Monday, March 31, 2014

Advent Adventures - Tree Drama

Back to our Advent Adventures of 2013...
We left off with our beautifully FAT
Christmas tree making its
debut.


I was in the shower the following morning,
and one of my children came up
to inform me that the tree had fallen.
Sigh...
mega sigh...

I was in the shower...
I knew the tree wasn't going anywhere else,
the damage had been done...
so I took my time getting ready 
and getting myself downstairs
to assess the damage.



Do no adjust your computer,
no, I did not forget to flip this picture.
This...
is what I came downstairs to.


With the help of my older boys,
we set it up right.
Then I carefully picked up the broken ornaments,
and vacuumed EXTREMELY well!
A couple of times.

Soaked up what I could of the gallons of water
that were in the tree stand.

Then decided I deserved
this 
BIG
CUP 
of 
COFFEE!


Much to our surprise,
when we got home from scouts that evening...
the tree was again,
on its side.

We figure we had overloaded one side of the tree
with ornaments.

So we picked it up,
again,
cleaned up broken ornaments again,
put a call out to friends to borrow a carpet cleaner
to suck up the second dumping of gallons of water
in the SAME spot on the carpet.
(after I had soaked up what I could with 
NUMEROUS towels)

And I am pretty sure I sat down with a big glass
of 
WINE
after that one.

Thankfully,
those were the only two episodes we had of,
falling Christmas trees.


Thursday, March 6, 2014

Advent Adventures - The Great Christmas Tree Hunt

If you have been around a while,
you know that my family
cuts down our own tree...
year
after
year
after
year.

We have been doing it
since our oldest (now 9)...
so for 10 years!
Whoa!!

We even did it while living in Texas!!
  Seen here: 2011
And here:  2012

As you saw in the last post,
we decided NOT
to hike up to the 
NC Mountains 
for our tree this year
and opted for a local farm.

You also saw,
that we attempted to get our tree
by head-flashlights...
and it did NOT
work!

After the late night
tree hunting was a bust!
We headed back out,
bright and early the next morning...


The Hunters...

 Yes, 
this is the one mommy wanted.
But daddy 
claimed it was too tall.





Ok, daddy,
what about this one?

Nope, he says...
still too tall!
UGH!

I lack the "eye" 
that tells me exactly 
how big trees are. 
They look great in the field,
but the hubs always says they are too big.

So since I have to go short...
I like short and 
FAT!

 Ms Priss stopping to pose for the camera.


 Wild thing
NOT 
stopping to pose for the camera!

Then the ground,
or a blade of grass,
or his feet,
or all of the above...
stopped him.


We finally found our tree!


Then he decided to perch the littles IN the tree!





We did actually break a limb,
good thing we were taking this one home with us.

Then the cutting began!
This is a group deal.
We all take turns,
but daddy usually does 
95% of the work.
We all just really pose for pictures.
Haha!




We got it home,


And into the house...



Then the transportation wrapping came off!


And the decoration wrapping went on!!


That is a FAT tree!!





Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Let the Christmas Season Begin...(almost)

Hey - 
atleast I am up to December...
almost!

Thanksgiving weekend included multiple trips 
to Raleigh for us.

First, Thanksgiving Day,
Then, Saturday for the last
NC State Football game of the season
(which was a pitiful season so we
weren't really sorry to see it end)

The kids got a hold of some face paint...
and I didn't stop them...
but I didn't help them either.

Alexis chose green,
not sure why.
She looks a little 
Hulk-ish to me here.
Thankfully we weren't playing 
a green team!



Jackson looks a little scary
and 
zombie-ish...



 And Rico,
well...
I got nuthin.

This was taken after the game on the way home.


Since it was the last game,
and daddy's birthday weekend
and we couldn't get rid of our extra tickets...
we took the littles with us.

On the way home,
we decided to go ahead
start the Christmas season!
We headed to a local tree farm to get our tree!

We seriously,
seriously 
debated trekking to the NC mountains
to get our tree.
But, when we started 
looking at the limited time we had
we decided that 
it wasn't worth the extra money
to make the 5 hour drive
stay in a hotel
and 5 hour drive home
for a tree.

So we stayed local.

We headed out to


We went straight from the game
and 
on the drive out there,
it was getting dark...
quick.

We were almost there
and decided we would give it a shot.

They outfitted us with a couple of 
head flashlights for the boys...



Then Mr. T decided he wasn't in the mood
to go Christmas tree hunting 
in the dark...
so he BEGGED to 
get back in the car
and 
GO HOME!


In order to keep the event a happy one...
we gave into the cranky monster
(and the fact that it was TOO dark
to properly hunt a tree!)

We headed home...
The start to our Christmas season
would have to wait 
One.More.Day







Sunday, March 2, 2014

Thanksgiving Day - A Brief Pictorial

The festivities started off with a little 
spectator exercising
for Uncle Jack.

Here with the oldest 3 neice and nephews

Then the youngest 2 jumped in, including
his daughter in his arms!


Then we ate...

And took a few quick posed pictures:

from left to right:
middle sister - Courtney
baby sister - Melanie
adopted sister - Teena
(aka my bestie for almost 30 years!! - WHOA!)
me
our mom

Nana & Papa and all the grandbabies!
(This was the best of 13 takes!)

My daughter attempting to mimic my sister.

And the FIRST
photo of 
my folks,
my sisters
and 
I
in AGES!
Probably since the middle sis 
got married
over 5 years ago!

Then my middle sis, her hubs (Uncle Jack)
and their daughter took off
for his folk's house down the street.

So we settled in for some quiet time.




Then the crew that left,
returned with their entourage,
which included the godparents
of my two littles
(who also happen to be the middle sisters in-laws!).

Making real whipped cream (by hand) for desserts!
Lucy is taste testing for them.

Uncle Jack had previously worked out his legs
so he decided to work on his arms
(well one arm anyways)


The hubs blowing out his 
beautiful,
yet really dry,
Butter Pecan Birthday Cake.


Then we played our second edition of our
Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl!

quick huddle of "the other team"

victory dance?
(but we were on opposite teams)

Jackson hawking down his prey...

That was such a long day...
but so worth every minute!!