Project 365 - Fabulous 40 - Dec 20 to Dec 25

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• Dec 20, 2016 - Christmas week grocery list, before and after.
• Dec 21, 2016 - Not exactly Santa paper (no actual Santas on it), but too perfect to pass up.
• Dec 22, 2016 - Hold on Mommy! I see you were trapped in the guest room. I will rescue you!
• Dec 23, 2016 - Running a fever while watching his first James Bond movie.
• Dec 24, 2016 - Whole family movie outing with Nana and Papa. We all really enjoyed it!
• Dec 25, 2016 - Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night.

Project 365 - Fabulous 40 - Dec 14 to Dec 19

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• Dec 14, 2016 - Prototypes for this year's ornaments. Cheap, unbreakable, physically inedible.
• Dec 15, 2016 - Ready for tomorrow. I hope it is as good as they say. We're all going together!
• Dec 16, 2016 - Not as good as we hoped, though we seem to be the only ones who think so.
• Dec 17, 2016 - I'm so happy you're home that my tongue is out! (Tiny, but it's there.)
• Dec 18, 2016 - I think our waitress thought Luke was pretty cute!
• Dec 19, 2016 - I see my husband has been bringing contraband into the house again.

Project 365 - Fabulous 40 - Dec 8 to Dec 13

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• Dec 8, 2016 - Sparkly holiday collars! The kittens have outgrown their kitten collars.
• Dec 9, 2016 - Luke didn't know Finn was in the chair until Rey lifted her head!
• Dec 10, 2016 - Finally taking Luke to see Fantastic Beasts. We all really liked it!
• Dec 11, 2016 - Luke helped with the front door Christmas lights from the ladder this year.
• Dec 12, 2016 - My Big Lots lights and bow from Dollar Tree ribbon still look pretty good!
• Dec 13, 2016 - The back door. Literally just for us, since no one else can see it.

Project 365 - Fabulous 40 - Dec 2 to Dec 7

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• Dec 2, 2016 - The child will be gone from 9 PM to 8 AM? Plenty of time to see a movie!
• Dec 3, 2016 - Better late than never! One day, I will actually get this done before Thanksgiving.
• Dec 4, 2016 - Put the tree up today. Had to take it down after just 2 hours. This is why.
• Dec 5, 2016 - Always "fun" when the vampire visits at the doctor. No worries, just routine!
• Dec 6, 2016 - First ever band concert! Trying not to faint over how grown up he looks.
• Dec 7, 2016 - Science project done and turned in! (Thank goodness that's over.)

Project 365 - Fabulous 40 - Nov 20 to Nov 25

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• Nov 20, 2016 - Stunning shot of Luke and the city at night, taken by my husband at his office.
• Nov 21, 2016 - Quiet please, science in progress! (Running experiments for science fair)
• Nov 22, 2016 - To grandmother's house we go! First road trip in the new vehicle.
• Nov 23, 2016 - Though he doesn't eat them, he really wanted to help with the deviled eggs.
• Nov 24, 2016 - Happy Thanksgiving! Our first ever attempt at mashed potatoes from scratch.
• Nov 25, 2016 - This beer bread turned out great! It uses the yeast and bubbles in the beer instead of regular yeast to help with the rise. It was excellent!

In case you missed it (since I didn't post it)

A quick recap of things I really need to actually blog about but haven't had the time, like this (how on earth did we get here?!):

Sixth Grade??!!!

 And then we did this not long after (L-R: Kylo, Rey, and Finn, age approximately 10 weeks):

Yes, all siblings. Yes, we're insane.

Which very rapidly turned into this (T-B: Rey, Kylo, and Finn, now approximately 5 months):

From less than a week ago, covering me from hips to ankles.

And we really had no choice but to do this, due to a cracked radiator in our 1999 Camry that would have cost 3 times what the car was worth to repair it:

I can't believe we bought an SUV, even if it is a "crossover." We have been assimilated!

 We decided to drop soccer and try this, which is working well so far:

He's slowly but surely getting better.

And then there was this, our last year of eating off the kids' menu: 

12??!!!!!

