Karaoke In An Ice Cream Parlor

Dinner at Strip this evening was delicious, as usual.  My favorite moment was when G said to the waiter, "Excuse me, excuse me, can I please have some pork chops and some salt?"  When the waiter looked confused, he said, "You know, the things you use to go like this:" and made a pinching motion with his pointer and thumb near his steamed rice.  He had meant to ask for chop sticks.

I have always wanted to try karaoke, but I never have.  In fact, last weekend, the experts (Lindsay and Danielle) helped me plan what songs I will eventually sing.  Today, after dinner, we went to Kilwin's for dessert, and - lo and behold - we found a karaoke machine right in the middle of the store!  Well, we asked if we could try it, and not only did they say yes, but they also gave us free ice cream for singing a song!  I gave mine to G, who chose lemon.

Chip declared the other day that he is "tired of candy," and that M&Ms hurt his tummy.  I think he identifies candy with his illness of last week.  Regardless, he has decided that although candy tastes great, it doesn't make him feel very good.  He asks for seconds of salad, and we are very happy.  Anyhow, at Kilwin's he ordered a chocolate-covered Nutter Butter cookie and also chocolate ice cream with M&Ms.  He took a couple of bites of his ice cream before he remembered his aversion to the M&Ms in both desserts, and he decided to finish Daddy's chocolate shake instead.  When he saw Quincy's lemon ice cream, he decided that was the way to go, so I was happy to let him try his own and move toward healthier flavors.  We don't worry too much about his dessert intake, because he normally has only a couple of bites and feels full.  Anyhow, I just wanted to share this story, because this is the sort of thing I don't want to forget later, and I think it illustrates Chip's personality pretty well.  Lately, he has been surprising and enchanting us at every turn.

All aboard!

We just took our third annual ride on the Pink Pig.

The tradition continues.

There was a lady there making balloon animals, and she made the girls these great pink pigs.

After a little snowfall, the clan gathered in front of the great tree in Atlantic Station's Central Park.

The kids had a great time together.

These trucks were there to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Hello Kitty.  We got to spin a wheel and win prizes:  bookmarks, nuts (yes, nuts), a bubble necklace, and a key chain.

Peek-a-boo!

We didn't realize that "Semi Charmed Life" (Third Eye Blind) was such a naughty song!

Lily had a huge audience and lots of applause for "Love Story" (Taylor Swift).

Silly Macy's

We are at Lenox Square mall, where we rode the Pink Pig and shopped to our hearts' content.  Our dear friend Myeida, who works at Bath & Body Works, gave G a very generous (and cool) gift - a plug-in scented nightlight that CHANGES COLORS!  It is the coolest thing ever, and she is so kind to Chip every time she sees him.  We heart Myeida.

The tree atop Macy's is always a treat to see; it always puts us in the holiday mood.  When we got to "silly Macy's", (Two years ago, Bunnut opened lots of Christmas presents from this store, and G was mock exasperated at yet another Macy's box.  Incidentally, and consequently, it became one of the first words he could ever read.) we had packed a bag for hours of waiting in line for the Pink Pig and were terrified of the crowds, lines, and traffic that we imagined were in store for us.  In fact, there was a little street traffic, but we drove right in to a spot being vacated, and there was no line for the ride.  NO LINE!  And to top it off, we arrived at the stairs up to the ride at the exact same time as the Soergel-Harrises.  It was a beautiful surprise that everything went so smoothly, and we have had a lovely time thus far.

We are now on our way to Atlantic Station, where we are meeting up again with Lindsay and Danielle, et al, Danielle's niece and her friend, and the Whaleys for dinner at Strip.  After dinner, the kids will play in the (machine-made) snow in the central square, and we will take a few photos.

More blogging to come - stay tuned!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have had a fabulous Thanksgiving. This year, we are more grateful than ever for our family, friends, and many blessings. Here is the story of our celebration in photos.

While shopping for our Thanksgiving groceries, we found a bag of jumbo marshmallows and couldn't resist them.

While cleaning for Thanksgiving, we found a carton of Easter eggs from 2009. Here is one of the eggs that G decorated.

Here is our 20-pound turkey after we brined it, but before we cooked it.

The turkey was stuffed with aromatics - onion, apple, cinnamon stick, sage, and rosemary. Here is a tantalizing photo of the finished turkey with rosemary.

The turkey came out beautifully aromatic, tasty, and juicy.

Chip, Gail, Matt's dad, Matty, and I sat at the dining room table.

My dad, Jen, little J, Jack, and my mom sat at the kitchen table, which was moved into the entryway, next to the dining room table, so we could all sit near each other.

