Pre-Thanksgiving week festivities

I have a lot to post but I'll try to make this one just a brief summary. Next up will be Thanksgiving festivities, but I don't want to forget the party week that lead up to it. This is my record of our life on paper, uh, screen after all. The truth is I'll probably forget most of what happened anyway so it shouldn't be too hard to keep it short.

I'll start with a painting by God. Once I'm brave enough to venture out and take my camera off of the automatic setting I'll probably be able to do stuff like this more justice. By then the knobs will probably have corroded into permanent position.

It was really pretty out before I left for the barn the other morning.

Random.

Now to see if I can remember what it was I wanted to summarize for the past few weeks. After James got back from hunting we had a pretty normal week, including a retreat group over the weekend. The boys had their 3 and 5 year check ups. I forgot the five year one included a round of four shots, and had already told Shannon he shouldn't be getting any. Whoops. Avery had to get one too to get him up to date on everything. They also all got the H1N1 vaccine, recommended by our doctor. Thankfully everyone was able to get the FluMist version except for Elizabeth who was too young, and got both kinds of flu shots that day. Fun was had by all. Shannon had grown over three inches, as had Avery, who was also still in the 90th percentile for weight. That explains all the short pants this season.

Three days later I took a very grumpy Elizabeth back to the doctor and had my suspicions of an ear infection confirmed. When my sleep is continuously interrupted for several nights I take it as a sign that we should go see the doctor, no matter how badly I DON'T want to make the haul to Gainesville. (It's only 40 minutes, but it feels like forever. Guess I'm not cut out for commuting!) This might be kind of gross, but again it's my blog...with all the cold symptoms that caused the ear infection I've had plenty of opportunities to use the nose sucker with her. She's our only kid that has loved that thing. Everybody else screamed and averted their faces, Elizabeth thinks it's hysterical. She blinks several times, laughs, then grabs it and tries to shove it up her nose. James says she'll probably be our huffer. There's got to be at least one problem child, right?

Since we were already in Gainesville and didn't have anything contagious we stopped by INK to play before heading home. Thus began our party week.

Tuesday morning we had playgroup at our house, crammed in school, and headed off to gymnastics. That night we had dinner with the Davidsons, and Jenny, Rebecca, Amanda and I played Rock Band on the Wii which Jenny had borrowed from a friend. (She had to give it back the next day- I couldn't NOT go.)

Wednesday morning I packed our overnight bags and the kids and I went to Alison's and stayed with A.J. and Tozer while she got her hair cut. After lunch we headed to McDonough. The kids stayed with my dad and Nanny while my mom and I went to what turned out to be the best show I've ever seen. Mom and I got VIP tickets to Cavalia which was playing in Atlanta. It's a combination of Cirque du Soleil and horses, which I have decided I would watch every single day if I that were possible. We were treated very well as VIP's. I learned it either means you actually ARE an important or famous person and are therefore treated well, or that you can buy special treatment as a Very Increased Payer. The whole thing is in humongous tents, including stabling for nearly 60 horses. We were privy to a nice lounge with hors d'ouvres, drinks, and desserts, awesome seating, and a tour of the barn. The show itself was amazing, and included incredible technical effects and music, phenomenal acrobats, and a two hour line up of all kinds of riding and horses performing at liberty. There were people flying around on wires, dressage, trick riding, Roman riding (standing on two horses' backs), jumping, and tons of other things. I can't decide which part I liked the best. You can Google Cavalia for more details. I'd love to post pictures but they wouldn't let us take any. I do have this one though.

A record of my mom and I escaping for a night on the town, just the two of us. It was time well spent!

Thursday we got back in time for me to head out for a Girls' Night Out baby shower for a girl in our Sunday School class. Yay for more partying!