Unfortunately, the party was largely interrupted by this (BIL and SIL did not come with our nieces due to weather , and both my parents and DH's sheltered here while it passed): 

Hurricane Matthew aftermath at my parents' house; the house made it through unscathed!

And this (not sure how many more of these I will get):

I hope to blog each of those individually, but at least you're caught up on the last, uh, 3+ months (sorry!). If you're wondering where the stitching pictures are, there hasn't been any stitching since my birthday. A lap full of kittens will do that to you! LOL But I want to snuggle with them for as long as I can while they're little, since they may not be as interested when they get older.

First "real" blog post is coming up, and it's about something completely unimportant: movies! (What else, right?)

Happy Halloween 2015

Ant-Man, his new favorite

 Happy Halloween for 2015!

Aren't you a little tall for a shrinking superhero?

Sadly, this might be our last one with him in costume (we'll have to see what middle school (EEK!!!) brings next year.

He looks so grown up!

He just wasn't interested in going out to play with the other kids or doing the annual parade this year. I'm trying not to be sad.
Currently feeling: the end of an era

July 4th, A Few Days Early

Luke is finally able to stay up until about 10 PM on very rare occasions (woe be unto you if you attempt it more than once or twice a year), so I wanted to actually try and do fireworks for July 4th this year. But we did them on July 2 instead!

Stone Mountain usually does their "July 4th" fireworks for 2-3 days near the Fourth. With the Fourth on a Saturday this year, I figured the days would be Friday and Sunday. I checked the availability for Friday, but they were requiring a two-night stay at double the usual per-night price. We didn't need to stay two nights, and we couldn't afford four-times the cost of what a single night is usually priced. Then I noticed the show dates for 2015: July 2-5. Really?

So I called the hotel to be sure. Yes, indeed! Not only were they also doing the show Thursday night, but a Thursday night stay at the hotel was regular price and did NOT require two nights. Score! Plus, I figured they would be less busy Thursday than Friday.

There were a fair number of people there, but I'm sure nothing like it would have been Friday through Sunday. We arrived a bit before lunch and roamed around.

The picture they took before we went up didn't turn out half bad other than we were all sweating (it wasn't all that hot, but it was about 1000% humidity), so we picked that up. It's better in person; it doesn't scan very well.

Luke decided he wanted to do the SkyHike. I don't think he realizes what a sacrifice this was for my husband. I certainly didn't realize he was so afraid of heights until he got down and was clearly pale and shaken. (I'm guessing he may not have fully realized it, either. Sorry, honey!) I can assure that this is the last time my husband will ever do it. Guess Luke will have to do with next time with Nana until I lose enough weight to feel comfortable up there. (There is a weight limit. I am under it, but not by very much, and I'd rather be a bit further under it for my own peace of mind.)



They were between 10 and 15 feet ( m) off the ground at all times during this course, and it took them over 30 minutes to get all the way through. We also did the train (I always forget how boring the train ride is; Duck Boats are better, but they are not included with the day pass). The we grabbed some dinner and picked out a spot on the lawn to wait. Luke spent about half his time playing with some of the other kids (ranging in age from about 6-12) and doing this (of course):

The laser show was fun, as usual. They've added a few new things since we were last there. And the fireworks were quite good, though a little thin in a couple of spots. Our room package came with park tickets good for two days, so we intended to get up early and do stuff hopefully before the crowds started rolling in.

What we didn't know is that there was a storm rolling in. A HUGE ONE! It was actually raining when we took this picture above, but it was mostly covered by trees, so we stayed relatively dry. (The building behind him looks hazy because of the rain.) We hoped it might blow through, but after 90 minutes of raining and checking the forecast, we realized there was no chance of getting in any outdoor activities. It actually rained out the fireworks both Friday and Saturday nights. I'm so glad we decided to go Thursday!

My parents joined us Friday evening, and we did sparklers (these are actually called Morning Glories) on Saturday, July 4, in between rain storms.

Not a bad way to spend our 17th wedding anniversary!

Hope you had a happy 4th!
Currently feeling: patriotic

May 2015 Reflections

From the 2011 Year of Memories Brag Book by Dani Mogstad

Read, Listened, Watched

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I finally started Hound of the Baskervilles, which I don't think I've read since high school. I'm rereading the entire canon (probably reading some of them for the first time, actually), and I didn't want to watch the Sherlock episode based on it until I had reread the novel, so we've been stuck half way through season 2 for months now. Soon, though!


