire too! We can't keep them out of the livingroom now!!

There have been several nights that we haven't even turned the TV on because of the fire. We just sit around and talk or play games. It's really been a nice addition. If we ever build a house in the future I want fireplaces everywhere!

1 little, 2 little, 3 little Indians....

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving! We sure did. We even had a couple of Indians join us for the celebration! And they were just too cute.

E and A looking so cute in their Indian dresses.

E and A with their new Scottish Barbie dolls. These were suppose to be a Christmas present, but we were celebrating cousin D's b'day at our Thanksgiving feast and you know how that goes. If one kids is opening presents at grandma's house....all the kids have to open something!!

Here's A (holding the new Scottish Barbie) and cousin D enjoying birthday cake.

E pigging out on the yummy icing!

Finally Pooped....

Okay, so E has been a little sick here lately. Nothing much, just a nasty little cold with the runny nose and coughing something awful. I called the doctor and they said "as long as there is no fever and it doesn't last for more than 10 days she should be fine. But if it makes you feel better give her some children's cold medicine." I can do that....it's a lot better than having to drive all the way to the Dr.'s office and pay the copay.

Well let me tell you....I will NEVER give that child cold medicine again!! Most kids get sleepy or at least a little drowsy from cold medicine. Oh no....not E!!! It had the complete opposite effect on her!! She was so wired I didn't know what to think. She was stripping down to her b'day suit every time I turned around (even when she was outside playing!!),  running from one end of the house laughing hysterically, jumping from anything she could crawl on top of, sticking her tongue out, yelling at the top of her lungs and everything else crazy you can think of.

She was absolutely wired. The pictures above are from when the medicine finally wore off!!  She was playing in her room when I heard everything get really quiet. So I went to her room to see what was going on (I knew something was wrong since I didn't hear her bouncing off the walls!!). As soon as I opened the door I could here the snoring. But she wasn't on her bed!! So I looked under her bed.....not there. I turned around and found that she had crawled up inside of her chiffarobe with all her toys, pillow and blanket to take a nap. And she was OUT!! I tried to wake her up, but once I figured out it wasn't going to happen I just let her sleep! She needed it.

She did finally wake up and calm down. I have never seen her that wired before. And boy I won't be giving her anymore cold medicine anytime soon!!!!

Field Trip

This year A's class was able to visit Homestead Hollow for a field trip and thankfully I was able to take a personal day to join them. We had a great time looking at all the "old timey" ways of doing things. Of course we have been as a family MANY times in the past, but it was still fun to go hang out with A for the day.

This was our little group. We were suppose to have another little girl with us to make it a little more even, but her dad came and of course she wanted to walk around with him. As you can tell it didn't seem to upset A too much. She still had a blast with the boys anyway. (The boy on the left says that he never smiles!! - So don't think it was because he wasn't having fun.)

Here's the group checking out the HUGE turkey. There were too many kids around to get the turkey in the picture too.

A and one of her buddies from a different class.

A's whole 1st grade class. This was taken right before the buses left to go back to the school. Can you tell the kids were just a little tired and ready to go??

A and her WONDERFUL teacher this year. A is having a great year and loves school.

We're walking on sunshine.....whoa oh.....and don't it feel good!

This past weekend was BEAUTIFUL!!! I hope everyone was able to enjoy it as much as we did. All day Saturday the girls played outside in the creek next to the house. I don't have any pictures to share, but you can just imagine the fun they had. Of course they started off by asking me if they could go play BY the creek. What mom would have a problem with that?? Sure go play BY the creek! The next thing I know they are knee deep in muddy water and laughing hysterically. I couldn't help but to laugh too! They were soaked to the bone and just so darn cute. So to add to the adventure, we decided to let the dogs join in on the fun too. The four of them playing in the creek together was adorable.

That is what beautiful days are made for. I can't stand to be sitting inside on days as sunny and perfect as that. (Beware: she's getting on her soapbox!!) Just as much as I can't stand for others to be sitting inside on days like that. GET OUTSIDE PEOPLE!! Or at least make your kids go outside and play. All these new video games and computer games and cell phones and whatever else drive me crazy. Kids are so caught up in the technology world that they don't even know how to go outside and play!

It's just not right! Growing up I was outside playing every chance that I got. We didn't have all the new latest toys to play with either. We had to use our imaginations. Now there's an idea.....do kids even know what an imagination is anymore?? We made up crazy games and ran until we thought we would just fall over, rode our bikes, played in the creek, studied bugs and new creatures we had "discovered". We were rarely ever bored. In fact the only time we were really bored is when we couldn't go outside to play.

Some days you can't help that there is too much to get done inside, but you have to make time to soak up the sunshine just a little on days like we had this weekend. Enough on my soap box!!

On another note....we did get our Christmas stuff out this weekend. Don't laugh....I know it's a bit early, but I just couldn't help it. We are just already in that Christmasy mode. I will try to get some pics up soon of all the decorating the girls and I did. Until then....

