Early Christmas

We had our early Christmas with Lawson's parents today. We had already finished opening our presents when I realized that I didn't have my camera out to take pictures so I had to take pictures after the fact. Brantley got a set of Tech Deck boards and skate park pieces. He also got a nice check to put into his education savings account which got big hugs for Grandma and Pop. Lawson got a new Predators jersey. I got this beautiful Gail Pittman bowl and a gift card to my FAV store NY and Company. We also got a very nice check. Too save or not to save, that is the question here. We gave Grandma and Pop Titan's huddlers to go along with their year of Blockbuster. I think they should wear them to the game tomorrow.After presents we went to Outback for dinner where I was so disappointed. I ALWAYS get the Queensland salad and they have taken it off the menu. Boo Outback. We hadn't been there since April and they still had it then. I guess they changed their menu this summer. The food was still good though and the Wallabydarneds were excellent!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!

Fall Break

For Fall Break we went to Chicago to finally meet Brantley's new cousin. He's almost 3 months old and this has been our first chance to visit. It was actually nice because it gave the new parents time to adjust to having a new baby in the house and we didn't feel too much like a burden. We got there late Friday night so Wes was asleep. Brantley was so excited to meet his new cousin that he did go in a peek in to see him asleep. When Wes woke up at midnight or so, I thought "that doesn't really sound like a screaming baby." His cry actually sounded cute, and Brantley slept through it. Guess it's been too long since I've been around a baby.

The whole weekend was pretty low-key. Saturday night we went to attempt Brantley's first tour of a haunted house. Brantley chickened out so I got to wait outside with Brantley while Lawson and Matt went inside. Just as well because I wasn't all that thrilled to be going in myself. Yes, I'm a chicken. Since we couldn't get a refund for the tickets I told Brantley he owed me the money since he chickened out. After we went to Sonny Acres Farm and we went through the Spook House (very tame and cheesy), he decided to try again Sunday evening with Uncle Matt for the real haunted house and SUCCESS! Brantley went through his first Haunted House. He can't wait to go through another one.

We did get some pizza (a must in Chicago) and finished the weekend at Portillo's Hot Dogs where Brantley got what else but a cheeseburger. I didn't take very many pictures but did get some from Rosemarie to add to mine.

New Year's Day

We didn't get home until about 2 in the morning on New Year's Day. We spent NY's Eve at Ginger's house. We always have a great time, hence not getting home until 2 in the morning. Thanks to Santa, we had a treat on New Year's Day. We got to go see the Harlem Globetrotters. It was pretty cool. My favorite part is when they get in the circle and do all kinds of crazy moves. I think Brantley liked the show. At the end they announced that everyone could get an autograph of their favorite Globetrotter. They had a rope going around the court and people were supposed to stay off the court. Mass chaos ensued. People did stay off the court, but there were not any real defined lines to get autographs so it was just a mass of people trying to get autographs. We bought Brantley a program and we got in a line to get an autograph. As we stood there not moving, a couple of teenagers started to get in the line in front of me. I pointed out to them that we were all standing and line and showed them the end. They of course ignored me and went ahead. They moved on up and they, and another teenager went practically all the way up to the Globetrotter. I wouldn't have been so mad except that their shirts were covered in autographs and Brantley didn't even have one yet so I had to say something to them. The nice lady in front of me pulled Brantley up and put him in front of the teenagers so he could get Airport's autograph. There was only about two minutes left for autographs and it didn't appear that we would get any more, but Brantley somehow managed to sneak in and get Handles autograph. We learned from the program that one of them, Spark, went to Tennessee Tech. He's the one with the 'fro in the pictures.



I also took a few clips. SHHHH! I wasn't supposed to do that.

Harlem Globetrotters - vids

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Brantley thought this Christmas was the best ever! I think he has said that every year. Santa was very good to Brantley. He brought him a freestyle bike, Rock Band for the Wii, Lego Rock Bank, tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters, and several other things. I'd list everything he got from everyone, but I don't know that I could remember everything.

2009 Christmas Photo

Here is the making of our Christmas photo this year.

What is Christmas all about?

Today in Brantley's folder was a letter about the holiday plans for not just his class, but all of the third grade classes. Instead of exchanging gifts they are collecting items to donate to two local charities. One is a ministry that has a "store" of sorts where families who qualify can go and get things for Christmas. The other is a non-profit nursing home. So tonight while we were out we bought some items to donate. Brantley helped pick out what we got. A couple in the store overheard what we were talking about. They had recently held a food drive for the ministry and thought what the kids were doing to help out was just wonderful.

