Thanksgiving at the White House

Thanksgiving was held at the White House this year and it was a BLAST! Donald and I have always loved to have company and we especially enjoy hosting a family holiday. Emily is loads of fun to have around during these times, as well. She provided plenty of entertainment throughout the day. Donald's Uncle Tom came to visit and was apparently wearing some type of special pheromone cologne because Emily couldn't get enough of him all day. She corralled him in the play room and put him through all kinds of tea parties and dress-up indignities before he could escape downstairs to be with the grownups. I didn't get to take very many pictures on Thanksgiving - too busy with other things! After everyone went home, we all took a long "roll up" and then settled down on the couch to watch the lighting of the Macy's tree. Emily really enjoyed this, as well as the showing of Beyonce's Vegas show which came on later in the evening. At one point she disappeared into her room and then reappeared wearing hot pink Crocs and a swimsuit singing "Single Ladies." A diva is born! Happy Thanksgiving from the White House!

Getting the yard ready for company. We are overloaded with leaves!

T.C. looks thrilled at the prospect of so many people in the house at one point. However, there was turkey so that made it a little better.

Snagging some homemade pimento cheese - Yum!

Real cranberry sauce - Double Yum! I can eat this by the bowlful.

Snuggling during the tree lighting. What a great way to end the evening!

Thanksgiving Program

Donald and I attended a Thanksgiving tea party at Emily's school right before the Thanksgiving break. It was so sweet to see the children perform their Thanksgiving songs for the group of parents. They even said the blessing for all of us before they sat down to share our cookies! We have so enjoyed all of Emily's programs and love to hear what she learns each day at school. These pictures are funny - she looked scared to death while she was peforming with the group but she did all the moves and sang all the words anyway! Doing the Turkey Dance
Deer in the Headlights

I love handprint art!

Snuggling with Mommy

Class bulletin board - Each child sent in a decorated turkey feather. I LOVE this idea because I am bulletin-board challenged. Emily's is third from the left - the one with the big purple heart!

Pumpkin Carving

We joined the Westbrooks for their annual pumpkin carving party this year and had an absolutely fabulous time. Amy and Adam are excellent hosts and I always love to go to their house to celebrate. Emily had been looking forward to this party for weeks and had so much fun that she woke up in the middle of the night talking about it! After looking through the pictures, I can't decide whether the adults or the children had the most fun. Definitely the mark of a good party! Can't wait until next year! This is serious business.
Helping Daddy figure out how to carve this thing.

Yep, that's baby Kimber in there! Emily was so excited about painting this particular pumpkin. For pictures of the real thing, visit The Steele House blog. Such a sweetie!

Working on a little artwork of her own

Painting with a new friend

So proud of her purple handiwork!

Amy always has the best holiday decorations. I love this sign. Y'all know my favorite store is the Goodwill.

The annual lighting of the great pumpkins

All the kiddos with their creations

Having a snack after all that hard work

Reading a story with Jessi and Amy. Jessi showed her how to do a split and Emily has been practicing all week.

And finally....our great pumpkin! Emily requested a Bob pumpkin - from the Monsters and Aliens movie, get it? Donald did a great job carving this really difficult request. Bob became a tasty snack for Rocky the Raccoon just a few days later. Stinky pumpkins definitely do NOT belong in the house!

Happy Halloween!

Emily has been saying for months that she wanted to be a polar bear for Halloween. An odd request compounded by the fact that stores don't make polar bear costumes for children her size. So, I visited Hobby Lobby and came away with a pattern and three yards of white fun fur. We could tell that the saleswoman was curious about what we would do with all of that faux. I put it off for a bit, but the week before Halloween I sewed (with much direction from Mimi) my first outfit. I figured that a Halloween costume was a good place to begin - if she looked ridiculous, at least I wouldn't have to send her to school in it! I'm proud to say that the polar bear was precious and gathered many admiring comments during our trip through the (very soggy and muddy) neighborhood. I also stitched fantastic fun fur around a leotard for Abby to turn her into a sassy kitten. Too bad the weather kept so many trick or treaters home this year - that means I get to eat all the Reese's and Kit Kats by myself! Halloween at the White House is always fun. We have family and friends over for dinner, then load the kids up in someone's car to trick or treat and visit the pirate ship up the street. Papa John and I were the ones to brave the weather this year while everyone else stayed home warm, dry, and close to the football game on TV. At least they got to clean up all the dirty dishes! We even ran into our friends, the Andersons, while we were out and hauled them back to the house to share some candy - and chocolate gooey butter bars, thanks to Amy and Lane. Yum! Hope your Halloween was full of chocolate and fun!

Getting a little help from my supervisor

I love, love, love this hood!

Finished product!

Ghouls just wanna have fun!

T.C. hides from the fray under Emily's festive piano

Posing with Adrian and Austin after checking out her candy. See - it really IS one size fits all!

Chitlin' Hoedown!

Today we made our annual trek with friends to Yatesville, home of the Chitlin' Hoedown. An entire day spent eating roadside barbecue and Maw Maw's fried pies (fortunately still in operation after her death last summer), scarfing down boiled peanuts, packing in loads of people watching, enjoying the best Chitlin' parade EVER, and just generally hanging out with friends in the sunshine - what could be better? In all the years that we've been going, I don't think we've ever taken a camera. First pictures ever of Chitlin' Fest! We got some great pictures inside a building that we've admired for several years, and also paid a stop to the Full Gospel Thrift Store on the way home. Although no purchases were made at Full Gospel and no one actually ate the chitlins this year (Donald is the only one to have ever claimed that prize), we can always hope for next year! Welcome to Yatesville!
The Chitlin' Window - Where the magic happens! Just don't stand downwind...

Yum! That's the combo plate, not the scrap plate. I'm still not clear what you'd get if you ordered that one.

Picnic on the lawn

Waiting for the parade to begin

Mr. and Mrs. Chitlin'! This was the first of three fantastic Mustangs to appear in the parade this year. I could hardly pay attention to anything else...but then the Shriners came by!

Possibly my favorite float - you know how I love hats!

Well, this one was good, too!

As was this one - Not sure where the "real" left off and the "costume" began on this guy.

I just liked the slogan on this one.

That's a tractor trailer with an airbrushed rendition of Da Vinci's Last Supper down the side. Don't see that very often.

Crowd shot - I love the guy in the foreground.

A rat tail hairdo and a REALLY smokin' shirt

The Andersons pose for a pic

Love ALL of these pictures - This building is open to the sky and has beautiful weathered brick inside and out.

See you next year!

Lazy Sunday Morning

While I went to church to fill in for the sick pianist, Donald and Emily stayed at home and had Daddy-Daughter day. When I left, they were water painting at the kitchen table. I came home to find lots of new pieces of artwork on display. What better way to spend the afternoon - curled up in front of the fire with the family watching Project Runway?? Glad that Emily likes it, too - I'm getting a little burned out on the Wiggles. She's discovered a renewed love of them the last few weeks and I have caught myself humming "Fruit Salad" in the car on the way to work. Hope your Sunday is equally lazy!

Love this one!