Friday James left for a manly weekend of camping and Jeep four wheeling near Chattanooga, TN. He took Shannon with him, and Shannon got to enjoy his first camping trip. He can't wait to do it again. Here are a few pictures of the weekend, but you'll have to get out your magnifying glass. One of the guys on the trip took them and sent them in a tiny resolution, so do your best! (James, could you please send me the ones you took with your phone? Thank you.) :)



For the sake of posterity I included one you can't see anyone in but it reminds me to record who went. Chad K., Nathan W., Curtis D., Bennett D., James, and Shannon. The midgets.

James and Shannon and the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

While the guys were gone I lead a trail ride for a college group. Then the three kids and I headed to Ingles and grabbed a pizza and a movie. I took a few pictures of Amelia's latest accomplishment, which is riding her bike. We got her a bike after her birthday, but she was scared to ride it because it's a little tall for her. Now she's got it, and is becoming quite a proficient bike rider. She even got a new helmet since the old one was getting too small.



Avery loves leaf piles.





Sunday morning we were greeted by the sound of a torrential downpour, making it tons o' fun to get to church. Some days it would be nice to have a two car garage. This was one of those blow the umbrella away days. James and Shannon were going to meet us at church in time to leave for McDonough (again) for our yearly pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner at Granny and Pa Pa's house. One rockslide in the road and an hour later they made it, and we headed down without incident. It was a nice afternoon spent with family, in spite of the fact that no one could go outside to play. Granny and Pa Pa's house was less crowded back in the day when all of us cousins didn't have 1-4 kids apiece.

We got home Sunday night and got ready to greet James' folks who were arriving from Texas Monday mid-morning.

And that's where the next post begins! Huh, turns out this wasn't so brief after all. Hope you skipped all the boring parts.

PS- Amelia was listening to us talking with my dad at the table the other evening. James was telling him about a chicken dish we're serving in the dining hall now, and was describing how instead of ordering the chicken already breaded we, "put the coating on ourselves." Amelia got a twinkle in her eye, made the proper pseudo-confused face and said, "You put the coating on YOURSELF? Why?" The art of the witty response is beginning to take shape. I am proud.

Costumes and critters

Trick or treating this year happened under umbrellas. Last Saturday the kids and I met friends at the Jennings house in the Windmill subdivision beside the church. James was busy with another group here at camp, so he missed the soggy fun. I was supposed to guide a trail ride for that group earlier in the day but they wimped out with the rain. We did our best to stay dry under umbrellas, except for Avery who for some reason couldn't figure out how to share an umbrella the size of the Georgia Dome with Amelia. At least it wasn't too cold. I took the camera to get pictures of the kids trick or treating but decided not to drag it out in the rain. The only pictures I got all evening were right before we left the house.

The cheerleader/princess/cowboys-with-extra-large-hats crew.

Avery didn't wear the hat except for the picture and Shannon didn't wear his hat trick or treating either and added a grey hoodie to the outfit, so we had less than stellar cowboys. And after I had gone to such great lengths too.

Amelia perused the dress ups and thought it would be fun to be a cheerleader. I found a princess outfit that Amelia never got to wear in some things I was going through earlier in the week, so voila, a Halloween costume for Elizabeth. She wouldn't wear her hat either.

After trick or treating we headed up to the church for the Fall Family Festival. They had it indoors because of the weather and I hope they do it that way from now on. It was great being able to keep up with the kids easily, and Elizabeth could run around. It's a lot of work to keep up with them outdoors by myself in the dark. I always feel like a lifeguard, constantly counting heads and not able to have a conversation with anyone very well.

A mere 12 hours after arriving home we were back at church because Shannon's preschool choir was singing in the morning services. All last year he spent each week in choir and during any performance NOT singing. We've had a turnaround somehow and he participates each week now, and enjoys it. I witnessed a relapse during the first service where he just stood there, mostly frowing. I tried to get pictures but he was standing on the back row, behind a rather large bow in the hair of the one in front of him. The second service saw him bounce back the other way and enthusiastically participate. My angle was no better this time.
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The two hands on the back row pointing up are Shannon's! He has no head. This is the best picture I got.

