Catching up part 2

Let's see what's next in my arsenal of photos in iPhoto!

So, this lovely self-portrait was after I ran  was coerced into struggled my way through a 7 mile race at some park in Burlington.  I seriously thought I might DIE during the course, especially when the 14 mile runners started lapping me towards the end.  That's a real self-esteem booster, let me tell you.  I had between 3 and 5 people behind me throughout 98% of the race, so I was mostly running alone.  I had to talk myself through a lot of rough patches, slipped and fell about a hundred thousand times and stepped in a giant mud puddle that almost pulled my entire shoe off.  Also, David had to wait around for about an hour while he waited for me to finish.  Heh.  But when I got done and I limped through a shower and ate about 10 pounds of french toast pancakes at Cracker Barrel, I was SO proud of myself.  I surely did not enjoy it very much, but I was proud of what I had been able to do!  Then I went home and sat in an ice bath while I read "The Long Winter" and was thankful we don't live on the prairie.  I'll spare you those photos, though.

The next event in my photo journal appears to be putting up the Christmas tree.  I also had the camera on the wrong setting so the background is in crystal clear focus while my subjects are all rather blurry.  Oh well.  We shall call it artsy.

 I love homemade ornaments!

 Maggie appears to be slightly displeased with this ornament but she was really envisioning what it would look like as an earring.

 Dang, I love our kitty!  She is so sweet and weird!

We really missed PapPap when Maggie was trying to put the angel on the top of the tree.

 Then we had some friendly rivalry with our across the street neighbors as we duked it out over who could decorate their yard with more lights.  I think we won.  This isn't even all of it, but I cannot find the finished product on my computer.

I also participated in a tacky Christmas sweater contest at school.  

I did not win but I think my teammate sure did.

Also, could I look more like an old hag next to her with her youthful 25 year old skin?

I think that's enough for this post because the next few are going to be all DISNEY!!!

Catching up part 1 of a zillion

Thank goodness for spring break!  I have decided that I am going to get all caught up on my blog this week, so I can start blogging for real again.  (bwahahaha).   My first catch up post shall be Thanksgiving, although upon looking back at my pictures, they are all horrid and I don't know what happened to the good ones.  We went to my mom and dad's for TG this year, which was a change from the norm.  We usually stay home for Thanksgiving.  

 The Menfolk in their red plaid shirts with a photobomb by Maggie.  

  I am not sure what my niece and I were doing here...perhaps playing on Photobooth?

One night, we went down to see the lights at Callaway Gardens.  In previous years, we almost froze to death.  This year, it was bordering on balmy so we had a nice visit.  My dad even shelled out for s'mores cooked over a fire pit, which were quite tasty.  I am also reminded that my mom bought a GIANT bag of kettle corn as seen in the lower part of the picture and I believe we gorged ourselves as we rode through the gardens on the Jolly Trolley.  Okay, I have located some more pictures, however, David photo-documented every INCH of our drive through Callaway Gardens.  I'm not sharing those.

So, here's a scary picture of Maggie to round out my first catch up post!

Another tooth out!

Big Girl!

Day 2: words

thank goodness for Google Reader.

Day 1: my view

My view from the floor where I had to sit during a faculty meeting.  Good times.

Cookie baking extravaganza

The problem with never updating my blog is that I am then somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of posting that needs to be done.  And then I never do it; see: last May when I suddenly just quit posting.  Yes.  So, anyway.

Back sometime in December, Kimberly and I decided that we would have a cookie baking day with the girls.  The last time we did this, which was at our house (I don't know why we always decide that my house is a better place for these activities), it was just Maggie and AK and it looked a bomb had gone off in a colored sugar factory that was located in my kitchen.  It was a wonderland of sprinkles.  This year, I got smart and decided that we would decorate our cookies in the garage, like the good rednecks that we are.  It wasn't that cold and I had us a little space heater, just in case.  Kimberly and I also made our own cafe mochas which we decided were just as good as, if not better, than Starbucks.  Mainly because we had complete control over the can of whipped cream.  I bought a whole load of cookie dough at the Walmart (because I was not about to waste my time and all my butter on cookie dough that I was SURE was either going to be buried in sprinkles or dropped on the garage floor or who knows what) and when Kimberly and the girls arrived, we got to work.  Maggie had not received the memo that it was a dressy affair, so she was wearing her boring old blue jeans and t shirt.  AK had on a tutu for the occasion and TT even had on tights and a skirt!


We had one table that was for rolling out dough and cutting out cookies.  And using an extreme excess of flour, as you can see.  We also learned that when you pour sprinkles straight into a ball of cookie dough and try to roll it out, it becomes the consistency of sand and is not exactly conducive to baking.

TT was a big fan of the cookie baking.  And the flour, as you can see. It took her approximately .0002943 seconds to look like this.  I don't know how Kimberly got so lucky to have 2 daughters that are MAGNETS for messes.

TT did not care though.  I think she needs a chef hat or something to top off her flour face and big smile.  I also noticed while I was downloading these pictures that I have almost none of Maggie.  I also understood why my mother was not a fan of baking cookies with me when I was a kid.  Maggie placed every single individual sprinkle on each cookie and it took FOREVER. AK even poured an entire container of sprinkles on one cookie as an example, but Maggie did not want to follow her lead.

Here was our other table.  This was the frosted cookie table.  I bought these cookies that were pre-cut and you just had to punch them out and bake them.  They also had pictures on them.  Maggie and I did this while we were waiting for Kimmie and Co. and I kept opening the freezer door like I was looking for something so I could hide behind it and eat raw cookie dough.  I am not a very good sharer.  Anyway, we mixed food coloring into some canned frosting and let the girls have at it.  We even had cute paper plates!  AND, I was super smart and laid out waxed paper on the table so it didn't make a giant mess.


Here is Maggie, Ace of Cookies, meticulously frosting every millimeter of her cookie.  That's Kimberly next to her, trying to hurry her along, I presume, but Maggie was having none of it.

This was what TT did at the frosted cookie table.  I think we had 24 of these cookies.  By the time they had all been frosted, I believe there were about 6 left.  Kimberly and I about died laughing when we realized how many had been eaten by one person.

Decorating away.  Kimberly and I were kind of tired of decorating cookies at this part and then the girls got tired of it too and went inside to wreak havoc and terrorize the cat.  It sure was nice just to wipe off the tables and sweep all of the mounds of colored sugar and flour right out the garage door, though.

I could caption this picture, "Sweet Sisters," but it looks like TT may be fussing at AK or even telling on her, so maybe not.

This may have been where Kimberly told TT, "No more frosted cookies."

David went and got us all Chick fil a for lunch and then I think I collapsed in a puff of flour for the rest of the afternoon.  Actually, I feel like I went shopping that day but I cannot currently remember what exactly I did.  So, we had a good time and I would highly recommend the Garage Cookie Decorating Party.

Tomorrow, maybe I will blog about putting the Christmas tree up!  Or the 7 mile race I ran in December!  Or even our trip to Disney.  Maybe I'll let that sit until NEXT December.