Giving thanks and the weapon-tree

On Thanksgiving Eve we woke up to this. (This is a color picture, not black and white!) With an early-rising Fe, we looked outside our front windows to see this across the street. It was foggy, serene and beautiful. A perfect picture painted by our Savior to remind us how much beauty in our lives we have to be thankful for this season.

Crazy as it seems, we offered to host my family at our new house for Thanksgiving this year after moving in just the week prior. A table to eat at, was all I promised. We split up the food between everyone coming, so by no means was I doing all the cooking. I did want to have at least all of our kitchen stuff put away and semi-organized, so it gave me a goal to work towards. My parents and brother, Ryan came in the night before and we went out to eat in downtown McKinney. They came bearing a few gifts, one of which was a Rudolph nose for Fe.

On Thanksgiving we started things off right with the parade, coffee and Honey's traditional sausage biscuits I had made. Then the cooking began and the rest of my extended family starting filing in.

Mom, Aunt Poo, Honey, me

First big meal hosted in our new home...the island worked great for the yummy buffet of food

Gathered around...

As soon as Thanksgiving ended, Christmas came quickly for us this year...We still have empty walls and lots of boxes, which is driving Justin nuts... and if I'm honest, it's starting to drive me a little nuts too. And I'm the first to admit I'm very slow in making decorating decisions (or any decision for that matter), so it will likely be a while. But I told myself I just wanted to make it through Christmas and then I would focus on getting the house set up. Between Christmas parties, buying presents, traveling, etc. I just didn't have the energy to really focus on decorating when we first moved in. And decorating for Christmas (or any holiday) is something I typically really enjoy, but it took a lot of effort for me to get out the boxes of Christmas decorations this year. I was thinking, "more boxes?!" NO!!" I do not want to get out more boxes, do more unpacking, to put up stuff that is only going to be up for one month and then do more re-packing! But I did manage to put up some stuff in an attempt to make it feel homey and Christmasy...starting with the Christmas tree.

We put up a real tree, so Thanksgiving weekend, we loaded up to go pick out our tree.  I usually take my time strolling through the lot, looking for the perfect little guy, but not this year. Felicity fell asleep in the car on the way there and we woke her up to go look at the trees (big mistake)...not to mention there was some sort of bizarre wind storm going on. We literally pointed to the first tree we saw laying on the ground, still wrapped in netting. I have never picked a tree like that, and I hope to do it that way never again. It surprising looked pretty good when we got home (no giant holes or weird branches), but it was a dangerous weapon! I'm not even kidding you, if you tried to decorate it with your bare hands, you would be bleeding. Justin thought I was being ridiculous, but I had to go get my gloves just to put the ornaments on. But Felicity was still caught up in the wonderment of the tree, lights, ornaments and the whole hoopla, which is exactly what I hoped for. Can't you tell?

(Please note my gloves)

 (Now please note that Felicity is a smart little lady like her mama!)

I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be crying out of pain when we have to take this bad boy down and the branches are even more dry and prickly. (Update: Yes, it was horrible. I was screaming and almost crying... Justin even wanted to borrow my gloves. I was nice and let him. Mental note -- next year I'm going to rub all the branches at the tree lot and be sure to pick the softest, nicest tree.)

"Boo!"

Happy Halloween! My parents celebrated their 30th anniversary (which was actually two years ago, but that's another story) by going to Greece and Turkey and they brought Felicity back an authentic belly dancing costume. So, since I didn't have it together this year, that's what she was for Halloween. And I must say, she turned out pretty cute. Justin was a bit weirded out with the skimpiness of the costume and the fact that she was a "dancer", so we also called her a gypsy. I assured him, she looked just fine. :-)

We had been practicing what you say at Halloween, so she'd been walking around for weeks saying, "Boo!" I had also taught her to say "trick-or-treat", but when we got up the houses to get candy and I asked her, "What do you say?", she said, "please". Hey - I'll take "please" over "trick-or-treat" any day!!

Getting ready for the big Halloween bash...

Trick-or-treating at Ghouls on the Lawn at Tucker Hill in McKinney. Of course, we had DeDe and Ariel in tow.

Who knew they were going to have a gypsy music station perfect just for Fe!

Then about a week later, we went to the Arboretum for a Fall Fest with our playgroup. Here's the best group shot of them I could get. What cuties...

 Felicity and Bentley:

 Felicity had the best time...

Hope you and your family had a Happy Halloween!

BOO! 

Off to "school"!

Last Tuesday was Miss Felicity's first day of "school"...or, Mother's Day Out, where she is in the Teddy Grahams class. We went to the open house the week before and she was a bit timid at first. We have temporarily (I hope) entered the separation anxiety stage again, so I wasn't sure how it would go. When we drop her off at church she generally only cries at the very beginning and is all smiles after...at least, she's always happy when we pick her up and that's what the teachers tell me. At the open house, once she found the baby doll and the stroller, she was all set...so, I figured she'd do okay. Plus, I think she's type of kiddo that will enjoy all the activities at school.

So the night before I packed up all her princess gear that she had picked out for school:

Lunch included her favorites - peas and fruit, complete with a little note from mama and dada (and a drawing of Foofa) 

 We started the big day with a healthy breakfast of yogurt, milk and banana...

Now, I tried to get some cute shots of her before she headed off to school...

But as you can see, she was not into posing. She was ready to go!

When I picked her up, she was helping the teacher clean. So proud...she must take after her daddy!

 They are studying the color green, the number 1, the letter R and learning about bananas. Here she is showing off her artwork she made with banana peels. Mama and Dada think it is beautiful!

