So, last Saturday we ventured over to the elementary school for the annual Santa Breakfast. They had Santa there for pictures, yummy pancakes, a silent auction and candy house making. It was a lot of fun for everyone, especially the kids who didn't want to leave.

After the breakfast we made our way over to the Virginia Tech Surplus Auction. This is our new discovery and there are some great finds here. We were hoping to be able to win some of the clothes that they auction off but the other bidders had other ideas. Oh well.

After the auction we packed up and got in the car for a lovely drive to Tennessee. We visited Troy and Stacy and had lots and lots of fun! We brought the kids to see the Speedway in Lights at Bristol Motor Speedway. This was an EXPERIENCE! Thank goodness we were in good company because we sat in a line of cars waiting for 4 hours before we even got in to see the lights! The lights were fantastic (even though Tabitha slept through it). They donate all of the admission frees to children's charities so it was definitely worth the money. If you are every down in that area you should "stop by" and see it, maybe on a weekday though.

Thank you Troy and Stacy for your hospitality and giving up your whole evening!

The Santa Picture Experience

So here is Santa. Sitting, happy, waiting for children to come and take pictures with him. Then, come our children . . .

Ethan, move, we can't see your sister! Let's take your picture . . .

Ok, really? Are you serious? Poor Santa, not even allowed in the picture.

Yea! Merry Christmas!

Our "Baby House" Christmas Tree

We were very excited this year to be able to have a "different" kind of Christmas tree in Blacksburg. Thank you Nana for the beautiful tree!

The Elf Yourself Video - Remember to pause the music down below on the right so that you can hear the music from the video!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I don't want to move you down the page . . .

So, this is what I have to say. I have been struggling with moving my Grandmother down the page. I like her here, at the top. I can visit, see her whenever I want and I always know her picture will be here. My new dilema is moving her down. Every time you post something new, the old posts get moved down the page. I have so many new pictures and things to say but in order to do that I have to let Grandma go. She has to move down the page. So this is me, letting go, letting her move down. I am encouraging myself to embrace the fact that even though she is gone she is still with us. Her spirit is here. My Grandmother would want to hear all the new things the kids were doing and see the new pictures we had taken. So this is for me and you Grandma. Grandma, you move down and I will keep you in my heart, always.

By the way, my Grandmother would have really gotten a kick out of the elf video posted abovt. Thank you Amy for sharing the video you made of "the brothers". I stole your idea!

I will miss you Grandma . . .

On Sunday, November 23rd we lost my Grandmother. She was 74 and had 8 children, 6 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren. My Grandmother was an amazing person. Our hearts are broken.

To Grandma,

I will miss you being here.
I will miss your smile.
I will miss the way you laughed.
I will miss your open heart and strong character.
I will miss the way you kissed us on the cheek before saying goodbye.
I will miss the way you looked at your great-grandchildren.
I will miss hearing how much you won at the track.
I will miss hearing how much the last lottery ticket brought you.
I will miss your cooking .
I will miss how you let every stray in (human and animal).
I will miss you on Christmas like I did on Thanksgiving.
I will miss you when our family is together.
I will miss you at every birthday Tabitha and Ethan have.
I will miss your mashed potatoes.
I will miss your love of slot machines.
I will miss all of the stories I didn't get to hear.
I will miss how you rearranged the furniture every day, it seemed.
I will miss your sense of humor.
I will miss your strength and persistence.
I will miss seeing you and Grandpa together.
I will miss how you loved your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren

Most of all, I will miss you!

Every day I will think about you. You were an amazing Grandmother and Great-Grandmother.

3 Years of Tabitha Pictures

Happy Birthday Tabitha!

Oh my, my baby is 3! How time flies when you are having fun. I remember this day so vividly three years ago. It was two days after I begged my doctor to induce me. Finally he agreed and by the next morning, Tabitha was here. I remember Brian was out of the room at the snack machine when they told me to push. My parents were at home with Ethan eating waffles when they should have been at the hospital. I was supposed to be getting drugs at 7am to start labor, nope didn't need that. I thought I was having a 9 lb. baby, wrong again. Finally after 4 minutes and a doctor that almost didn't make it into the room we had our little baby girl. Of course she was a surprise to everyone except us since we had kept her gender and name a secret for the entire pregancy. That was a lot of fun by the way!

Now after three whole years we have learned a lot about little Miss Tabitha. She is a feisty red head who is fascinated by babies and accessories. She knows exactly which buttons to push to make her brother go crazy and would love to hug and squeeze cats and dogs all day long. Pony rides are a new found favorite and riding her scooter is her new talent. She loves ballet and gymnastics and I am sure one day Tabitha will be bungee jumping off of something. Oh and don't feed her applesauce, yogurt, or liquid medicine, she will throw up!