Tuesday of last week we had a fun playgroup. A local lady has had a zoo-to-you business for about 10 years and keeps a large variety of animals at her place for educational programs, nativity scenes, birthday parties, you name it. Just a few weeks ago she opened her place as a petting zoo as well. It's only about three miles from our house, and the kids had a blast.

There were lots of goats.

The kids could go in the pens with all kinds of critters. Shannon really enjoyed the baby pot bellied pigs. There were even some that were only two days old.

He chased pigs for at least an hour.

It's a little hard to tell what kind of critter Amelia is after here. It's one of those crazy haired chickens with fluffy feathers all over it.

Amelia and Meg, goat herders.

There was also a large tortoise, and he was pretty cool. Avery taught him a trick.

"Look, he's going through my legs!"

Good job, buddy.

Amelia asks me about every other day when we can get a rabbit, so she thought this one was pretty fun.

There were all manner of llamas and alpacas, burros, yaks, sheep, and ponies.

I thought this part was the most interesting. We got to ride a cart over to the camels and got to feed one. This one's name is Micah, and he had a smaller friend named Obadiah. They said the camels are already booked through the entire holiday season for nativity scenes.

He was a large dude.

Turns out camels don't really spit all that often, and you really have to rile them up to make them do it. Llamas and alpacas, on the other hand, are more easily irritated. Thankfully we didn't have to find out the hard way.





A few of the kids in our group took a pony ride.

Good thing this was a long carrot! This guy was friendly.

Carrots are good, but does he not realize that just inches from him right now is some BACON?

Wednesday night after church James, my dad, and two friends from church left for a week of hunting in Missouri. They drove all night to get there. They're due to arrive home tomorrow night. Unfortunately it's been a warm week in Missouri so it hasn't been the greatest for hunting, but they've had a really good time anyway. Somehow it's been a pretty quick week even with him gone, though we miss him!

Thursday night several friends met in Dawsonville and took dinner to Sara and Josh M. and went to see new baby Ansley. What a cutie! The kids enjoyed some playground time at the Dawsonville outlet mall and at Chick-Fil-A.

Friday Mom came up to stay for a few days since Dad was gone with James. Saturday evening the kids and I headed to Vogel State Park up the road to hang out with some former staffers, campers, and friends. They were camping and invited us over for dinner. What a great place to camp! When we get everybody a little bit bigger it will be a blast to take the kids and go camp for a weekend. After Saturday night's brief experience I can see how it would still be a bit nerve wracking yet keeping up with little people in the dark and trying to keep them from playing and standing in the fire. It was great to see friends though, and we had a lot of fun.

Yesterday Mom and I took the kids to the Mall of Georgia just for kicks. We stayed nearly all day. The kids are always amazed at all the stuff a mall has to behold, since our world mostly consists of Wal-Mart, Ingles, or Family Dollar with the occasional Target thrown in on special occasions. The Mall of Georgia has a lot of extras too, like a carosel, play area, and train to ride, mostly courtesy of a certain Grandmom. Mom went home from there and we headed back to Cleveland and had dinner in front of a movie, then hauled out the tent so the kids could camp in the living room. We had a flashlight fire and devotion to end the day. And we didn't see a single mosquito.

Below are few pictures of Elizabeth I took this week. Folks sometimes ask me what I do with her during school time. Here's one of her favorite pastimes.

She likes to do school too.



She can even hold a pencil the right way. She really does watch and learn, and is very observant.



This was before official school started for the morning, and Amelia was teaching her. I heard her say, "Say circle, Elizabeth. That is a circle." Unfortunately right now all Elizabeth mostly says is, "No, no, no, no, no!!" Maybe Amelia can teach her to talk.

Sometimes she stays after it for 30 minutes or more, even moving to the floor when she gets tired of sitting at the table.

Well, I'm out of pictures so goodbye for now. I'm off to listen to it pour rain again all night. We're getting the leftovers from a tropical storm that hit Alabama. I'll always be grateful for the rain after the drought we just came through. God comes through again and gives us what we've all been praying for, pressed down, shaken, and overflowing!

Trips!

