Oh Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...how lovely are thy branches

This weekend we went to Lowes and purchased our Christmas Tree.  It is a lovely 7 footer, full and lush and green.  29.95 plus tax, baby!  It smells so good. I love it.
We put it up  in water and let it sit for a day and a half before decorating it, to let the branches drop.
I went to Target and purchased a few boxes of m ini lights, they were the red/green/white multi string. They are lovely.  I havent had new lights in 15 years. We've been using the same white strands that dont work half the time, unless you give 'em a good shake every now and again.
So it was nice to put new, WORKING, pretty lights on our wonderful tree...did I mention just how good it smells??

So we had a decorating party Monday for Family night.  We pulled out all the boxes (by we, I mean I made Charles go under the house where all the spiders are and pull out the storage bins.) and went to town.
I made my special world famous brownies, we had hot chocolate and listened to Christmas music on Sirius XM. It was a Holly Jolly time.  I put up all my nutcrackers, pulled out the stockings and hung them on the fireplace, arranged my gazillion snowmen and let the spirit and magic of Christmas fill the house.
I just cant seem to capture the Christmas Tree properly. I dont have the right camera or something. They always come out blurry. I tried slowing down the flash, I tried adjustiung the f-stop thingy, I tried no flash, I tried motion blur correction...so any helpful hints would be appreciated.

Here are some of our favorite, traditional ornaments:

 The Pickle.  It is a german tradition. On Christmas Eve, parents hide the pickle ornament. When it comes time to open presents, the child who finds the pickle ornament gets a little extra something for being observant.  Well in our house, whoever finds the pickle gets to open the first gift.  My grandparents always had a pickle on their tree. I always thought it was so funny, but now it is one of the first that gets hung up every year.

this ornament was made in 1981 by me. I remember when we made it. We had to go up to the teachers desk and dip our thumb into an ink pad and stamp out the snowman.  My mom gave me this ornament a few years back when she decided her tree was too fancy to warrant such kitschy, homemade ornaments. She is all matchy matchy now. So I inherited all the old stuff from when I was a kid. I remember all these ornaments were in an old Knitts Berry Farm jelly sampler box. It was always the first box I pulled out to hang. Those were the best ornaments.

A few years back at Costco they had a pack of German Glass blown ornaments for 24.99. Ity was all the classic kids christmas movie characters.  These are just a few of them. It has rudolph and sam the snowman, the bumble, frosty, the grinch, santa clause is coming to town etc. They are awesome. My fave ornaments. The packaging is a pain in the butt, but well worth it. LOVE my TV ornaments.

 What would Christmas in the south be without a little NASCAR?  This is Peters Jeff Gordon hood ornament. Yep, we have a NASCAR hood on our Christmas Tree.

This is Peters Donate Life Heart ornament we picked up in 2009 in Louisiana when we went down for the Coroners convention and spoke to them with the Leger family about organ donation. It has a special place of honor on our tree 

 This is Charles YODA ornament. (dont judge me, I am an enabler). Got it for him a few years back for Christmas. Finn always asks to hang it up, and sometimes Charles is gracious enough to let him do it. I can almost hear Yoda saying "dork, you are"

 And last but not least, the sweetest ornament on the tree. Bought this in 1998 after the birth of our darling baby girl, Jillian. This is always a bittersweet ornament to hang up.  We unwrap it and remember the little baby that blessed our home for only a few short weeks.   But her bootie is always at the top of the tree, next to Peters donate Life heart.

I love Christmas. I am so grateful that I have a savior who loves me and who knows me. I am grateful for all my many many blessings. Health, a home, family and friends. I am grateful for all that God has chosen to give me, and I know that he blesses me with what I need and more.
May this season keep you all safe, happy and healthy. 
Merry CHRISTmas to you, and a wonderful new year.

Summer vacation- Viriginia Air and space Museum

This is the Virginia Air and Space Museum in Hampton VA.  Thanks to our Dicsovery Place Family Membership, we were able to get in here for free!! (a savings of over 40$!!)

This is the Apollo 12 Capsule. Not quie as Illustrious as his Younger Brother Apollo 13.  Still he is totally cool on his own.  He doesnt need Tom Hanks to Make a movie about him!!Various planes Hanging from the ceiling.Charles and Finn being Astronauts.

NowChales and Peter are Astronauts.Here is Charles trying to outdo the art on the planePeter and Finn with their cousin.A totally gross Bug Display. The fly was my fave. He said the word "poop" a lot.  Plus his eyes were really beady and beautiful.  He had a Paisano Guido accent like "Hey mamma Mia!" type thing. really funny, and believe it or not, informative.Peter proving how Cool Apollo 12 is.Peter and Finn in the Plane cockpit.The Tuskegee Airmen DisplaySome other display with old guys. WWII??

We then went across the street to ride the carousel.

that was our day at the Virginia Air and Space Museum.

oh and here is one for all you twilight Lovers out there.

I am TEAM EDWARD!