Halloween 2009

(This is my favorite one from this year! Aren't they so cute!!!)

Finally! Our Halloween pictures for 2009! This year we had a cowgirl and Minnie Mouse. These two cute little characters got a special treat - TWO nights of trick or treating!!! Our small little town does a "Walk Through the Town" for Halloween. The businesses stay open for an extra hour and give out candy to the kids. It's a great idea and it's a safe place for the kids to go. Well, for some reason they decided to hold it on Friday night, the night before Halloween. Go figure! So we couldn't miss out on it!! I mean, come on, it's free candy!! So we went to "walk around the town" and then to visit Pop and Nonna. They had a great time and got LOTS of candy!!

Now, just because we went out on Friday night doesn't mean that we can skip out on Saturday night!! So we headed to Papaw and D's for a second go round! The girls had fun and got to wear their costumes more than once. All in all, I am pretty sure they had a great time!!

A and E with their Pop.

These guys were really cool. They had authentic WWII uniforms. He had a jump-master suit and she was in a nurses uniform. They even brought out the old Jeep to go with it. We just had to snap a picture with them.

E and Shelby. E insisted on walking Shelby around too!

All three of my girls!

Princess Shelby tagged along for the ride, hoping for at least one piece of candy to fall to the ground!

Papaw and his Susie!

Mimi and the girls.

Stone Mtn Scottish Festival

This year's festival was not all we thought it would be. Hearing the bagpipes and seeing all the cool scottish stuff is wonderful, but the weather was MISERABLE!! It was cold (about 55*) and wet all day. It wasn't pouring, but it was drizzling enough to just make you want to scream. So I wasn't able to use the camera very much. Trying to use the umbrella, camera and change the lenses all at the same time was nearly impossible. Oh well.....better luck next time. I'm sure there will be many more scottish festivals in our future! Here are a few pics from the day.

A did not want to stand next to Robert de Bruce, so this was the best that we could do!!

The Clan Hay booth.

The entrance to the park. All of the bagpipe bands were lined up here practicing before they went in to perform.

One of the many bagpipe bands performing.

A bagpiper.

Byron with P's new deer antler knife.

Papaw and A. Check out Papaw's new hat!! It looks great on him!!

The falconry exhibit. These birds were really cool to see. They were absolutely beautiful. P would like to get into this one day!

                The coos (cows for us Americans). The scottish pronouce it coos. These were highland cattle that are orginally from Scotland. The calf was only 2 weeks old.

Stone Mtn. Pics finally

Finally, the pictures from Stone Mtn. My computer is not cooperating!!! The pictures are uploading at an extremely slow rate and I am having a hard time getting them to the site....so finally here are some from two weekends ago when we went to stone mtn. I will get the scottish festival pics up soon!

We spent Sunday at the Stone Mountain State Park looking at the cravings and walking around the park. It was a Beautiful day, but a bit chilly to say the least! The park was great. When both of the girls are older and we magically have more money, (HA!) I would love to take them both back and enjoy everything the park had to offer. Here are just a few pics from the day.   

Daddy, Papaw and A looking a the mountain through the binoculars.

Daddy and A still checking out the mountain.

A and the gaint craving. (She looks so small compared to it!)

P and the carving.

The craving through the glass window of the sky-lift to the top of the mountain. I really enjoyed the ride up and down the mountain. It's really neat to see just how big that mountain is. (This was also my first trip to Stone Mtn. so I was a little excited too!!)

Look! Mommy was on the trip after all!! I think this was the only picture of me on the whole trip. Thanks P for grabbing the camera and actually making me be in one too!!

   

 A posing in front of the carving.

 

Daddy and A sitting around enjoying the day in the park.

Stone Mountain here we come!

It is finally time for the next scottish festival! I am so excited. We are leaving bright and early tomorrow morning to go to the Scottish Festival at Stone Mountain State Park in Georgia. We have never been to this one before, but it sounds like it should be a lot of fun. We went to the largest scottish festival in the world this summer at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. It was Awesome. The atmosphere is very family oriented. Everyone is nice and they are all there to enjoy the events just like you. I don't really know what to expect this go round since it's on a smaller scale, but I'm sure we will have a blast. This summer we decided not to take the kids. We quickly discovered that the girls would have had a blast. So this time we decided to take A long. I just know she is going to love it. The dancing, the music, the bagpipes, the games, the foods.....oh I just can't wait!!! I'm sure I will take plenty of pictures with the new camera and share them as soon as we get back! Until then...

Our own little Annie Oakley

With her cowgirl boots and Papaw's riffle, we have our own little Annie Oakley. Don't worry, the gun was not loaded!! In fact it is broken and won't shoot anyway. Dispite that fact, the kids had a blast this weekend pretending to shoot!

Ready, Aim, Fire!

Making sure she hits her target!

Here is cousin D getting in on the action too! (Actually I am pretty sure that he had the gun first, but A insisted on playing with it too!)