Photos

I'm so behind, forgive me. For any of you that would like to see pictures from our UGA vs. Auburn game day at the lake, check my photos. Sorry there weren't any "game" photos. We were too busy hanging out by the fire pit. It was a lot of fun. Some people drank a bit much and were tossing up entire trees for us to burn. I wonder who that could be? I'm just sayin.....

Lizary :: our new friend

Well, as some of you now know, we have a Carolina Anole living at our house. In a cage. He chose us as his winter vacation resort this year. We were just as suprised as he was. Anyhow, we've gotten him a larger cage and some food from Petsmart. I don't know how long Lizary will be living with us, but we've already bought the book, gotten the crickets, pimped out the cage, and we're thinking of getting a more permanent place for him to stay. At least while it's cold, or that's what we keep telling ourselves. Lala thinks we'll have him forever. Oh dear!

So far, Lizary (lala's name for him) seems to be a pretty happy camper. I'm worried that he'll get too cold in our house, but my husband says all he needs is a desk lamp and some leaves and the occasional cleaning of the cage and he'll be just fine. Does this mean that I'm in charge of all of this? Ummmm, no. I won't touch a cricket and you can forget cleaning lizard poop. I can't imagine there's all that much of it but people I have done my duty. I saved the little guy from our Jack Russell's. The husband? He can do it.

Thanksgiving

This year Blake and I celebrated Thanksgiving with my side of the family. It's our first one in a long time. We always go down to south Georgia to see his extended family and cram all 10 of us immediate members into his mom's house for sleeping. I was happy to be home in my own bed this year. It also freed both of us up to do a few things we haven't been able to do. But before I get too far ahead.

How was your thanksgiving? What did you do? Did you have a big family lunch or dinner, or did you just have a quiet day at home? The entire Stallings clan, save for one cousin, gathered together at my uncle Brian's house for turkey day. He cooked 3 different turkeys. One was a trash can turkey, the other deep fried, and the last one was marinated and smoked. They were all so very delicious! The other food was fantastic and as usual, they went all out! It was truly fantastic. Thank you uncle Brian and Aunt Stephanie!

While it was a happy time, we were all thinking of my aunt Leslie. It is the first set of holidays without her. It's really tough, but we're doing our best to get through it. In honor of her, we all walked around the neighborhood after lunch in our first ever Thanksgiving Turkey Trott in memory of Aunt Leslie Stallings Currie. It was bitter sweet. We had fun and laughed and got our exercise. But it wasn't without a very real thought of how much we love her and miss her. Every day.

We were extra blessed to have my cousins Ken and Theresa and their children Hannah, Taylor, Kenzie, Emily, and Austin down to celebrate with us. It was wonderful and I always love seeing them. The children are amazing and growing up too quickly. Hannah is learning how to drive and will all too soon have a driver's license. She is beautiful and very smart. Ken better start worrying about the boys. And girls, let me tell you about Taylor - handsome! He is very sweet and quiet. But watch out, he loves to kid around too! Kenzie is amazing and beautiful. She can knit, something I hope to learn myself, is an avid reader and can light up a room. Emily is also beautiful and looks just like her mom. Austin is a very small version of Ken but looks just like Theresa. He has a fountian of energy and loves to play. Lauren really enjoyed playing with all of them.

ok, back to Thanksgiving. So, once we had all stuffed ourselves, took a picture, and trotted around the neighborhood, we had desert. Yummy. Too much to choose from, so I had chocolate covered strawberries. Thank you Angela for brining those. If I haven't said it enough, I love my family.

After we left uncle Brian's, Blake and I had enough time to come home, pack a bag for Lala and take a very short 30 minute nap. I know, only 30 minutes? Well, we'd been invited to the Falcon's game with my dad, and I really wanted to go. So, we dropped Lala off with my mom and headed to the GA Dome. The game was a bit exciting even though the Falcon's lost. It was nice to be with my dad and my uncle Mike and other cousins that have season tickets to the game. Thank you to Missy and David who gave us their tickets.

Anyhow, we didn't get home until 1:00 am, and I wanted to go shopping to get Lala some gifts. I'll have to go into that at a later date. Thanksgiving was great, we had so much fun and got to hit the Falcon's game, go shopping with the other crazy people on Black Friday and B got to go golfing with the men in the family. Great fun for us all!

Carolina wha?

UPDATED ** Check out the photo of Lizary. Yes, Lala has named him. At least, we think Lizary is a boy.


This is how our lunch started out today.

me: Honey?
him: yes.
Lala: Daddy! Daddy! Come. here.
him: sighing, ok.
me: can you help me get the lid off of this box so you can capture Lala's lizard.
him: her what?
me: Lizard. You know, the thing with the tail?
him: oooook.

*we are looking around to find the elusive lizard that's been living in my office since last thursday. Our 2 Jack Russell Terriers kept wimpering at the wall, and I just thought they were high or something. No, turns out they had cornered a lizard and I was just too lazy to investigate it. Back to the conversation.

me: now, make sure it goes in the box, Lala really wants to look at it.
him: I don't know if I can get him in the box, but I'll try.
me: ok. (backing up)
him: Oh, this is just a Carolina Anole. Harmless.
me: A what? Carolina who? Aren't we in Georgia?
him: (a bit exhasberated) Carolina Anole honey.
me: Whatever, did you get him?
him: yes.
Lala: Cool! I'm going to keep him. Forever.

So now, for the moment, we have a Carolina Anole in our kitchen (in a bug box). I'll post the picture in a bit when the little one has calmed down a bit more. Now to find out what they eat.

UGA vs. Kentucky

Ummm yeah, I'm just popping in to quickly say "GO DAWGS, sic em, WOOF WOOF WOOF"! Way to go, great effort in the second half. We're hoping for another great game against GA Tech next week.

UGA vs. Auburn

What a fantastic game! My brother (david) and his wife (missy) invited us up to their lake house along with some friends to watch the game and have fun. Boy did we have fun too! Lala was the only child and center of attention when Uncle Kevin and Aunt Amanda arrived.

Everyone brought something to share so we ended up with a great variety of really yummy food. We snacked and snacked and gained some pounds which were quickly worked off watching the men light a fire and haul up the wood. They were great sports and we really enjoyed the treat of having a small fire outside in the firepit.

I'll post some pictures when I find the camera to download the ones I took. Oh and final score? UGA

Happy weekend everyone.

A Wicked Good time

Well, we made it through Halloween. Just as we thought Lauren had gotten over the stomach bug, it hit her again. We were able to make it to a few houses before finally calling it a night. She was so happy in her Red Queen costume and had a blast this year with trick-or-treating. Our next door neighbors lavished the candy on her, they are really very sweet, and she ended the night with a full pumpkin!

Blake and I decided to put on our costumes from the party we went to the weekend before to help make the night a bit more magical for Lala. She's been trick-or-treating before, but never really understood what was happening until this year. It was so awesome to watch her eyes light up and tell everyone thank you.

I am treasuring every moment of her childhood knowing it's going by so quickly. We had made some fun Halloween cards for friends and family memebers that we mailed. I found some foam peel and stick shapes at the dollar store and then cut some cardstock paper down to a 4 x 6 shape to fit into our envelopes. We already had a witch stamp, so lala stamped everyone's envelopes and then embelished the cards with stickers and a fun note.

Hope you had a Happy Halloween!