Pictures from the year

Going back through the year I found some super cute pictures of the boys.
Little Finny Foo Foo is just so darn photogenic, I cant stand it.
I REALLY had to force myself to give them equal pages and pictures in the blurb photobook I made for my parents.

Peter CAN be photogenic if would truly just have a good time and smile and laugh like he means it.But I have managed to get a few good ones of him too.

This was taken at the Easter cook out with my parents and brothers and their families. Finn was so grumpy all day. He just didnt know what he wanted. This picture ssums up perfectly his attitude that day. Yes, he is just like his mother.





This picture of Peter was by pure accident. I had the camera ready and he happened to look up at me and snapped immediately. He didnt have time to grin or squint or close his eyes. Just Peter, having fun, making a cupcake.

This day at the zoo, completely downtrodden by Finn's "dontwannadoitearacheitis". He cried and whined for 4 hours straight. Kept saying his ear hurt (sometimes it was his right ear, sometimes it was his left). Then as soon as we got him he was jumping on the trampoline. It's funny how his condition always flares up when we are doing something that doesnt mesh with what he wants to do.

This is Jake, laughing at Charles attempt to kill the bee's nest in our backyard.


Peter trying out a saddle at the Horse Show. That night raised money for the UNC Childrens Hospital.

Pictures from Peters day

Here are just a few pictures from Peters little family birthday gathering on Saturday. We grilled out hot dogs and hamburgers and had fruit salad and pasta salad. It was nice, just the family and gram and papa and Pooty(Oliver the cat). We are going to be having a little party later on this summer for him and Finn combined at Monkey Joes with church and school friends.

His cake with 8 candles. We got his cake from Dairy Queen and had them put a Transformers Optimus Prime Edible Image on it. He would have preferred Bumblebee, but beggars cant be choosers.His cake was half chocolate and half vanilla with a fudge crunch center.

Peter opening a bunch of Transformer related presents: slotted paper robot figures(you piece them together like those styrofoam planes)

.

And Yes, Transformers UNDERWEAR!!

He also got a Transformers T-shirt with a SONG in it. There is a special button you push on the T-shirt and the Transformers Theme song plays. "Transformers, more than meets the eye. Transformers, robots in disguise. Autobots wage the battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons" So now he will have his own personal theme music wherever he goes!

Peter licking of the last vestiges of frosting from his candles. I think everyone does that on their birthday. I remember seeing my dad do that from one of his cakes when i was little and I thought it was a pretty cool idea, so I started doing it too. I think it is just one of those things, like turning frosted mini-wheats frosted side up in your bowl. You dont know why, you just do it.

Well Pooty was feeling left out and wanted to open presents too, so he dove into the tissue paper and shredded it to bits, leaving a nice little heaping mess all over the rug.

Finn wanted in on the candle action as well, so he purloined one of Peters candles and sucked off every trace of sugary goodness...and some wax.

Pictures as Promised

This past memorial weekend we had a great time.
Friday night we went to a friends house for a cook out and some games and fun. There was a campfire and smores and all the good stuff in life.





This is Finn roasting his marshmellows. He likes his the way I make mine. Stick them into the flames until they ctach fire. Blow them out and eat. I LOVE the carbon crunchy black residue and burnt sugar. Oh sweet mystery of Life.
There really is nothing better than a flaming marshmellow.


Sunday after church we went out to Francis Beatty Park and had a cook out with my mom and dad. It was HOT HOT HOT. We went for a little hike in the woods and came across this "cave?"
The boys got in and started telling Ghost stories. Finn is so funny when he tells them too. He starts out in a whisper (words in BOLD are shouted)
"Once upon a time there was a DINOSAUR! And he went around and ATE PEOPLE ! MWAH HA HA HA HA!" Peters scary stories usually involve the words "dark and stormy night" and "Transformers".




Here is Peter in the woods, asking if he can just go pee in the bushes instead of walking all the way up to the restrooms. Because I am lazy and did not want to get out of the shade, I let him water the forest.

Finn played so hard he fell asleep within 5 minutes of getting into the car. He was OUT. Of course he popped right awak as it was time to get out of the car and go into the house.
So we all sat on the couch and watched the movie "Underdog".(WORST Villains EVER!)




.So that was a nutshell of my weekend.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Pictures of Peter

AS PROMISED! Here are just a few of my favorite shots from my camera.

Charles and Peter in the hallway of the hotel. I told them to smile "and for heavens sake Charles find something to do with your hands, you look like a hessian soldier."So he did his "jazz hands" right as I snapped. jerk.
Doesnt Peter look handsome in his little mini tux??

Here is a picture of Peter and I in the hall. I felt like a great white whale. I have been struggling to lose weight, so all I can say is "THAR SHE BLOWS!"

This is Peter out on the Butetrfly Bench in the Butterfly atrium during his photo shoot. He looks so pensive and serious!

Peter showing everyone "THE EYE". He can cross just one eye and he will do it at random times throughout the day, just to make people laugh. He is like Columbo.

Peter at the dinner table after dessert.

In a few days I will upload some of the official event photos.