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New Movies:

• The Avengers: Age of Ultron - Very good, enjoyed it a lot, on the whole; did have a few issues here and there, but any film with this much going on is bound to have some
• Invitation to the Dance - Gene Kelly's personal labor of love; 3 segments of dancing only (no narration or singing), think Fantasia of dance (instead of animation); Ring Around the Rosy segment was my favorite (I love intertwining stories), and ironically featured the least Gene Kelly
• Tomorrowland - It's hard to figure out exactly what to say about this movie, other than it did not live up to its potential. One review said it was "less than the sum of its parts," and I tend to agree. It had all the right pieces, and it had its heart in the right place, but it just didn't really work, for reasons I can't fully articulate.
• Red 2 - We saw the original way back when, and found it a bit disappointing. This one seemed to have tighter writing and more fun throughout.
• Godzilla (2014) -  Eh, it was okay. Felt like it was just sort of there, which is the ultimate sin for an action movie, in my opinion. Was also a bit distracting seeing Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen playing husband and wife after just seeing them play brother and sister in Avengers 2.

Old Favorites: Monsters University, Sky High, Dick Tracy, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, X-Men, X2: X-Men United, Gattaca, The LEGO Movie, Edge of Tomorrow, Robin Hood, The Neverending Story, Peter Pan (2003)

Fun with Family and Friends

The beach was fun, as always, until stupid me didn't put sunscreen on the tops of my feet and got burned. Normally, it's not a problem, but we were there at least an hour later than normal, so the sun was more intense. I just feel like an idiot, since I know better!

And it's summer movie season, woohoo! Here was my Avengers-inspired manicure.

Milestones, Holidays, Special Events

We had a lovely Mother's Day with my mom and grandmother on Saturday. Here's our picture of 4 generations.

DH and I have officially been together for 20 years! Hard to believe.

We visited my parents and my mother-in-law over Memorial Day (see beach pictures above). Luke went fishing for the first time; my parents took him to a party at their friends' house while we went on a date, and they have a small fish pond. Apparently, he loved it. I have NO idea where he gets that from (DH and I both *hate* fishing!).

The Everyday and Routine

"The Everyday and Routine" is over for now! School's out, and none too soon. (And he even grew this year!) We are all quite burned out, especially after such an intense April preparing for a new standardized test. Ugh! Looking forward to some relaxing. (Remind me I said all of this in 3-4 weeks when I'm ready to send him back to school! LOL)

The Good, The Bad, The Unusual

He made A and B honor roll, and we weren't sure if he would given that he had a C for two consecutive progress reports.

He was also named as a 5th Grade Patrol for next year, though he won't serve until the second 9 weeks. He has literally wanted to be a patrol since he was in Kindergarten, so he is very excited!

I had my eye exam and I've changed almost a full diopter in my right eye. I'm trying not to be concerned about it, but that is a pretty serious change. I still need to get new glasses, though (it was a busy last 2-3 weeks of the month!). I had a physical with my regular doctor the following week and everything looked good, including my labs (both cholesterol and triglycerides were down!).

In other news, I now own my first pair of open-toed shoes since before Luke was born, not because I didn't like them but because I couldn't find any that fit! I even painted my toes for the first time in many months just for their public debut.

Progress on Goals

I put a couple of strands in one of the dessert mandalas the last day or two of the month, not really enough to post a picture. I didn't stitch any at all on my Mirabilia fairies. For eating at home, um, er, but, but!!! I have made a meal plan to try to get back on track with cooking, but most of that will take place in June, so I'll report on that next month. I have started tracking my food again, but only for a couple of weeks, so not much progress to report yet. I do have a get-together scheduled with my local friends for June as well! Very excited to see them. I think it has been 3 years since I've seen these ladies.

Prompts by Katie the Scrapbook Lady.

Currently feeling: ready to relax this summer

Wordless Wednesday - May 13, 2015

Currently feeling: a kitten bouquet for Mother's Day