Last week was a flurry of trips- family trips, field trips, and even a few trips resulting in face plants. We like the kind where you get to go somewhere better than the fall on your face trips though.

The first trip we took was last weekend. The kids and I headed to McDonough on Friday, spent the night at mom and dad's, and then headed with them and my Nanny down to south Georgia for the day on Saturday. Nanny is 82 (my mom's mom), and her siblings are in or close to their 80's as well. There were seven of them, and so far only the oldest brother, my Grandaddy, a sister-in-law, and two brothers-in-law have passed away. They've been making a point to get together several times a year, and she really wanted us and my brother's family to go this time. (James had a group to take care of at camp and didn't come with us.)

If I have any of that side of the family's genes I should live a long, productive life. Some of them I hadn't seen in nearly 10 years (I know, I know! No excuse!) and was surprised at how little most of them seemed to have aged. Nanny's 87 year old sister took care of a great grandson from the time he was an infant until this year when he turned 3 and went to preschool, and now she just picks him up everyday and keeps him for a few hours. I hope I'm that able at that age! They are a sweet bunch of folks and remarkably all seven couples have made it to their 50th anniversaries. That's a great legacy I'm proud to be a part of.

Here they are, siblings and in-laws.

Nanny and her sister Mae.

Nanny, her brother Willard, and sister Elise.

Nanny, her brother Irving, and my mom.

My brother Jonathan and niece Jordan at lunch. Let me tell you, there was some GOOD cooking going on that day.

My sister-in-law Lisa with Elizabeth. I managed to go all day without a picture of my newest niece Reagan. She was probably in the house being passed round and round.

The kids didn't have too much trouble finding something to entertain themselves with. My great aunt and uncle have a pecan tree right over their driveway which was dropping lots of pecans. (The south Georgia pronounciation is "pee-can." Most folks say "pa-con." The Himstedt kids were corrected a few times by native south Georgians and in the end Shannon settled on calling them "pee-cons.")

Jordan and Avery get a push from Amelia.

Picking up pee-cons with Uncle Irving and a pee-can eater, as some of the cousins called the nifty roller thingy Shannon is pushing to pick them up with.

The best thing about south Georgia is that the soil is sand. Instant fun in every yard.

We returned to Cleveland the next morning to help host Open House at camp. The weather was nice, the turnout wasn't so great, but the ones that did come had a terrific time.

The next morning we headed out to a nearby apple farm for a field trip. I joined a local group of homeschoolers that sends out all kinds of info on events, posts things for sale, lists co-op classes offered, etc., and they organized a homeschool field trip.

We joined our friends the Jennings and the Sumptions along with about 50 other homeschoolers. Here's Amelia with Meg.

We got to do a mini corn maze and they also took us on a wagon ride through the farm.

Hey Avery and Elizabeth! Look at the camera.....nevermind.

Everybody got to pick out their own mini pumpkin.







Won't Elizabeth look cute holding a little pumpkin?

Don't do it...

Ewwoooooo!

The little boys on the trip loved this part.

It's a grading "bachine," as Avery calls it.

Apples go in, get brushed and washed, and sorted into sizes for packing.

Afterward we tried apple chips and cider and got some nice apples and coloring sheets as parting gifts. We picnicked with the Jennings then the kids played for a little while before we headed home for the littlest ones to get a nap.

Elizabeth's Children of the Corn(stalk) impression.



As though one field trip for the week wasn't enough, the very next day we headed to the Georgia Aquarium. Tuesdays and Thursdays they have special events for homeschoolers. James had never been and the kids and I hadn't been since the oldest three were three, two, and 7 months, so we made our plans and headed down Tuesday morning.





And because we hadn't seen enough of the Jennings the day before, we met them there as well. Amelia and Meg again.

Meg teaches Elizabeth about some rare tropical species. Or something like that.

We got to see the 3-D show, which even blows real bubbles and spits real water on you.



Amelia would have petted the stingrays and little sharks all day long.



She enjoyed touching the horseshoe crabs and some sea anemones too.