Please enjoy the slide show above of the first three years of Tabitha's life.

Halloween Weekend Pictures

Halloween Weekend

Halloween weekend was very busy. Granny and Grandad were visiting and we had lots of things that needed to be done. On Friday we went trick-or-treating in downtown Blacksburg, ate dinner and then headed right over to the Hokie Harvest Sale (the on-campus horse and cow auction). Trick-or-treating in downtown was a fun experience. There were lots and lots of kids everywhere. We got candy from all the stores, bars and resturants (even Daddy's favorite - Boudreaux's). Tyrod Taylor was handing out candy at the barber shop and there was even a man at the photography shop handing our gourds! Hmmm, weird. Why is it that Halloween always brings out the weirdos? The funniest moment was when we walked up to Hokie Hair (a haircutting place). Tabitha saw the people inside getting their hair cut and handed her candy over and was ready to walk in and get a hair cut. In the middle of trick-or-treating! We also saw quite few dogs dressed in their costumes as well!

On Saturday we woke up bright and early for the Virginia Tech Surplus Auction. That was a fascinating experience but a very long day. Brian and Grandad were able to get some really nice VT coats for pretty cheap! Needless to say I think there are a few more auctions in our future.

Oak Lane Trick-or-Treat Pictures

Oak Lane Trick-or-Treat

So, we had a very exciting Halloween weekend. It started on Tuesday with the Oak Lane Trick-or-Treat. For anyone not familiar with Tech, Oak Lane is where the Greek community is housed. Every Halloween they invite the local elementary schools to go trick-or-treating at their houses. Our check in house was Alpha Phi where we were greeted by two very enthusiastic girls. Let me just say, this night had to have been the coldest, windiest day we have experienced here in Blacksburg. Add on top of that the fact that Oak Lane seems to be on top of a hill, making the wind even worse.

Our two new friends led us straight to the free cotton candy and then took us house to house. Most of the houses were handing out candy but a few had other activities. The kids had their faces painted in one house and in one of the fraternity houses they had a chance to play some games. These were the games: Pin the face parts on the monster while a strobe light is flashing and throw ping pong balls into tiny buckets filled with water. Hmmm, were we trick-or-treating or at a college party? They tried so hard but it was quite humorous.

At the end of the night our last stop was the haunted house! There were two haunted houses. One for big kids and one appropriate for the littler ones. Our girls brought us to the lesser of the two evils. Well, lets just remember these are college students we are dealing with and their version of tame isn't exactly tame. After the ski mask people and the room with the bloody guy and the threat to murder 10 children by the end of the night. When left through the back door and were promptly greeted by the freaky guy yielding a chainsaw and jumping straight at us. The only thing that came of this wonderful experience was one sleepless night for Ethan and the knowledge that there will probably be no more visits to haunted houses!

The Last Football Game

The Last Football Game

There were lots of smiles and laughter as well as quite a few sad faces and tears but all great things must come to an end. Ethan had his last football game last Saturday and on the last play of the game got a tackle! Of course that means he pulled a flag off of another player! He was so excited you could see his smile from the stands! All of the kids seemed to be having a great time during their last game, they truly did not want it to end.

After the game we all made our way to the park that they practice at and we had pizza and had a chance to play on the playgroud that they usually only get to look at. The coach also had a wonderful surprise for the players. He had bought each one of them a trophy with their name engraved on it! You've never seen a happier little boy then when Ethan was handed that trophy! The boy is obsessed with trophies and now he finally has one!

After lots of playing, eating, laughing and rough housing it was finally time to leave. Ethan got very quiet in the car and would not let us look at him. He was obviously really sad and could not understand why he could not keep playing football all though the winter. Poor little man.

This football season could not have been any more fantastic than it was. His coaches were so caring and patient. They taught Ethan so much about the game and how to be a great teammate as well as great player. He learned to play every position and was given lots of playing time at his favorite position, center. We wish we could bring Ethan's coaches back to NOVA with us for next season but I'm not sure their families would appreciate that!

I'm Done, at least for now . . .

I've finished updating the blogs layout. It didn't take the whole day, just most of the day. Now I can get back to posting things you really want to see.

***Under Construction***

As you can see we are undergoing some changes. It might take me all day to fix everything so please have patience. Hopefully it won't take that long!

