Happenings

A few weeks ago Josh’s Mom hosted a small Thanksgiving in Gilmer, and that week Bodie happened to be playing in a playoff game. I’ve been to more high school football games this season than I’ve been to since I graduated from high school! It’s been great! And this time I took my camera. I do wish I had rented a longer lens for this, but…I did okay with my 85mm.

Gilmer won! And then proceeded to win the next three games. Next week they will play in the state championship game. They made it look so easy!

I probably should have switched to my shorter lens for this. lol. I had to stand soooo far back, and then no one knew I was taking photos. I just flat out refuse to ever switch to a zoom lens. It’ll never happen. I’ll just continue to awkwardly move myself around and fumble with my lenses. Whatever.

The next day Meredith talked Big Momma into an LOL Surprise extravaganza!!!

Nora got to partake as well!

And then it was just great to get to see a little bit of extended family. It’s been a while.

Not long after we got back Little Miss Meredith lost her first tooth without running into something and knocking it out! And she actually pulled it out herself (with the promise of a trip to the store for an LOL Surprise doll of course…). She was hysterically proud of herself. It was an awesome moment.

Now if Wallace could lose his first tooth. lol. Poor guy is such a late bloomer.

And last night I decided to get some photos of some of my favorite ornaments. Years ago I got these fun little filters that turn the bokeh into special shapes. I haven’t pulled them out in years! And guess what I found right next to them in my camera bag….my Lightroom CD with my activation code…. *sigh*

Josh and I got this guy on our first ski trip like 13 years ago….

Josh’s Mom got me this one. I think it’s so cute! And look at the snowflake bokeh!!

I actually just got this one for Josh this year. It’s Cousin Eddie’s RV! He recently purchased a older model RV for us, so it seemed fitting. :)

My Mom made these with Anna and Wallace when Wallace was 1.

Anna picked this one out. It’s just simply adorable.

We got this ornament this year too. It might be my new personal fav. And Anna and I tried out the Christmas tree filter. Meh…I don’t know if I like it as much.

This year I made some cinnamon ornaments with the kids. It was a fun and easy little activity that made the house smell wonderful. I got all Martha Stewart on them and turned into a bit of a perfectionist, which was silly….But, I think they like them and had fun with me… hopefully.

So, we’re all kind of excited to wake up to Christmas at home this year. Meredith was all confused and thought we were skipping the ski trip and the cousins would be having all the fun without her. I had to assure her that was not the case. :)

In addition to all of this, Anna got her braces off, but I haven’t gotten any fancy pants camera photos of that yet. Maybe next time!

Joe's Birthday

Last weekend the kids and I did something we haven’t done in ages….we piled in the car and went somewhere! To Gilmer! It was Joe’s 70th birthday, and so the family got together for a small celebration.

We even got to go to one of Bodie’s football games! I miss going to high school football games so much. I feel like I went to a million when I was a kid. My sisters and I were pretty spread out in age, so I started going to them before I even started having memories. I remember watching Jenny perform with the drill team when I was like 4 or 5. And then we’d go watch Sarah’s boyfriend play when she was in high school. But my Mom, being a teacher at the high school, always worked at the games, and she always worked the high school section, so I felt like such a badass getting to hang out in that area all through elementary and middle school.

At Bodie’s game, Big Momma got the kids all kinds of goodies...the best were the horns she bought all the girls so they could drive everyone sitting around us away. lol. Not that anyone was actually sitting near us. It’s kind of nice not being all crammed into places, but a little weird going to a varsity football game in a small town and there only being about 25% attendance. Regardless, there was a fight on the field, and Gilmer won the game! So all in all, a very eventful and exciting night!

Then the next day was all about prep for the party. Well, sort of. Josh’s Mom did most of it while Wallace and I played Monopoly. The girls hung out at Sarah’s all day to play with the new puppies, and so it was just me and Wallace at the big house. It was kind of fun getting some special time with just him. And we played “friendly” Monopoly, so our game lasted hours, and we didn’t get into a family feud. :) All you have to do is only buy one house per property, and don’t buy them for the expensive properties. This prevents bankruptcy and tears.

Then we watched our favorite movie together…Thor Ragnarok…and then it was time for the birthday party!

And some pictures! The game horns got a lot of love all weekend long!

My personal fav. :)

I’m so glad the kids ended up having a random Friday off school and we got to have a nice relaxing long weekend in Gilmer. Happy birthday Joe-Joe! You don’t look a day over 29!

School!

So….the kids went back to school! And it’s been pretty great so far. There was a moment of panic when the district released a back to school video at the end of the summer to show them what it would look like with the new social distancing and mask policies, but they don’t spend 100% of their day wearing masks like we’d feared. Whatever they are doing seems to be working though, it’s been 10 weeks, and school is still in session! It’s been great for the kids to be back at it. In home instruction didn’t really work that well for us. We tried, but it must take special kind of person to get their kids to cooperate. I really only had success with Anna. One out of three isn’t good!