A rather sizeable sea turtle.



In the ballroom they had several activities for homeschoolers. One of them was a lesson on how humans can impact aquatic life. They went fishing to see what's supposed to be in the water (fish) and what isn't (cans, trash, boots, etc.).

They fished it to empty, which I couldn't help but mention to the nice lady running the activity was kind of funny. She agreed that now it was probably time to add a lesson on sustainable fishing.

Meg, Avery, Alex Anne, Shannon, and Amelia in the shark hats they made upstairs. I'm not sure they knew what was sneaking up behind them.

Yep, we were all at the Aquarium that day.

It was a fun day. The only dissapointment was not getting to see the Beluga whales, which I had been talking up all day. They had been shipped to Texas so they wouldn't be stressed by the construction noise coming from the building of a dolphin exhibit. I can't help but wonder how much LESS stressed they were by being shipped over 800 miles. The kids keep talking about going back to the Aquarium, so I'd consider it a successful day.

Wednesday we went to church as usual, and Thursday night we went to the Jennings for dinner group...because we just can't get enough of them! Amelia spent the night with them and did school at their house the next day. We didn't manage to finish off Thursday's dinner, so some of us came back to work on it again Friday night. Amelia came home, and Shannon stayed with the Hicks for the night and went to his first real movie, Astro Boy (his gift from the Hicks for his birthday).

I got a few shots of James coming in from a ride this week. He's been faithfully either road or mountain biking at least three times a week.

Nothing like finishing of a 20 mile ride with a giant HILL.



I love a man in tight shorts. Well, this man anyway.

Dude's lost 20 pounds and counting! I'm very proud of him.

This past weekend also seemed to be the peak of leaf season. I didn't think it was ever going to get pretty, but Saturday I noticed it was colorful all of a sudden. By mid-week it was mostly all yellow and brown and leaves started falling off everywhere. It was kind of short this year.











And if you care to know what else I've been doing this week, check out the mountain I got to summit.

This is what happens when a part on your washing machine breaks and it takes a week to get it in.

Elizabeth, plopped in the dirty clothes, just for size reference.

Everytime I lug a basket of dirty laundry down or clean laundry up the steps and am tempted to complain, I think of women in other countries scrubbing the few things their family owns on rocks, or hand pumping water into a bucket to carry home....and I regain perspective and shut up. Thank you, Lord, that you invented the washing machine, detergent, and the dryer! Oh, and thanks for stain remover too, we've used about 300 gallons since the kids joined our family.

At the end of this post if you've got a second (and haven't already seen this), copy and paste the link for help on perspective AND a great laugh. I am apparently not bright enough to figure out how to make it a link so you can just click it...I tried, and it kept sending me to a dead end when I clicked on it. So just to be safe, copy and paste!

One more bit of excitement for the week. Amelia called from the Jennings house when she spent the night last week. "Guess what, mommy?" (I had my suspicions, and they were right.)

The other tooth came out!

I remember this trick from a lot of years ago.

Yesterday I was starting to get annoyed with her for continuing to pull sandwich meat out of her sandwich instead of just biting it off, then I remembered those shorties coming in weren't much good yet.

The tooth fairy left a couple of quarters this time, and was surprised and VERY pleased to find Amelia working on this a day later.

I love it! (The blob on the far right is her asleep in bed, the brown haired one is me, er, the Tooth Fairy, holding the ziplock baggie the tooth was in.) May she always be this thoughtful on her own.

For my next act I hope to post some pictures of this year's Halloween get ups. It's supposed to be rainy and yucky though, and I still have to finish coming up with something for everybody to wear. It's such an important event in our family, we've been planning costumes literally for MINUTES.

Don't forget to watch this! And don't forget to copy and paste or you won't get to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk

PS- Dang it if I didn't forget to add a few more pictures I meant to stick in this post. This weekend I got ahold of my dad's camera and it had a few on it of James with the kids at the dove hunt they went to in September. James didn't take any that day, so I was happy to have these. I like these shots of the kids with their Daddy.