joy ride.

Taylor's vintage trike from his childhood is back in commission. Beme and Granddaddy have brushed away the dust, greased the wheels, and pumped up the tires in preparation for a second-generation rider. Look out, cause here comes P. And his daddy.





They move so fast, P's eyes water. Or maybe he's crying from laughing so hard. Either way, he is just too darn cute.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I was enjoying the time spent with family so much that I failed to take pictures. My belly is still full. And so is my heart. I have many blessings to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving. And Happy Black Friday to everyone. My 4am jaunt to Toys R' Us was definitely worth the effort.

hand turkeys.

I wanted to do a craft project with P for Thanksgiving. I know it's cliché, but we decided to make hand turkeys. P really got into it. I helped him do the tracing and the cutting and the gluing. And then I let him play with the glue and the markers. With the caps on, of course.





And here's the final product, minus eyes and a beak. The lady at Michael's failed to put the googly eyes in our bag. P was a little bummed. He kept opening the bag looking for the "gilly eyes". And there are no orange markers in our house. I didn't want our turkeys to have pink beaks, so they will go beakless until I can purchase more supplies.


Happy Thanksgiving to all. We are thankful for so many things. Happy twenty months, baby P!

good morning.

My very sweet husband let me sleep in a little on Sunday ('til 9am), and when I came downstairs, I had a lovely display of Mega Blocks built just.for.me. I have two very sweet and creative boys. They built a dog, garage, skyscraper, and a robot. Or maybe it's a frog. Either way, they are great.


My extra rest was much needed to gear up for this hectic week ahead. The Cancer Services Gala planning is in full swing. Thanksgiving. Visit from aunt "Ninny". And early morning black Friday best-day-of-the-year shopping. I better head to bed right now to rest up. Goodnight.

the pink pig.

The Pink Pig is already a holiday tradition for our family. Or, let's call it a pre-holiday tradition. We like to beat the crowd. We took P last year, and he was fascinated by the lights and colors. This year, he was thrilled by the experience. Even though we went before Thanksgiving, we still had to wait at least thirty minutes for our turn. P was so utterly excited, he didn't even mind waiting in line. He just kept chanting, "choo-choo", and pointed and stared at the pink "train".




After the Pink Pig, we headed over to Phipps for a dry run of our visit with Santa. We somehow managed to secure a highly coveted appointment with the "good" Santa at Phipps. (Yes, I'm one of those crazy mom's that stayed up 'til 2 am one night in early October to book our appointment.) We're a little worried about P's reaction to Santa, so we're making our best effort to slowly introduce P to the concept. We watched Santa from the second floor balcony and talked about sitting in Santa's lap, his reindeer, elves, and toys. P was mesmerized.


We think our first trial run went pretty well. We'll keep working on it. It was a great family weekend. A weekend to be thankful for.

fall fireworks.

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
-Albert Camus

railroad restoration.

There are old train tracks right behind our house. Open our back gate of the fence, and the tracks are within ten feet. The tracks have been out of commission for several years. But at night, I sometimes hear a train whistle. I really do. P and I have scoped out the tracks from a distance several times, but the path leading there is full of briars and new tree growth. But, today, we changed that. All three of us headed out back to the tracks to do a little railroad restoration. Or should I say renovation? Either way, we cleaned them up a little bit. Just about twenty yards of track or so. We cut down baby pine trees and cleared away sticky briars. And now they're suitable for some much needed exploration by a train-loving nineteen month old.



I love this picture of P cheesin' for my camera. These are few and far between....


We had a great time down at the tracks. Call me crazy, but we also decorated one of our Christmas trees today. It's never too early to get into the Christmas spirit.

ccccccookie.

P is learning new words at an impressive rate. I bet he picks up ten new words a day. And his pronunciation of the more difficult words is improving, too. "Dat-dat" has always meant cookie for P. Don't know why or how dat-dat became the word, but it is what it is. Taylor and I were practicing this word with P the other day. And it went something like this.

"P, say cookie. Cccccccookie."


And P responded, "Ccccccdat-dat."


In this household, dat-dat will forever remain. There is never a dull moment around here. We laugh so hard our sides ache.

a walk in the woods.

