14th

Big Al turned 14 in late November. She was born on Thanksgiving Day, which was great when she was little, but now means that friends are usually out of town that weekend. Since she isn't playing soccer this year we decided to have her birthday party the weekend before, but rescheduled when we went to Dot Dot's funeral. Many friends still couldn't attend this weekend because of Nutcracker practice or soccer/basketball tournaments, but 12 were at our house tonight. They mostly hung out, ate hamburgers, and played a LOT of Dance Party 2 - which they seemed to enjoy. It looked a lot like this:

She also opened presents

and then more dancing. Some danced out on the screened porch - in the cold..... rainy....weather.

Lots of laughter and enjoying time together.

Oh Christmas Tree

This afternoon was very busy. Big Al had an honor band concert. She enjoyed playing a Japanese drum piece (She is second from the left - had to hold the tempo together):

The rest of the day was spent decorating the tree

And getting ready for Big Al's birthday party tonight.

It's a little too cold to go out and do the firepit like she wanted, so we've tried to make the inside of the house welcoming for them. Thankfully the SEC championship game will be on and they'll probably start by watching the end of that (GO GAMECOCKS!) and then move in to more music/dancing/ silliness. I'll try to snap pictures unobtrusively tonight..... I'm sure a 14 year old won't mind her mommy taking pictures, right?

Dot Dot

Last Sunday we drove up to Greenville for Brian's grandmother's memorial service. Dot Davis was a wonderful woman, and taught so many people about living and loving family. The center of her life was God and her family, and she spent almost 89 years here on earth.

While there we also spent time with Brian's grandfather, also 89, Jack. Below are Brian's sisters with him.

All of the family came together, minus Brian's brother Barry (he and his family were representing our family at an Uncle's funeral in Texas). It was a beautiful service at the church where both Dot and Jack (and their son, and grandchildren) attended.

Jillianne, Stephanie, Lori, and Lisa

My daughters with their Aunt Lori and Aunt Jillianne

Cheesie and her cousin T.

Aunt Jillianne, Big Al, and cousin Will

Brian's cousins, Julie and Melissa

Although very sad to lose Dot, we recognize the long, influential life that she lived. We were very thankful to meet cousins who have recently moved back to SC, and visit with extended family.

The night before Dot died, Brian also lost his Uncle Dorman. He had been ill for awhile, but we are still very sad for his family. Both sides of Brian's family are very close, and I know they will continue to support each other, and remember with love those that are no longer with us.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today my family gathered for a very nice afternoon. All of the girls helped cook, and then we all sat down to eat together. My family, my Mom, sister Natalie, brother Colin and his girlfriend Charley, and later my sister Christy and niece Cate stopped by.

While I was finishing up cooking, my mom and Brian took the kids out to take a few pictures. I can see Christmas presents coming from some of them.

Sunday was Natalie's birthday, and my mom had bought a cake to celebrate. She didn't realize that she bought the candles that act like sparklers and then relight. Thankfully Natalie is also a fire-eater with her circus Columbia Alternacirque.

After dinner we went outside and took a bunch of family pics. The only ones missing were my brother-in-law Chad, and of course my Dad. I'll leave you with the good ones, and the out takes.

One more of those days when we wish we could have my Dad back, and live closer to Brian's family too.

Watch out Top Chef

I decided to take advantage of a big sale, and allow T-Rex to buy those candy molds at the craft store thinking that it would be fun, and of course, useful. We found a couple of them we liked - one for chocolate covered pretzels (a favorite at our house) and one for chocolate bowls.
We can't wait to try out these bowls tomorrow at Thanksgiving dinner.

The biggest pile ever

This may end up being part 1 of 2, because Blondie and Cheesie are quite determined to rake and build the biggest pile of leaves ever seen by humankind. Last fall we were raking the yard and taking pictures of them jumping in piles. Apparently that was a favorite memory, and they are looking to recreate it, even with only one hand working (she didn't want to use two). Unfortunately for them it is COLD right now in SC, not cool..... COLD, so they were on their own.

Obviously Cheesie has very busy parents because no parent in their right mind would let their kiddo wear cotton capris, a short sleeved shirt, and flip-flops when it was necessary to apparently also wear gloves. Honestly, I tried to get her to wear more clothes, but she said she was fine, so that's that. I'm curious to see how long they are willing to rake to get this gigantic pile of leaves they envision.

Settling in for election results

Voting, at our house, is a big deal. We go to vote on just about everything, and we always take the girls. Tonight with so much at stake, we all settled in to watch, but still did our own things. (T-Rex and Blondie were in and out with homework, or reading, I didn't catch their pictures).


Cheesie read some, and then graphed out her Halloween candy (school assignment).

Brian is the most obsessive about politics in our house (notice the stress ball in one hand and the remote to check commentaries in the other). He shushed Big Al and I a LOT tonight.

Big Al just returned from D.C. on a school trip, and has to make a scrapbook as a project, and she chose the living room floor to spread out.

I'm sure it will be cleaned up before bed (yeah.... I know....if I keep repeating that it may happen).

I started cutting out a fall banner that I wanted to make (I'm trying to not be too anal about my sewing and freely put things together, but honestly it stresses me out not to have some math, so these were cut on a 60 degree angle).

So hopefully we are comfy, because its going to be a very long evening/night.