Besides the turkey, we had corn, stuffing, carrots and parsnips, (homemade) green bean casserole, (homemade) mashed potatoes, (homemade) cheesy potato casserole, ham, and (homemade) cloverleaf rolls. For appetizers, we had M&Ms, cheese and crackers, shell-them-youself nuts, shrimp cocktail, and olives. For dessert, we had cookies, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, lemon pie, and chocolate pie.

Jaxie gives his big cousin a kiss.

Papa, J, and G got some quality cuddle time together.

Everyone went outside for the first annual Ceremonial Thanksgiving Lighting Of The House.

Here I am, about to plug in the power to the lights.

 Here is the first annual Ceremonial Lighting Of The House.  Ta-dah!

We decided that Christmas season officially begins after the Ceremonial Lighting Of The House, Chip had to wait all day for us to give him his gift: a Lego Advent calendar.

We all ate as much as we could, but we still ended up with lots and lots of leftovers. This photo doesn't show the dessert leftovers!

It was very warm today, so we had to dress as though it were summer. It didn't keep us from being in the holiday spirit, though!

We had a really wonderful day.

We really had a wonderful day today, and we hope that you did, too. To our family and friends all over the place, we were thinking of you today and how blessed we are that you are in our lives. Happy Thanksgiving!

These Pretzels. Are Making Us Thirsty!*

We found an Auntie Anne's pretzel kit at Kroger on Sunday, so we threw it into our cart without thinking twice.  We are all big fans of the hot pretzel, so we have been very excited to make our own, for the first time ever.  It was actually quite easy, and we had a great time making them.

G chose to season all of the pretzels with salt, and on one he also put cinnamon sugar.  We have all tried the salt ones, and they are sensational.  We are definitely looking forward to making these again, and we haven't even eaten all of these yet!

Mommy figures out what to do with the dough

The real expert takes over

G shows Daddy how it's done

The Chipster puts the twist in the pretzel

The beautiful, delicious results

*A line from Seinfeld:
 

I Think He Gets The Idea

This afternoon, we went shopping for a Thanksgiving dinner for another family.  Our church did a really great job pairing up sponsor families from our parish with about 140 area families in need of a Thanksgiving meal. 

Since we couldn't get through to our family by phone, we decided to drive the groceries over to the address on their card.  It turned out to be the woman's parents' house, because she and her family were homeless and staying in a hotel. 

We wanted to make sure that Gabriel understood what we were doing and why, and the following conversation took place:

"Why did we have to take the food to those two people?  Why couldn't we deliver the food to the family?"

"Because they're in a hotel."

"And why are they in a hotel?"

"Because they don't have a home."

I nodded, and he said, "Maybe they're from Haiti."

Needed

Today is Wednesday, the day we usually have our family dinner at Moe's.  When we got there this evening, though, Chip complained of pain in his abdomen and started crying.  Assuming it was something along the lines of gas, we decided to get dinner to go and eat at home, so we could closely monitor the little guy.  As soon as he ate his quesadilla and cookie, he leaned over on me and fell asleep.  It wasn't yet 8:00, so he must be sick.

As much as we hate for our baby to have pain or to be sick, there is something special about holding your own sleeping baby and knowing that you are making them feel better.  Anyhow, here is the one sweet thing that came out of a bad situation:

Our Movie

*big smile*

Life As We Star In It

We are at the theatre watching Life As We Know It, in which we are extras.  We are so excited to be seeing ourselves on the big screen!

A Warm Georgia Autumn

Well, soccer season is over, but it isn't keeping us from spending time outside.  We have gotten relief from our brief cold spell, and we hope it lasts.  Since today was such a beautiful, warm, sunny day, we invited our friends the Cooks to come to the park with us.  The kids played on the playground for a while before heading over to to the pond to feed cereal to the minnows.

Here are some photos from the last soccer game of the season and from today.

Chip played really, really well.  He almost scored a goal in the last game!

G is behind the kid in blue, but he is running really fast

Henry and Chip

G and Henry making a "rocano" (rock volcano)

Autumn Hike

Chip, Bun, Wowo, and I just climbed to the top of Kennesaw Mountain.  It is a really beautiful fall day.  The air is brisk but not too cold, and the trees have started to change colors.  For the first time, I truly could not keep up with G, especially on the way back down the mountain.  Here are a couple of photos from the trip.

BINGO

Tonight was the annual Family Bingo Night at our elementary school.  We did not win a thing, but it was great fun anyway.  We got to spend time with lots of good friends; we were fed pizza, pretzels, beverages, and dessert; and there were many prizes to be won through both Bingo and raffles.  All for free.  We really appreciate our public school.  It's a community of happy families, and the PTA puts on nice free events for us throughout the year.

Roar Like It's 1984

Mountain Climber

Chip got to go with the Conners today to Kennesaw Mountain with a big group of their friends.  Right now, they are playing in the leaves at the base of the mountain and having a ball.  We are so lucky to have such generous friends to include G on the big adventure.