Tomorrow is our annual holiday shopping day at my company. This is one of this things that I love about my company. Instead of spending money on a stuffy holiday party they give us each an "angel" to shop for then they bus us all over to Wal-mart to shop. Last year I had the privilege of shopping for two children in need and I believe the company spent about $140,000 on gifts for about 800 children. It's a tradition they started years ago and a wonderful way to give back. I've got my Santa hat ready! Let's do some shopping!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I'm pretty sure I've gained about 5 pounds. That, in addition to the 10 I had already gained back means it's back to the diet on Monday. Thursday we headed up to Cookeville to celebrate (I mean EAT) with my family. We took Coco with us so she could run around in the country. Bandit was in his pen and barked like crazy at Coco. I wasn't sure if he wanted to play or attack so he got to stay in his pen for the day. Coco had a blast running around and she passed out in the car on the way home. She remained passed out the rest of the evening. I didn't get any pictures, but we did take some pictures at our house on Saturday. I think I might have cooked my best turkey ever. And, I found a new recipe for cornbread stuffing that I think was awesome. Not sure if anyone else liked it. I also made a green bean salad, ginger maple glazed carrots and pumpkin bread pudding. Dibby made spinach and artichoke dip, cheese dip (just for Brantley), squash casserole and cranberry salad. Melissa brought spinach dip, her famous potato casserole, and chocolate cake for the kiddos. I think I gained another pound just talking about all the food.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

It's almost time for Halloween. This time last year I was having surgery and recovering so I didn't carve any pumpkins last year. Brantley helped (a little) with the gutting part. It was a big pumpkin so I carved 2 patterns on it. If I can find pictures of past pumpkins, I'll put them in a slide show. This one turned out okay, but maybe I'll get one more and try again.

Happy Fourth of July!

We decided to spend the Fourth in Chicago this year. We had a great weekend, and great weather. We came home and we had had an inch and a half of rain here!

Friday, we took the train to downtown so we could experience the Taste of Chicago. I had spinach stuffed pizza, grilled corn on the cob, and Italian Ice. I also had a small bite of a meatball, a couple bites of Lawson's Italian Sausage, a couple bites of a hamburger, and some of Brantley's ice cream. You would think we would all have a stomach ache after all that! It was all yummy!

Friday night we went to see the Schaumburg Flyers play the Kansas City T-Bones. The T-Bones won. They had a guy that hit 3 out of the park home runs. It was a fun game to watch, even if it's not even considered minor league. They also had a nice fireworks display after the game.

Matt and Rosemarie took Brantley to see the parade on Saturday morning. It was a bit drizzly, but not enough to dampen the parade. We also went to see the fireworks display that night. We were so close to the fireworks and they were so loud. They were being shot practically right overhead and we had to look almost straight up to see them.

I didn't take very many pictures, but here's what I took. Enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the moms out there, Happy Mother's Day! Lawson and Brantley went out today and bought me gifts. Brantley picked out a necklace with a mom pendant, and Lawson actually kept a pottery barn page I gave him a long time ago and got the item. The fact that he went to pottery barn is impressive. He got me a charging station. It holds all the chargers for my phone, camera, life drive, and whatever else needs charging.

Tonight, Lawson actually grilled some salmon!

Coco supervised...

And the pretty table. Actually, I bought the flowers for tomorrow's Mother's Day/Birthday dinner for Grandma. Notice there is no place for Brantley. He had already had his gourmet Chef Boyardee meal. :)

And the food was more than edible, it was really good.

Pepper Honey Cedar Planked Salmon. MMMMmmmmm..sweet with a kick.

Easter (spoiler alert...pre read before small children read!)

I know. I'm very late with this posting. Pop pointed out that I've been slacking lately. I like to think I've just been choosier about what I post about. Okay, I guess you can call it laziness.

We decided to take a long weekend and go to Chicago for Easter weekend. Normally we drive over to Cookeville and Brantley gets to do an Easter Egg Hunt with his cousins. But, since it was the only weekend until June without a baseball game, we decided to go to Chicago. Lawson, Brantley, and Matt got to take in the Brewers home opener against the Cubs. It sounded like they had a good time. We spent the night up in Lake Geneva which was really nice. It's so pretty and tranquil up there. I'm jealous that Matt and Rosemarie have a place like that where they can just go whenever they want.

Rosemarie and I went to Popeye's while we waited for the boys to get back. They have absolutely, hands down, the best brocolli cheese soup I have ever had. Every time we go to Lake Geneva, we have to go there and get the soup. This time I got to go into the gift shop since the boys were not with us and I got a pretty necklace. I'm starting to make it a habit of getting necklaces when we go up North. Last time we were in Chicago, Lawson bought me a pretty one at the farmer's market in Wheaton. It is from a lady that makes jewerly, and I think I remember that everything was made out of copper. I could be wrong about that, but my necklace is copper.