Saturday's Halloween Party

On Saturday we went to a Halloween party! The party was hosted by one of Ethan's new little friends at school. Everyone had a great time wearing their costumes for the first time!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Birthday Granny!

Happy Birthday to you!!!!! Happy Birthday to you!!!!

Happy Birthday Granny! We hope you have a great day and enjoy your birthday! We wish we were there to celebrate with you. You are a great Granny and Mother and we are so lucky to have you around all the time. We wish we could see you and Grandad more. We will see you next weekend though!

These are all of the pictures I could find of you. You are officially on notice. We need more pictures of you!

The Birthday Questionnaire:

How old is Granny?
Ethan: 20
Tabitha: 5


What should Granny do on her birthday?
Ethan: go shopping
Tabitha: blow out candles

Ethan's 6!

Ethan's birthday was Tuesday! He turned 6. He informed us half way through the day that he didn't want to be six, he wanted to stay 5. Oh well, we have to move on with life! He had a good day.

First it was off to school for his normal school day. While Ethan was at school, Tabitha and I went to the dollar store in search of decorations (yes birthday on a college budget). We found some fun balloons with nemo on them and dinosaur decorations. When we got back we decorated the whole apartment to surprise Ethan.

Ethan was off the bus at 3:30 and when he walked through the door he kept saying "this is awesome". It was quite funny! We had a long evening waiting for Daddy to come home at 7:30. We ordered pizza to be delivered. Dinner was Ethan's choice since it was his birthday. We ran to Food Lion to pick up an ice cream cake (another choice of Ethan's).

While we waited for Daddy we set up the computer and chatted a little with Granny and Grandad (Nana, we need to get your camera set up so you can video chat too - over Thanksgiving definitely).

Finally Daddy was home and Ethan opened his presents! He got monster trucks, and a Nintendo DS! Boy was he excited when he saw the Monster Jam game for the Nintendo DS! After presents we ate our pizza and had cake. It was a great little laid back birthday. Now I have to start working on Tabitha's in November . . .

Little Bear's Visit to Our House

Ethan's Kindergarden class has a stuffed bear named Little Bear that goes home with a different student every weekend. This weekend was our weekend to have Little Bear. He comes with a book that you write in to tell the class what he has done for the weekend. We spent all weekend bringing Little Bear everywhere with us. He came to the Duck Pond, then Sinkland Farms and finally Ethan's football game on Sunday. We had an eventful weekend so it was great for Little Bear to be here.

This is the page that we put in Little Bear's book for Ethan to bring back to school on Monday.

Little Bear went to the Duck Pond to feed the ducks . . .

. . . and eat dinner.

Then, Little Bear and Ethan were off to Sinkland Farms, the pumpkin patch. Little Bear pet the animals . . .

rode a pony . . .

and helped Ethan pick a pumpkin!

Sunday was football game day. Ethan brought Little Bear to the football game. Little Bear cheered and cheered for Ethan!

Sinkland Farms

On Saturday we went to Sinkland Farms which is a pumpkin patch/animal farm/corn maze all rolled into one. It is your typical place to go in the fall. Sinkland Farms is in one of the most gorgeous settings though! It is surrounded by mountains and farmland. I think Brian was a little jealous!

The kids had a chance to pet lots of animals. They had a sheep. . .

. . . cows. . .

. . . goats . . .

. . . and a really big draft horse!

Tabitha and Ethan also went on pony rides!

Tabitha rode Buddy. She LOVED every minute of it. I can't say that it doesn't make me smile to see her liking horses!

Buddy was a funny little pony though. He stuck his tongue out the entire time he was being ridden!

Ethan's pony was more like a horse. Ethan really enjoyed his ride as well. Although he looked a little more uncomfortable on the horse!

After the pony rides it was time to ride off in a hay wagon to the pumpkin patch. This was a nice little ride down the hill.

We were allowed to stay in the pumpkin patch for as long as we wanted so we searched and searched for the perfect pumpkins to bring home.

We came across quite a few unusual pumpkins along the way. Some of them were white and some of them were twins! We had never seen a twin pumpkin before so of course we took a picture!

Finally we found our pumpkins and made our way back from the patch. I have to say though, this is the first pumpkin farm I have ever been to where almost every pumpkin was the perfect pumpkin. It took us a long time to find the pumpkins we wanted because there were so many great ones to choose from.

The last activity of the day was a miniature horse carriage ride for Ethan and Tabitha. They loved this and it was so cute! Who though miniature horses were so strong! After the ride we all made our way to the Humphrey's house for dinner. We had a great time spending the evening with them! Thank you for the wonderful dinner!