Happy Birthday Banana!!!!

My baby is 11 today! My sweet surprise has been an even sweeter blessing. We had an old fashioned "at home" birthday party yesterday that was lots of fun. Not a sleepover. No pizza place or skating or painting. Just girls at the house for a couple of hours. Kearsdad grilled hamburgers. They had lunch and played games and jumped on the trampoline and made up "skits" (I use that term loosely). We had strawberry cake and chocolate cupcakes, and opened presents. I think even Banana was surprised at how much fun she had. Just a reminder that sometimes simple is best.

Sammy Goes to the Country

I haven't had a post dedicated to Sammy in a while...probably in about 15 pounds! He just keeps growing! Today he went to the country to play with the dogs of Hurricane Acres. He hasn't been around any of them since he was just a little guy. We were shocked to realize that he is taller than Luthie! He LOVED getting to run free with all the other dogs. They all got along very well...running and barking and jumping and chasing! We were quite impressed that he actually came when called...most of the time. He met one of the Mini's-Tex, who is the smallest of the herd-but was a little skittish of him.

Sammy and Luthie getting to know each other...aka Sammy running like a nut and Luthie watching him...


Sammy and Millie...Millie made sure he knew she was "in charge", then they got along fabulously! They could probably get into a lot of trouble together!


Playtime!


Ever tried to line up a bunch of preschoolers for a picture? This was a little like that! Notice Sammy obeyed and "sat", but in the wrong direction! And then he got Millie confused...

Finally...Sammy, Lucy, Luthie and Millie.

Hangin' out in the barn...


He had a grand old time, and came home completely exhausted and ready for a nap!

Christmas 2007

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Christmas at our house was a happy one! I used to worry that as the girls got older Christmas would loose some of it's "magic", but that was silly of me! It's certainly different, but in a way it's better. Certainly less stressful...no putting tiny stickers on Barbie paraphenalia at 2 am! The girls wanted most of their presents wrapped this year, so "Santa's" job was really easy! And we slept until after 7 am! (Well, most of us did...Kearsdad is just a big kid at heart and can't ever sleep Christmas Eve/Morning!)

Here are a few shots of our Christmas...

Christmas Eve before church...




Banana and Kat trying to figure out what was in the NetGear box! It was a wireless card to give their computer in the playroom internet access!


Sammy loved his first Christmas! He was all into opening his presents. His favorite...a stuffed "dead duck" from my mom!

Banana and Ashley...both girls got Ashton Drake collectible baby dolls this year instead of American Girl dolls.
This is Pheobe...we think she looks like Jitterbug's BabyBug.

Christmas lunch....

May the Celebration of the birth of our Savior be a special one for you and for those you love. For those I call friend...and for those I consider family...I am truly thankful. Christmas blessings to you all!

Pecan Pie...World's Most Perfect Desert...

...according to Kearsdad.

It must really be Christmas. We just had pecan pie, still warm from the oven. It's one of Kearsdad's most favorite things in the world. He spent about 45 minutes cracking pecans for me this afternoon so that I could make it.

When we were in Georgia at Thanksgiving we spent one afternoon at Kearsdad's brother's. They have a pecan orchard adjacent to their house, and we picked up as many as we could take with us. I brought the box home, and this was the first thing I have made with them. It was yummy and warm and sticky...

Banana ate her first piece of pecan pie. Because she is allergic to peanuts, there are lots of other things she can't eat, and many things she won't eat. Processed nuts like pecans and almonds (which she isn't allergic to) are usually prepared with peanut oil, or on equipment that processes peanuts. That makes them "contaminated". So she has to avoid those things. At Mema's house, she got brave and tasted pecans, fresh from the tree, uncontaminated by peanut oil. She LOVED them. And she loved the pie she just had. So did I.

We've Come a Long Way

Kat and Banana and I went to the movies today. We met Junebug and LouLou for a girls' afternoon out and a serious chickflick. Not the one up there. No, that one has a story. We saw this one...



It was very girly and very cheesy but very cute. We enjoyed it. Kearsdad and Funandone would have hated it. That's why they weren't invited. But this isn't about that movie. It's about the other one...

Elmo in Gouchland premiered in 1999. Kat and JMatt turned 4 that year. Banana was 2 1/2, LouLou was 1. Junebug and I took all four of them to see Elmo. Everyone in those days loved Elmo. La la la la and all that. Kat had a room full of Elmos.

Now, if you have never seen Elmo in Grouchland, the premise of the movie is that Elmo's blanket (aka "blankie") gets tossed in the trashcan (remember Oscar the Grouch?) and winds up in Grouchland. Elmo must enter Grouchland in search of his blankie.

Well, at 2, Banana had a well worn blankie. Actually she had two, but at that time she didn't know it. I would sneak one away from her while she was sleeping and replace it with the clean one. But that's beside the point. She was seriously in love with that blankie. An affair that would last until, well...we won't go there (she'd be embarassed). Anyway...

Did I mention this was the first movie she or Lou Lou had ever been to?

So, about 5 minutes into the movie...maybe 10...it happened. The blankie got lost. That's when I realized that taking a 2 1/2 year old to a movie might have been a bad idea. The blankie disappeared into Grouchland, Elmo began to fret, and Banana began to WAIL. Loudly. I mean really loud. That sobbing, shreaking kind of wailing that eventually subsides into choked wimpers and hiccups. She cried the ENTIRE movie. I took her out several times. But she continued to cry...punctuated with wails of "I wan' my bankie!!!" The movie, according to reviews I just checked, lasted 73 minutes. 1 hour and 13 minutes. It was the longest hour and 13 minutes I have ever endured.

So, Banana's first trip to the movies almost scarred her for life. Almost. We didn't take her back to a movie for a VERY long time. Like maybe two years. Luckily she overcame the trauma and lived to enjoy a trip to the movies. I am glad, because otherwise we would have missed out on a lot of fun times as a family and with Junebug and Funandone and JMatt and LouLou. We've seen a lotta movies together. Including Enchanted.

It's Just a Memory Now

After months of rehersals, and a week of complete craziness, The Nutcracker, 2007, is finally just a memory. We've slept late in an attempt to catch up on our rest (at least the girls and I have, Kearsdad has still had to get up and go to work). And we've finally started getting out house decorated. In other words, we've returned to normal life.

It was, however, a very good week. We have survived our first Nutcracker season as Company/Guild members, and it didn't kill us. This is good news...since Nutcracker is the biggest production of the year. If we can survive this, we can survive the rest of the year...maybe this ballet thing won't kill us after all!

I must say...Banana did an excellent job. Not just dancing, but in taking care of her other "issues". A big plus this year...she can now dress herself!! This is HUGE. I still have to do her bun (which is a job in itself...some days it cooperates and takes 5 minutes, other days, her hair is ornery and I have to redo it over and over...). But she was able to put her costumes on, make costume changes between scenes, and even do her makeup by herself (with a little help from a friend on the mouse nose).

Kat was a big help. She was extrememly patient, waiting through all those rehersals. She actually had a good time. She knows most of the younger dancers and kept herself and them entertained as they played on their Nintendo DS's. She even pitched in and ran errands, helping decorate, set up for tea parties, and running messages to the dressing rooms.

But, as good as it was, I am SO glad it's over!

Here is our angel...




And our Mouse King Puppet...

Kearsdad, aka "Super Tech Crew Member" and his little Mouse King Puppet...

And so, for another year, Nutcracker has come and gone...all but the music. Kearsdad has suddenly realized that almost every Christmas movie and Christmas commercial involves some form of Nutcracker music. It's about to drive him nuts...