This past week, we had gorgeous November weather. Out of the ordinary weather, but gorgeous, nonetheless. P and I tried to get outside as much as possible and soak in some sun before true November weather strikes.

P was fascinated by something in the creek. He kept sticking his head through the posts of the bridge rails. And I kept envisioning myself having to call the fire department from my cell phone because we were somewhere deep in the woods, and my kid's head was stuck. I'm always thinking of the what if's....


I finally realized what was occupying P's attention. A "boot-ball".


Some poor kid is frantically searching for their football. The same football that their mean bully of a brother stole out of his room, took into the woods, and threw in the creek. Brothers are mean like that, you know. I hear far too many "brother" stories about my husband's childhood. Sisters are much nicer. We just steal each others clothes and make-up. Maybe the kid's football will find its way home. The rightful owner was smart to write their name on it in black permanent Sharpie.

And while I'm on a tangent about footballs, I must include this story. This is P's baby book, after all. And if I don't include this story here, it will be long forgotten by the time P gets to high school, and I will not be able to include it in my graduation card to P when he heads off to college to be a UGA quarterback. So, I better write this one down for future reference. Taylor was teaching P how to tackle the other night. They were throwing a nerf football across the room, then Taylor was encouraging P to run over and tackle him. P seemed to understand. So he threw the football to Taylor, Taylor caught the ball, then P ran up to Taylor and tickled him on the arm. Tackle, tickle. Ha! Our southern accent continues to cause confusion. Even for our own son.

Okay. I'll stop rambling now. And here are a few more of my favorite pictures from our walk in the woods. I love the light in these two.



A walk in the woods with my son and a memory card full of pictures. What more can a mom ask for?

my little monkey.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my neighborhood? If you are an outdoor enthusiast, which we are, this neighborhood has so much to offer. The possibilities are endless for mine and P's weekly outdoor adventures. We have hiking trails and green space. Waterfalls and reservoirs. Picnic pavilions, golf cart paths, old cemeteries, and more. We are always finding something new to discover. And, yes, I said cemeteries. And, no, this does not bother us one bit. It's just a piece of history. Apparently, there were a ton of old family cemeteries on this land when the developers started their developing. The story has been told to us a time or two. They hit a casket while cutting the roads through the community, and the county told them they must preserve the graves. And as the development progressed, more and more tombstones were found, in small groupings, scattered throughout the thousands of acres of the community. So the developers put their heads together, and being the great developers that they are, they decided to create small areas of green space around these small cemeteries. Beautiful little areas of green space, fenced off in split rails, some containing benches and historic markers, and all allowing the deceased to rest in peace. And beauty. Anyway, these small cemeteries are just one of the many unique little areas that we love to explore on our little "Mommy and Me" outdoor adventures.

Today's walk was one of the greatest. We took the wagon down the sidewalk to the end of the road and then we headed into the woods following one of our favorite hiking trails. We discovered a once dried up creek has been revived and is now flowing once again. We watched birds and squirrels and a cute couple kissing on the park bench. We took pictures of the vivid fall leaves. And we stopped for other photo ops as P deemed necessary. P actually said to me today, "Mama, out. There, cheeeeese." He really gets me. Because this particular photo op was definitely worthy of a short break from our hike to snap some pictures. He amazes me at how much he understands. I love this little guy. And at the end of our walk, we headed to the fence line of one of the cemeteries and gazed in at the stately old oak trees that are contained within. And P climbed on the fence like a monkey. And then rolled down the hill a hundred times.


Today was a good day. And to make it even better, Taylor put up the Christmas trees.

hide and seek.

I found the perfect field to play hide and seek in with P. It is right down the street. Isn't it pretty?


My mom taught P how to play. He is the cutest thing when he "hides". "Where's Phoenix? Where is he?"


He covers his eyes to "hide". And after two seconds, he asks himself the same question. "Where is that Phoenix?"


He cracks me up. My days are filled with belly-shaking laughter thanks to a certain nineteen month old.

they're shrinking!

Her tumors are shrinking, her tumors are shrinking! HER TUMORS ARE SHRINKING! Rachel has a big reason to celebrate today, her thirtieth birthday. The results of her latest scan came back, and three of her four tumors are shrinking! Praise God! He has answered our prayers. And we pray that He will continue to heal Rachel.