And her official first day report:

Are we ready for this yet??

So for about three months now, when Felicity would go to the bathroom in her diaper, she would start frantically pointing to it and get my attention. I'd ask her if we needed to change her diaper and she'd say yes and head back to her changing table. This was not every single time, mind you, but often enough that it was clear she was annoyed by sitting in a dirty diaper. At the suggestion of some friends and family, I got her a potty about a month ago, but honestly, I just didn't feel up to the task of potty training. She just turned 18 months six days ago, so I was thinking it was too early and between all the house showings and everything, I don't know - I just didn't want to try to tackle this right now.

But this past week she started showing other signs. Now when she needs to poop, she will sneak off into one of the bathrooms and close the door to do her business. If you open the door and try to go in there, she flails her arms, screams "no!" and slams the door in your face. So lovely...

Then earlier this week, she had a dirty diaper and pointed at it letting me know she wanted me to change her. I guess I wasn't fast enough, because I turned around and she had gone and gotten her diaper bag and had pulled out the diapers and wipes. She then preceded to open the wipes and start wiping herself up!

This was the final straw. When I told the other moms in my playgroup, they were like, "you need to potty train her!" So, we started yesterday. I don't even really know what I'm doing. I haven't read any books or anything. Why am I not really looking forward to this? I will take any suggestions on methods that worked! I will say that I am very proud of her for being ready and trying so hard. So far, she's gone in the potty three times and once on the floor. Progress? I guess, but whew....I don't think I'm ready for this.

Grandpa Moss, L-view...and a song

Justin's grandpa, Jack Moss, passed away a few weeks ago. He had battled cancer and liver failure when the Lord finally called him home. He was a true man of faith who lived his life well and left an incredible legacy. Grandpa Moss will be greatly missed.

Justin traveled to Florida for the funeral this past weekend, and although I sent him with a camera, alas, he returned with no photos. While he was there Felicity and I went to Longview so I could help Ryan pack for college (he leaves for SCAD this Friday) and to celebrate my parents' birthdays.

At the birthday dinner...

While there, my brother, Ryan and I recorded a version of the worship song, "How He Loves Me". Ryan arranged, produced and recorded all the music and he and I both did the vocals. He is super talented and I've wanted to record something with him for a long time. I'm so glad we got the chance to hang out before he left. I love doing stuff like this, but don't seem to get the chance very often. We both were in our creative element, so to speak, so if you are looking for an explanation of the attire - that's it. :-) We had the best time.

Ry, you are my creative hero. Thanks for bringing so much beauty to our lives. I can't wait to see the masterpieces you will continue to create. Thank you for always inspiring and encouraging me. I love you so much.

Annual trips - Milwaukee & Longview

Every year Justin goes to Milwaukee for Northwestern's Annual Meeting. Last year Felicity and I went to Longview while he was there and this year we did the same thing...so it appears we both have our "annual meetings" now. We actually got to Longview on Saturday while my family was still in Savannah with Ryan. [Side note: Ryan is going to SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design) in the fall, so they were there for orientation....I'm not even going to attempt to hide my jealously - really cool city, the freedom of college, surrounded by creative, inspiring people and design....ahhhh, but I digress.]

So Felicity and I went down on Saturday and had lunch with my grandparents and then swimming and dinner at Lyndsey's parents house. We grew up together and Lyndsey, who lives in D.C. now was in town, so it worked out perfectly! Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures during the day on Saturday, but I did manage to capture some of the insanity later that night...or it might have been early Sunday morning. It was so late, I couldn't even tell you. My parents and Ryan's flight didn't get in until late, so I was planning on going to sleep and seeing them on Sunday morning, but right before I was getting into bed, I heard someone downstairs, so I went down to say hi. Well my "hi" turned into an hour long hunt for a lizard.

Does anyone else have these disgusting little dry, albino lizard looking things in their house? Justin and I have found them in our house too. I'm hoping this is not just a Gillam/Cleveland curse. I was about to go to bed when my mom mentioned something about watching out for these lizards and I casually mentioned that I had seen one in her room earlier that night. BIG mistake. She FREAKED out. She really has a phobia of these things. We're talking, screaming, standing on the bed, can't sleep in the house until we find it...not to sound too dramatic, but it involved moving furniture and well, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves --

 "Almost had him!!"

 VICTORY!! 

Thank you, Ryan for coming in and FINALLY killing the monster so we could all go to bed!

Minus the lizard incident (which I have to admit was pretty humorous), we had a lot of fun while we were there. Our main project for the time I was there involved a lot of this:

Cleaning out my mom's closet...I was actually prepared for it to be really boring, but we had a lot of laughs and she actually got rid of a lot of stuff. That is very impressive for her!

We spent more time at Grandma and Papa's where Felicity was quite content playing "pharmacy" with their old, empty pill bottles. I don't know why we buy her any toys. She always prefers to play with what I would consider trash.

 

We also attempted to watch "The Little Mermaid" (on VHS, you might notice)...complete with the doll and nightgown, but Felicity really paid little attention. I, on the other hand, fully enjoyed the entire movie.

 And lastly, I went to see Hung and got a major haircut - a pixie! It is all gone!! He probably cut off a good 18 inches. Not sure if this picture gives a good representation of it, but my hair is not much longer than Justin's now. Justin knew I was getting it cut while he was in Milwaukee, but it was fun to show up and surprise him at the airport. Nevertheless, it has been a fun change and I'm enjoying it so far.

As always, we had lots of fun in L-view, but of course, were glad to be back home with Daddy.