Pictures

The long awaited pictures from Thanksgiving.... You can see and read more at Jackie's blog.


The kids pointing to the Vulcan statue who looks over Birmingham.
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The boys helping us rake, or sweep leaves.


Thanksgiving dinner!


Gotta have a kids' table, right?


The other day in the car Aiden told me "we need to get some Mr. Clean power sanitizing wipes mom because they dispense easier than the leading brand" and my mom thought that was pretty funny, so she sent some out for Aiden and the kids honestly spent a good half an hour cleaning the house with them. Aiden uses them every day. She just loves how they dispense. I think we'll watch less TV.


Some of us played a fun game called how many marshmallows can you fit in your mouth. Brooks just enjoyed this game because it meant the marshmallows were open and free game. He ate about 10.


The cousins. All matchy and cute.


The boy cousins. So blurry, but still cute.



Jackie is my guitar hero. She really was a natural, but she usually is.



Lewis getting a sweet kiss from B.


Us looking over the magic city, Birmingham.


I didn't know this many people could fit on one couch at the same time, and so comfortably!



The kids figured out a new fun game called jump on Uncle John! The probably did this for an hour.


My kids have been waiting for Mati to come visit so she could try out the swing. I think she loved it.


More of the cute matchy kids.


The whole group. Don't we look great? It's amazing how difficult it is to get grown people all together and happy about taking a group picture. Lots of grumbling, but it was cold out there.


Thanks everyone for coming! We had a great time. Ya'll come back now, ya hea?

Thankful

We had a great time with everyone here. I can't believe it's already Monday and everyone is gone and Thanksgiving is over! We really had so much fun playing guitar hero, seeing the sights of Homewood, staying up all night playing Super Mario 3 (the boys), experiencing shopping Friday morning and fighting the crowds--it was really UNBELIEVEABLE--(the girls), eating eating eating, watching movies, watching football, taking lots of pictures, raking (thanks Brian), Costco, hanging lights and a white pine garland (beautiful, from Costco) on my front "porch", and just enjoying each other. I am sure I left something out, but Brooks is asking me to play hide and seek over and over so I am having a hard time focusing here. It was pretty cold so we mostly just stayed in, but it was still great. Lewis had to work yesterday and won't be home with the camera until late tonight, so I probably won't have pictures for a couple of days, but they will be coming soon. It was so great to be with all of my siblings, we hadn't all been together since last summer, 2006. And now I'm off to hide!

B's Pictures

BATMAN!! You can't teach style like that!! (did I mention that "no pants" now lives with us? hey, at least it's still 80 degrees out there I guess)











Brooks wasn't quite as cooperative (that's really not saying much), but I did get a few good shots of him. I used iphoto to boost the color and add the sepia and black and white effects. I love iphoto. sooooooooo...Which one should I frame?

A's pictures

Because who really wants to spent $20 a sheet for washed out pictures of your kid with a tacky "fall" background? Not me. Which one should I frame?

lovers

Why oh why doesn't Lewis ever let US stand like this in public?

30 Years Ago

These 2 awesome people tied the knot.
They were the first people I ever met and are still two of my favorite people in the whole wide world.
They taught me everything I know and I still go to them for advice, validation, and love.
They are honestly the coolest people in the whole wide world and if you know them then you already know that, if you don't know them you wish you did (believe me).
They are the nicest person I'll ever know and the smartest person I'll ever know.
I love you guys to Pluto and back and am so so so proud to say that you are my parents. Thanks for being so super cool and for being the parents that I can honestly never remember being embarrassed of (except the TIMES Mom yelled out the car window "do you know my daughter JJ? She needs some friends!" to the random kids on the street).
Congratulations!!!!!!!! You rule.

don't feel blue.....

Why are they sideways???? When I choose them from the desktop they are the right way. I will have to fix it later. Turn your heads please to the side.

Brit was having a rough time, or so she said on her blog, so I thought I would scan (it was hard to figure out but I did it) these beauties in for old times sake. We worked many a day together at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in PC and ate many a chocolate. Also sang 99 Red Balloons at full blast and locked the doors. I think my name tag says "your girlfriend" and hers says "sass". hmmmm. The other picture is of some gifts we gave her when we were roommates a few years later at the Y. Weren't we the best roomies? Seriously. The sweater we found frozen outside one winter day and passed it around to each other at important times in our lives. The heart was another lovely gift we found in one of our apartments. So classy.