So…better late than never….our back to school pics. lol.

Anna looks exhausted because she got up so dang early! She did that every day for about 6 weeks, and finally stopped. She was just so excited to be back at school!

For a while Meredith really preferred the face shield thing, and when they got easier to find I actually bought her some cuter ones made for children with animals and tiaras and stuff on them, but now she seems to have conformed to the simple mask like everyone else.

And that was about all I had for school until just a couple of weeks ago when Anna came home wanting to do a storybook pumpkin. The kids have come home with the fliers before, and I always try to “lose” them quickly. The last thing I ever wanted was another project…especially one that was “just for fun”. Yikes! But Anna begged this year, which was a new level of effort on her part. And, I’m working from home for now, so I’ve got a little more time on my hands and a lot more patience. So, I okayed it. She’s also in 5th grade now, so I figured it would not be a Mom project, which was always what deterred me from this project in the past.

Anna’s a huge Dog Man fan, like many 5th graders, but she didn’t want to do a typical Dog Man pumpkin, so she decided she wanted to do 80-HD. I thought that was rather clever of her, and I also love the fact that 80-HD doesn’t have a face that would have been hard to replicate! We were told we couldn’t use a real pumpkin this year, which at first annoyed me, but in hind sight, I think that made things easier for us. We worked right up until the last night, and Anna was pretty stoked with the results!

This is actually 80-HD’s superhero alter ego Lighting Dude. He’s not on the book cover, so if you aren’t familiar with the character, you’ll just have to take my word for it, we did a great job! :)

Well, since we aren’t doing any sports right now, this is about all that we’ve had going on. I guess I should take some photos of the kids doing homework or something! Haha.

Wallace's First Communion

So, like everything else that is happening during this time of COVID, Wallace’s 1st Communion was affected. He’d been going through his prep with the church for the past 2 years and was in the final 2 months when the shutdown occurred. The first option that the church gave us was back when the shutdown was super severe, and only 10 people were allowed to gather at a time. So, it would have just been myself, Josh, and Wallace up at the church, one other child with their parents, the priest, the deacon, the cantor, and the youth minister. That sounded super depressing to me, so we chose to postpone and see what would happen. I’m glad we did. Although the mass was still very different, Wallace loved it, and we were even able to have a small handful of guests!

Having a boy go through this process is a little different than a girl. There was no debate over a veil vs a headband this time. Last spring I started asking Wallace what he thought about suits, and to my surprise, he had an opinion! He wanted a black suit, he wanted an under shirt, and he wanted a tie. At first he was saying specifically a “bow tie” which made me very nervous, but when I showed him photos, he just wanted a regular tie. He thought since it tied at the top you called it a bow tie. I think he knows the difference now.

Not knowing exactly when he was going to have his 1st Communion, I was a little nervous to purchase a suit. He grew quite a bit a this summer! But the church made it very clear to us in July that August 15 was the last possible day, and that it was definitely happening, so I went ahead and bit the bullet. And as luck would have it, the suit I’d put on his wish list was on super sale on Amazon when I went to order it! Seriously… it was like 75% off but only in his particular size! I felt like I won the lottery!

Josh had bought his shoes and shirt a couple of sizes too big months ago, so they pretty much fit perfectly now, and all that was left to get was the tie. I figured he’d want something colorful for his tie, so I called the Men’s Warehouse to see if they had any children’s ties and happened to catch the most helpful manager ever who assured me they had about 10 to choose from. I stopped by and facetimed with Wallace so he could pick one out. I honestly figured this would be such a simple process. I had all of the somewhat colorful, but tasteful ties laid out on a bench, and for children’s ties they make them so simple, they have this zipper feature to tighten and loosen them. Wallace saw the zipper, and was convinced it would be uncomfortable around his neck. In an effort to assure him he wouldn’t feel it I walked around the store looking for a mannequin to show him the tie would be tucked up under his collar. Well, he saw the plain black tie on the mannequin and decided that was the one the he wanted…no other color would do. So, guess what color they don’t sell children’s ties in (the day before 1st Communion). Manny (the manager) noticed I was in distress and having a heated discussion with my son via facetime, walked over to see if he could help, found the skinniest smallest plain black men’s tie they sold, and proceeded to tie it to the perfect length for Wallace so that it matched up with the children’s length! Y’all…that’s some service!

So….the tie ended up costing just as much as the suit… BUT, Wallace was thrilled with it, and he looked so dapper.

The day of Wallace’s 1st Communion was so different than Anna’s. It was incredibly hot and sunny, and the service was at 1:00pm. My Mom, my sisters, one of my brothers-in-law, my niece, and Rachael and her two kids were able to come to the church. For the service, Wallace sat on the end of the pew, and surprisingly the children got to walk up and take Communion from the priest. The rest of us stayed in the pew and Communion was brought to us. It was very funny watching the kids. Usually a parent is right behind them, guiding them through the process, but they were pretty much on their own. The youth minister was up there helping them out, but when I went back and watched the video on facebook that night, nearly every one of them was like a deer in headlights after they received Communion. They didn’t know which way to turn or walk. They just stared at the Priest until he nodded to them which way to go. Haha! It was adorable. So, similar to Anna, when he got back to the pew he got to high five all of us as he walked down the row. :)

Then we went outside to take a few photos in the super harsh sunlight, and then we headed back to the house for the small get together we had planned.

