The Puppies @ the Beach

Our Bostons Otis and Lexi made their first visit to the beach in early October...we weren't quite sure how they would take to the sand and ALL THAT WATER! Otis doesn't mind water too much, but Lexi believes water is sulfuric acid that will instantly eat away all of her fur and leave her naked...I was particularly excited to see their interaction with sea gulls! If I thought I could keep them from drowning or running to Maine, I would've let their leashes go...just to watch the show...

They actually LOVED the beach! Here are a few photos of their first visit to one of God's wonders...

Enjoying the sand...

Otis catching a breather...

Hooray for the puppies

Bring on the sea gulls!

Ready for the Super Bowl?

This snapshot was actually taken early this Fall, but hadn't made it to the blog yet. I don't know that we're ready for the Super Bowl or not...the NFL season ended with the Steelers' debacle in Denver in the first round of the playoffs, but thankfully I have Tar Heel basketball...the REAL CAROLINA!

Caroline is wearing Nicholas' old DeAngelo Williams' jersey for the Carolina Panthers - one of our 'teams'...DeAngelo was a Memphis Tiger for 4 years, and was perhaps the best Tiger ever. 

Here's the last weekend of football until August!

Fancy Nancy at the Pumpkin Project Fair

Fancy Nancy's evening pose...

 In Caroline's class this fall, the students had a 'pumpkin project'. For this project, they had to pick a book, then select a character from the book, and decorate a pumpkin in the likeness of the character. Naturally, Caroline chose Fancy Nancy for her character, from any of Fancy's books (Caroline has them all!). Here's our 'pumpkin' for Fancy, though she's really a butternut squash! Caroline also got to dress up like her character (fancy, of course), and participate in the Pumpkin Parade around her school.  What a great way to welcome autumn!

A friend from class poses with Caroline

The whole class got in the act (probably 'cause they HAD to!)

Fancy Nancy's daytime pose...

Festival of Trees

Caroline's Class Tree

The Grinch and Cindy Loo Who

Oh yeah, chimney and everything

Caroline's school did something ultra-neat with their annual 'Book Fair'. They had a character parade (see Fancy Nancy post), but each class also read a book together, and decorated a tree based on that book. It was called the Festival of Trees, and it was simply magical!

Gotta love the jellyfish...'til they sting ya!

"The Little Engine That Could" Tree

The Shel Silverstein Tree...

a bit blurry, but OH so cool!

1st Band Concert!

Nicholas performed in his first band concert this past Monday night, and they were terrific!  Here's a short clip of him playing timpani (his favorite)...

Jets Football 2011

Nicholas played football again this year, and though it was a trying year, it was a great season for him. He played QB for his new team, and really grew as a player.

He finished the year with 11 TDs (1 rushing, 10 passing), 

 

was among the team leaders in tackles, and 

kicked the extra points.












His team didn't win a game, but got better and better, and nearly upset a heavily favored team in the first round of their playoffs. Congratulations Nicholas on a great season!

The Grinch has left the Building!

If you know Karen AT ALL, she's totally opposed to a few things at Christmas...
1) Yard art (plastic Santas anyone?)
2) Christmas clutter around the house (or anytime of year clutter for that matter)
3) Running, blinking, anything crazy lights inside or out...
4) Colored lights, period.

Well, either she's lost her mind, or she's just plain getting soft...because the GRINCH has left the BUILDING! - uh thank ya, uh thank ya very much.

I still don't have yard art, minus the pink flamingo in the back yard...but I now have my VERY OWN tree with only drum and angel ornaments (a classic oxymoron), WITH COLORED LIGHTS...and to top it off, SHE SAID THEY COULD RUN, BLINK, DANCE, CHASE, OR ANYTHING ELSE!!??!! And, I have pictures to prove it! If you look closely, you will see my shekere under the tree, along with dJaren the dJembe hanging out in the photo too! Tonight, the kids and I set up my old HO scale train set around the tree - How Norman Rockwell is that? It won't even put our eye out!

To be fair, I should post a comparative image of the family tree, which is viewmongus and lovely! I gave in to the all-white lights, the bow, and the ribbon streamers - I guess it's a fair trade!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all another blog post!