Breakfast with Santa

Getting ready to see Santa...

As close as Dawson would get to Santa- David on the other hand marched right up and asked for a crane (and a baby crane for Dawson).


The best effort at a family picture.

Cousins with balloons...

There was bound to be mayhem and mischief!

Meme and Johnny and their boys!

CMA's

Tom finally said yes to tickets at the office- and he picked a GREAT one! The CMA's.

How time flies...

So I am trying to catch up- with strep throat, 7 ear infections, 4 cases of the stomach bug, and the holidays in general- 2008 seemed to end by just getting by- but here are a few highlights from the fall/Halloween festivities!

The fireman and the pony (with our finished jack-o-lanterns).

The Otter Creek Fire Department and their puppies:)

Superman, Batman, Fireman, The Pokey little Puppy- a Powerful Foursome of cousins!

At the Pumpkin Patch with some of our favorite girls!

Dawson was so glad to have Hannah join us- he may have fallen in love with her like the rest of us have!!!

David and his best girl friend Emma- she was showing me some of her cheerleading/dance moves- they were AWESOME!

Baby Who?

Update- still handsome after all these years:)



Any Guesses on who this handsome baby is?????



Let's just say my second little guy is aptly named:)

Twilight part II

For those of you who don't know-esp Lyla :) - there is a series of books out by Stephanie Meyer called The Twilight Series. It is four books (plus maybe a few more to come-let's only hope!!!). Yes, they are about vampires. Yes, they were marketed as adolescent literature (although I am not sure that is how the author originally wrote them). Yes, they are almost 600 pages each- but they are the most addictive series I have read. Let's put it this way-we have been passing the crud around our house, and when it hit me with a vengeance on Saturday morning, what got me through the fever and horrible throat pain, was book 2 in the series-yes-almost the entire book in one day. But as I am still not well enough to venture out to a bookstore, I have been left with the torture of waiting for the next book. They are about love, the cheesy g-rated Romeo and Juliet kind of love, with the element suspense/science fiction with the whole vampire thing. But they are so much more than that! I am in a book club that got me hooked- but for anyone out there- GO GET THESE BOOKS!!! You will not be disappointed- and if you are let me know why! The movie comes out just before Thanksgiving and I am sure it is going to be great- but not as fantastic as these books. I love the titles of the books. I love the titles of the chapters. I love the characters and the setting and basically all of it! I love that on the author's website there are playlists that she heard/inspired her in her writing (she is a mother of 3 boys by the way) I especially love the symbolism of the art on the covers. So here are the covers of the first two:

Happy Reading!!!!

Twilight...

More thoughts on this to come- but I couldn't resist this! Thanks Ging!

Cheesegrits

I first remember eating these in Kindergarten at our Thanksgiving meal. I have LOVED them ever since. Mom would make these on the first day of school, Christmas morning, and other special days that she could get me up early enough to actually enjoy a nice breakfast. I brought them for my meal contribution at our girls trip to Gatlinburg this weekend- and they were a big hit! Here is the recipe girls:

3 cups cooked grits (4 servings on package)

1lb Velveeta

1 stick margarine

6 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

2 t baking powder

Cut cheese and margarine into hot grits. Mix until melted.

Beat eggs in separate bowl. Add milk and baking powder. Add to grits mixture.

Put in sprayed casserole dish.

Bake 45-60 minutes at 350 degrees, until knife comes out clean.

Picture from Gatlinburg of the girls-