We pretty much just sat by the pool all day because it was so blazing hot! It got over 100 degrees that day. Josh cooked up some steaks and hot dogs…Wallace’s favorite foods!

He got a couple of gifts and got to have a friend sleep over! At one point he ran by me and said “This was the best 1st Communion ever!” I’m so glad he enjoyed it! It was the best day we’ve had in a long time.

Bolivar

So, we do the same trips every year! And, man…I was pretty worried they weren’t going to happen this time around! But, I guess there is one good thing you can say about this virus…it’s really cleared everyone’s schedules… Even Sarah’s group got to make it this year! It was so great getting to have everyone at the beach house together, even if it was just for one weekend. We crammed in as much fun stuff as we could before she had to leave with Cora, Carson, and Hayley.

This may look strange….but there was a hurricane in the gulf when we got there. So, there wasn’t much we could do outside that first day. And you also can’t really go anywhere right now either….. So, we just decided to dye all the girls’ hair blue. I mean….why not?

Jenny called it the beach house beauty shop. lol. So that’s what we did, and we played lots of Phase 10 and Uno.

The next morning we were up bright and early (well….as early as we can manage to get this group out the door anyway) for crabbing! This is the hottest day every year, but it’s definitely my favorite.

Wallace caught the first keeper again! :)

Because of the hurricane, the water was a little up… I actually got pinched by a crab walking through that to get to the dock! rude!

Hannah always gets a net or two stuck, and this year was no exception. haha! This kid.

The crabs were very feisty this year. We’ve never had so many people get pinched! In fact…we’ve never had anyone get pinched…this year, I think 4 of us got nailed! Oh…and I’ve been working on my dutch braids. Just check out my handiwork on Carson’s hair! Not bad if I do say so myself.

There were neon nets at the Big Store!

Did you know crabbing is a spectator sport? :)

Anna finally caught a crab y’all!

I’m not sure who took this photo, but I love it. Lots of teen girls grabbing the camera to take pics this year. :)

Crab….it’s what’s for dinner! I failed to get photos of the rest of the process…because we apparently went to the beach. My role in the crab dinner is really just making sure we have nets and buckets and that the chicken necks are all strung on. :) Every now and then I also line the shells with foil. This year, my second job was keeping the kids out of the kitchen and down at the beach. :) So, no pics of crab picking and crab stuffing. But trust me, it was delicious!

Meanwhile…the boogie boards I unintentionally paid WAY too much for last year got a TON of use this year. I seriously didn’t realize they were going to cost as much as the store wanted for them…they weren’t marked very well. But they are very nice boogie boards that even adults can use, and they haven’t broken yet. The most challenging thing about them is just finding space to pack them in the car…

Because of the hurricane the surf was super rough for the first half of the trip. Also, there really wasn’t much of a beach either. The waves were all the way up to the dunes when we got there.

So…as you can see…we were literally still parked up against the dune two days later. It took a really long time for it all to go back down. Usually this part of the beach is made up of flaming hot sugar sand that people just get their cars stuck in.

All the cool kids get buried in the sand…

We had a birthday pinata…

That Jenny randomly filled with healthy food…. haha! We’re not those people. My kids were super pissed.

The next day was the Big Slide, and the big story there was how much Bristol was love/hating it until we promised her some ice cream if she’d give it just one more try….

Boy howdy did that make a difference! :)

I cracked myself up with my hermit crab board room meeting.

There were like a million hermit crabs this one particular evening.

Too much beach… lol

The next day we decided to be brave/stupid and try to go to the Rain Forest Cafe for lunch. One of our standing traditions. This was the one thing that was making us the most nervous though with the virus. We’ve been pretty darn careful with Granny through this whole thing, but she really wanted to go, and what Granny wants, Granny gets. So, we went. Turns out…they really aren’t getting much of a crowd these days. I assume they are only allowed a specific capacity…we didn’t even have to wait for a table. There was really no one there. I’m glad we did it.

Also these poor seagulls. Apparently no one’s been feeding them. Seriously y’all. I’m not sure if it was the hurricane or the virus, but the ferry was at a super low capacity this summer. I’ve never seen them travelling less than full with people still waiting to get on. It was very weird.

And on one of the last days, Wallace picked a kite as his souvenir, and it took me and Jenny sooooo long to get the darn thing up into the air that he totally lost interest in it.

Well…that’s it for Bolivar 2020. Glad we were able to do it. Even more happy that no one got sick! And now the long slow wait for Bolivar 2021. :)