Happy Birthday, Rachel! We love you so much and are happy to hear the great news. God has given you the greatest thirtieth birthday gift ever, the gift of life!

Rachel and her daughter, Allie. I just love their expressions in this picture.

You can keep up with Rachel and her journey with cancer by following her Caring Bridge journal here. Please continue to keep Rachel in your prayers. We want the positive news to continue!

leaves.

Unfortunately, the leaves were not as vivid and colorful this year as they normally are in Georgia. But, the leaves still fell. And they fell fast. And they covered our yard. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love Fall. I love the warm days and the cool nights. I love the crisp breezes and the warm sunlight. And I love the colors. Even the color of dead, fallen leaves. And when that warm sunlight shines down upon those dead, fallen leaves, their Fall color still shines. And they sometimes glow.


And as for all of those dead, fallen leaves, someone has to get them out of our yard before the Homeowner's Association gives us a demerit. So, we spent most of the day on Sunday raking, sweeping, and mulching those dead, fallen leaves. And just before the last pile of leaves were mulched into material for Beme's compost bin, P got a chance to play in them.






And he loved it. Can't you tell?

boo bash.

We held our first annual Boo Bash on the Friday before Halloween. Most everyone dressed up in adorable costumes, and we all had a blast. I definitely did not get enough pictures of all of the guests. Too busy being the hostess, I guess.

Queen Bee, the Bee Keeper, and Baby Bee


Persian Emperor and Belly Dancer (Rachel and John)

No netting will stand in his way of enjoying a cold beverage.

Aphrodite and Hercules (Jenny and Zac)





Maverick and Charley (Nick and Amy)

Aphrodite and her Apple Screamy

Candy corn treat bags for the kiddos

Bubbling cauldron

We had a great time hosting this year's Boo Bash. Can't wait 'til next year!

balloon launch.

This story begins at Truett's Grill, one of my two favorite places, the other being Target. P absolutely loves the train at Truett's. And I absolutely love being able to sit down to eat with an entertained and complacent child. So, we are frequent guests at our local Truett's. For the train. And their sweet tea. I should mention, because you need the entire story, that P busted it big time on the concrete outside while we were waiting on our table. He tripped, smacked his forehead on the concrete, and quickly developed a bright purplish-blue knot on the middle of his forehead. Nice. Why does it seem that my child is the only nineteen month old that consistently has a fresh scrape or bruise somewhere on his body that is never easy to conceal with clothing? I wonder what runs through people's minds when they see my banged up child. Anyway, the nice waitress brought P a bright red balloon, which also provided some entertainment for my busy son. And so it began. Rather quickly, P developed a connection with his bright red Truett's balloon. We tied it on his wrist. While he ate lunch, we tied it to the high chair. He held his bright red balloon in the car for the entire ride home. He begged me to let him sleep with his balloon, but I drew the line there. After his nap, he immediately looked for his bright red balloon and insisted I tie it on his wrist again. And there it remained. I quickly realized that my son was not going to be able to handle the death of this balloon. Neither deflation or popping would go over well. And try as I may, there was no way this balloon would make it to day's end. To avoid a meltdown, I decided we must release this coveted balloon. And I talked it up to P. He was convinced that his bright red balloon would be launched into the sky, where it would spend the rest of its life with the sun and the moon, the birds and the planes. P was thrilled with our plan. And I patted myself on the back for my quick thinking and creativity.

So, we headed down to the reservoir, just before sunset, for our official balloon launch. And the hat? Once I realized there were other people at the park, I frantically searched my car for something to cover up that nice purplish-blue knot on P's forehead. The one from Treutt's. Remember? The hat worked out great concealing the knot, and it made for some pretty cute pictures of my sweet boy.


P played and played, balloon in tow.


And just before sunset, we prepared for our big launch. He was ready to set his bright red balloon free. He wanted his balloon to have a better life. A life much better than he could offer, couped up in this tiny house. His balloon needed room to fly.



"And on the count of three, P, let the balloon go, so it can float high on the air. And float away to the sun and the moon, the birds and the planes. Are you ready? One, two, three!" And on the count of maybe five or six, P released his bright red balloon. He had a moment of regret, then quickly remembered it was for the best. We watched the balloon float higher and higher....


....until it floated off into the sunset.