This Week

(this picture was from a couple of years ago, but you get the idea)
--the leaves are starting to change and they are so beautiful, but I was worried about them all falling off too fast because......
--last night we had a crazy storm. It was over fast, but there was lots of wind, rain, and thunder and lightning. I was getting a little nervous that our DIRECTV thing might fall off the house and then I would be so sad because.....
-I- would miss my daily workout with my personal trainer Denise Austin. Yes, it's my little secret (well, one of them), I do her workout every day. She is on lifetime at 6 am here so I just record it and do it a little later. NOT that I'm not up at 6am (thank you Daylight savings time and we all know my kids hate to sleep anyway). I have to put in a plug for it here if you have cable (we are loving it and I'm not sure I can go back to no cable for the next 2 years of Med. school, I mean, HGTV?!?!?! TLC this and that, Discovery, ESPN, not to mention the kids channels--you're killing me). Back to Denise Austin. I really have to say her half an hour a day has helped to get me into better shape than I have been in since having Brooks. Plus it is so convenient and less embarassing than a gym class--I am so uncoordinated. I also walk 3 times a week, but I think this 30 mins. a day is so GREAT. SO DO IT TOMORROW, OK?
--I think I am up for mother of the year once again. Yesterday we got home from picking up A at preschool and usually she runs up the stairs to be the first one up and to hide from me, SO I closed the garage door and went in and worked on changing a load of laundry(does it ever end?!?!?) I heard Brooks and Moose making their way up the stairs and followed close behind. I heard Aiden yelling for me so I slowly started looking around for her while picking up random toys, trash, etc. I didn't find her but figured she has given up on me and was playing somewhere. A couple of minutes later I walked back to the TV room and saw her standing outside (we have french door looking windows) just bawling her little heart out. Seriously friends, she was UPSET. Aiden is usually in control but the poor thing was a wreck. Well, I let her in and she was so sad she even let me hold her for about 20 minutes. Probably a record. I felt so bad but was proud of her to think of coming up the stairs to the deck and yelling her guts out until I got there. She said she had tried banging on the door by the laundry and the playroom door because she thought I was probably doing laundry (how did she guess?), but that when I wasn't there she ran up to the deck and was locked out of the screened in porch so she just stood there until I got there. By the look of her though, she thought we had forgotten her. I felt so bad and she kept rubbing it in all day saying "Mom, remember when you locked me out?" OOPS! I just realized this story might be hard to follow since not one of you has ever been to my house. (except mom and John). I guess that means you have to come visit to replay the scene correctly.
--I am getting so excited for the holidays. My siblings are all coming for Thanksgiving and it has really become my favorite because we don't get to see eachother very often. And I love them so much and we have SUCH a great time together. Also, it is COLD today (hey, I can handle 59 degrees as being cold in the winter). AND we are having a blast doing some crafty holiday things around here. I would show pictures but Lewis has too many smashed, abcessed faces to take pictures of and he's been gone, like, all month. I think he's seen the kids for about 3 hours this week. No exaggeration. (Hillary don't worry it's not that bad! :) )

Sunday at church without Lewis

Not my favorite thing. Enough said. These weekends where he is on call Friday and on Sunday just stink because he sleeps all day Saturday and is up and out of here early Sunday morning and then it's see you Monday night. It's especially hard because he is the hospital resident this month and leaves earlier and gets home later that usual. The good news? we are almost through 6 months! HOORAY! (are you tired of hearing me whine about this? sorry, but it feels good to type it)

The pictures are old, but we had to water the flowers and the light was just right.

Barbie

So I have to admit, I was once a Barbie hater. I mean, I was sure that Barbie dolls were making women have body image issues and vowed to never let MY daughters play with them and grow up hating themselves because they can never look as perfect as Barbie. Then one lovely spring Saturday morning I was at a Tag Sale (oh blessed tag sales how I miss you) with my then two year old daughter and she spotted the Barbies. There was a whole big box of them and she was begging for them all. They would have sold me all the barbies (at least 20) and all the clothes and the carrying case for 10 dollars, but I was sure they were so bad I said no. She begged and begged and drove me crazy until I said she could choose ONE and ONE only. Well, what can I say? She loved the Barbie and still does. She plays with them every day. Yes, THEM. She has lots and I plan on buying her more. I have come to realize that hey, I grew up playing with Barbies and honestly, I don't think I was traumatized by them. They aren't real and I think most kids can understand that. But what about the REAL people on TV that look crazy skinny or half naked? I know that she does not have any confidence issues right now, and I just hope to not mess that up. I am not an expert, and I'm really a rookie at this child rearing thing, so I don't know for sure, but I think that if I give her positive role models in her life and don't obsess about how I look MY daughter can grow up knowing that she is a daughter of God with incredible worth regardless of how she looks on the outside. (but isn't she about the cutest thing you've ever seen) (oh, and please excuse the run-ons but they are my specialty)