On Saturday we decorated eggs. We had lots of decorations to choose from but I think the glitter eggs were the prettiest. Rosemarie posted some pictures on her blog.

After the official egg hunt, we decided to make egg salad from the hard boiled eggs. We all managed to survive, despite some of the dye somehow getting through the shells. Egg salad sandwiches were really all that was needed after a huge Easter brunch. Rosemarie's family inlcuded us in their Easter celebration. We all went to Venuti's for Easter Brunch. It was a HUGE buffet with pretty much everything you could think of for a brunch. Definitely not diet friendly. I have to say the highlight was the Easter Bunny, or how Brantley felt about the Easter Bunny. Brantley said the Easter Bunny was just a guy dressed in a suit. So, Lawson and Matt told him to go pull his tail and find out how real he was, to which Brantey replied that it was illegal to assault a mascot. The rest of the year should be interesting.



Click here if you have trouble with the slide show.

Valentines Day

Brantley wanted to get his valentine cards ready today so we sat down today to do them. He was going through the class list and putting names on the cards and I taped a cherry lifesaver in each one. Then, he gets to one of the girls names and say 'Renee'. Now, since I can type this with the enunciation, picture the copy machine guy from SNL saying, 'Renee'. That's how he said it. So, I started teasing him and asked him if 'Renee' (saying it like he did) was new. She is new and I think Brantley might have a little crush. Isn't that cute!

Early Christmas

When family lives spread out, you have to compromise on when you celebrate Christmas. Since Uncle Matt and Aunt Rosemarie are here this weekend, we celebrated tonight and opened gifts. I think everyone was happy with the presents, but the pass out award tonight goes to Grandma and Pop. Just look at that face....
Thank you Grandma and Pop and Matt and Rosemarie for the wonderful gifts. Merry Christmas!

New Favorite Restaurant (Pics)

Blogger seems to be letting me post pictures tonight, so here are a few of our dinner at Valentinos.

Cheekwood

Today, Lawson and Matt went off to enjoy the Titan/Pittsburgh game. While they were at the game, we decided to go to Cheekwood. Brantley decided he didn't want to go. He wanted to stay and watch the game with Pop. When we got back, we found out that Lawson and Matt had told him if he went with the girls to 'Chick'wood, that he would be a sissy. I think he really did want to watch the game though, and he probably enjoyed it more than he would have Cheekwood. I do think he would have liked the trees, but I'm guessing he would have been clamoring to go home the whole time. I had never been to Cheekwood and can't wait to go back when the gardens are in bloom. I bet it's gorgeous. The main house was so pretty and each room had a Christmas tree decorated with a different theme.
The Night Before Christmas

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The Polar Express

The Nutcracker

Why all Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect
The Toy Story
A Christmas Carol

New Favorite Restaurant

Brantley has a new favorite restaurant. Pop and Grandma took us all to Valentino's for Christmas dinner. We sat in the wine cellar section of the restaurant. The ambiance was great, the service wonderful, and the head waiter was very entertaining. He did several card and coin tricks for Brantley. Amazingly, Brantley cleaned his plate. I'll have to add pictures later. It let me add a video but won't let me add pics for some reason.

Catchin' up...

I've been bad about posting lately. We had a very nice Thanksgiving. We spent Thursday with my family and Saturday with Lawson's family at our house. Lots of food and family. That's what it's all about, right? We did have some excitement Saturday night after most everyone had left. We noticed that there were fire trucks on the next street, so Lawson and Matt had to go check out what was going one. They reported back that there were 7 firetrucks, 3 police cars, and 2 ambulances. With all that commotion, I expected to see the house burned down the next day. We drove by the next day and couldn't tell that anything had happened. The only indication that something had happened was the ServPro truck parked outside the house. I'm guessing it was just a kitchen fire. Hope I get that kind of response if I ever have to call the fire department.

Basketball season has started. I'm letting Brantley play so he can get some exercise during the winter. He's not been wanting to go though. Once he gets there I think he has a good time. He even scored a basket to tie up the game today. They were tied with less than 2 minutes left but ended up losing bringing there record to 1 and 1.

Happy Halloween!

Well, I'm a couple days late. I didn't really get into the Halloween spirit this year. Brantley still had a good Halloween. He got to go Trick-Or-Treating with Carson and went to a Halloween themed birthday party. This year he went as an alien.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I claim to be Irish because both of my family names, maternal and paternal, can be traced back to Ireland. Of course, the families have been here so long, I'm sure my percentage of Irish is way low. Brantley informed me that I can't be Irish because my eyes are not green. Anywho, may the luck of the Irish be with you today.