JJ's additions

So Lewis left out some critical points in his blog. 1) the lady at the "national park welcome center" was not very welcoming and quite rude when we stopped by to ask which campgrounds were open. she asked me "what kinda rig you got?" and then she about had a heart attack right there on the spot when I said we were camping in a tent with 2 little kids. "we've had a freeze and are likely to again tonight". she was a real jewel. 2) we ran into Lewis' Aunt Nan in Gatlinburg. Seriously folks, what are the odds, and she even got into town at the exact same time we did. It was lucky for the kids because she took them trick or treating at all the little shops even though they didn't have costumes on. (since when is a prostitute a good halloween costume for a teenager or worse yet, for an ADULT?!??!?!!) the little shops consisted mostly of airbrush tshirt shops, candy shops, knife shops, nascar gear shops, and indoor mini golf slash go cart places. oh don't forget hard rock cafe and ripley's!!!!!! believe it or not. 3) when we were stopped looking at the two bears a guy drove by to ask what we were looking at and when we said two bears he said "probably just a big raccoon" and drove off all grumpy. my favorite part of the trip by far. It is seriously making me laugh right now. i wish I had a picture. 4)do I write seriously too much? would you tell me if I did? seriously. 5) you should have seen all the cars headed toward Tuscaloosa for the big Bama vs. LSU game tomorrow. Lew got a picture of one of the vans. These people even choose the color of their car based on college football. madness. there are a lot of crimson cars in alabama. Ro Ti (translation: Roll Tide, it's what alabama fans say to cheer for their boys. it took me 5 months to figure out what the heck they were saying). 6) Poor Brooks has had some "stomach problems" for about a week now and went through lots and lots of wipes. not fun while camping in 30 degree weather. he got some new clothes out of the deal though because our clothes bags were packed in so well. 7) we had a fantastic week and it has been T-riffic to have Lewis home. Now if I can just get him to look away from that darn Tiger Woods golf maybe I can get him to do some things around the house this weekend......rake leaves, paint, clean the car (it stinks really bad)

A week off

I finally got a vacation (one week) which was much needed. Not because I don't love my job (I do), but because it is nice to remind the kids who I am! It is not that bad really. But this past week has been great. I could not have timed it better. I was able to watch the Sox win and enjoy it without missing innings while sewing up lacerations in the ER. Then, with all the time off, we decided to go on a vacation to the Smoky Mountain National Park. We drove up to Gatlinburg, which if you have not been there is kind of like a redneck Vegas of sorts. It was fun and we camped in the park for two nights. We went on mini-hikes and we saw old chapels and cabins that were used in the early to late 1800s. As far as wildlife goes, we saw deer and black bears, which as exciting for JJ and me as it was for the kids. It rained just as we packed the tent into the car, which was perfect, because it made it easy to explain to Brooks why we had to leave as he is now at the "why" stage of the terrible twos. Otherwise, the weather was great all week: blue skies with the very occasional cloud. We left the park and drove on the blue ridge mountain scenic highway to Maggie Valley and then on to Ashville, NC. We were on empty for a lot of the way which made things tense on the uphills as the gauge would actually dip below the empty line. We put it in neutral and coasted in to the gas station in Maggie Valley (just for the story's sake not because we were actually out of gas). And then headed past Ashville and on to Greenville SC where we saw the old cross country course at Furman University (FU, for those in the know) where I ran at nationals in 2001. It was quite nostalgic, but enough of the glory days, I had two cranky kids in the back seat that reminded me of the current reality of 2007 so we headed on down to the ATL. We stayed a night in Atlanta and visited the aquarium (compliments of Grandma--she did know in advance) this morning. It was awesome. We beat the crowds and the kids were able to pet starfish and rays. We saw all kinds of fishes (it is a word if you are talking about different species) and whales and sharks and penguins. The family favorite were the beluga whales. We also saw the 4-D movie there where it sprays water and shoots bubbles at the right moments. It was really fun to watch Aiden reach for the 3-D images and to jump when they came out of the screen. She is still convinced that she was able to touch some of the characters. We were worn out and cruised home and picked up Moose (the dog), and are still unpacking the Civic. I never knew so much could fit in such a small car. 900 miles later we are back where we started with a handful of memories and pictures that made the trip worthwhile.