More Pictures From Granny's House

We always spend a lot of time on Granny's front porch.

That black south Georgia dirt!

 A few years ago, Granny had a big sand pile in her front yard for the kids to play in. The pile has dwindled over the years, but the kids still look forward to it every time! They stay out there until it gets dark.

Kiley Jo, Abby, Selah, Jarrett and Lauryn

 

On Saturday afternoon, Jeff took the big kids on a walk through the woods to the river. This has always been one of the favorite things to do for the cousins. It used to be "Uncle Rick" walking with us, and now it's Uncle Jeff and the next generation. This is technically the Alabaha River, but to us it's just The River.

The water looks like sweet tea - appropriate for south Georgia!

I forgot to add these pictures to the post yesterday, and time spent at Granny's wouldn't be the same without these memories! We always take the time to play games together - dice, cards, party games, and definitely Scrabble!

Granny won this round, of course!

After the grandbabies have been showered and pajama'd, it's time to snuggle and watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!

Lauryn LOVES her big sister.

Thanksgiving 2015

For Thanksgiving each year, we trade off which side of the family gets to enjoy our presence. This year we did something a little different. For the actual holiday, we went to Jeff's hometown of Duluth and spent the day with some of his Dad's side of the family. That's always a great gathering with tons of delicious food (including Jan's Chocolate Cappuccino Cheesecake, Cheryl's Sweet Potato Souffle and Denise's dressing!). I brined and roasted a turkey:

But on Friday morning, we drove to the land where time slows down: South Georgia. The sight of this sign always makes me smile!

Gill Hill - Pierce County, Georgia.

The best part is, of course, the people. We stayed at Granny's house and had a steady stream of company all weekend. I didn't get pictures of everyone, but more than I usually do.

Granny and me.

3 generations

Uncle Steve and Aunt Belinda, Uncle David and his granddaughter Kiley Jo.

Eric, Shanna, and Jacob; Uncle Donnie, Aunt Cindy and Kaity.

Uncle Donnie and Jacob taught Lauryn the joys of blowing raspberries.

Friday night, Granny and I drove up to the mailbox and decided to pop in on Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Ronald while we were out. We also got to see my cousin Jessica and her three kiddos, Uncle Robert, Uncle Linwood & Aunt Joyce. Gill Hill is the family farm land where eight of the original 13 siblings live, so we usually see plenty of family when we visit.

I actually wrote all of this a few days ago, then forgot to publish it. So, I'll post more pictures from our trip later, and then it's on to December!

November Round-Up

I decided to do another one of those "catch-up" posts I do now and then because I have a collection of many different pictures which don't really need their own posts. These were all taken in November.

Lauryn has become quite the little tattoo artist! We have to be fairly diligent to keep her away from pens/markers/pencils, etc.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

 Joe designed a purple truck and a pirate ship with Lego.

Lauryn absconded with a (mostly empty) bag of powdered sugar. This is actually after I cleaned up a bit:

I snuggled with my little ladies.

I made apple cider one night for the family. I started out making it for Jeff, because he loves it, but expanded it when everyone came sniffing around.

The ponytail! She's drinking out of a special German cup from my childhood.

Selah is using Daddy's special childhood cup.

Joe, reading Dilbert.

Buttermilk Biscuits. My goodness, they're delicious. Until recently, it had been a source of great personal shame for me as a Southern woman that I could not make good biscuits. Everything changed when I found Alton Brown's recipe.

For My Mother

Hey, Mom! I got my hair cut! ;) Jeff basically told me I was getting a mullet.*

Before:

After!

Thanks, Whitney!

*Not really.

Saturday Project

Jeff and I finally got around to a project I've had on my list for a very long time: the huge wall in our master bedroom. I think what motivated me was that I came to a decision on how I wanted to decorate in there. The long walls are a light gray with white trim, and the short walls are a gray-green. The idea is that everything in the room (bedding, too, eventually) will be white/gray and the accent color will be green. That said, here's the start to our long, blank, boring wall!

At some point, I'll add more sconces to the ends of this arrangement.

The windows are from my parents' old house.

It's subtle, but here is a picture with the candles lit.

Trick-or-Treat!

Our downtown had a chili cook-off today, so of course I had to enter! I enjoyed it, and ended up winning 2nd place. I was just arriving home when I saw Jeff had the kids loaded up to go trick-or-treating. They have never gone before!

Joe wore his knight costume this time.

Kaity is again Han Solo (with a Millennium Falcon), Selah is once again "ein kleine mädchen" (a little girl) and Lauryn finally stopped crying at having to wear her skunk costume!

Fall Festival 2015

Wednesday night, our church hosted a fall festival for the kids in our area. I love dressing up, but somehow I never seem to get it together, like I don't know Halloween is coming up! Anyway, I'm thankful my kids are creative enough to make it happen!

Introducing: Kaity as Han Solo!

I'm pretty sure Joe is around here somewhere ...

BOOM. Ninja Joe!

And Selah wanted to be a little German girl again this year. (This was my dirndl from when I was a little girl.)

She was mostly excited about having braids.

Lauryn went as Jane Fonda!

Just kidding. She refused to wear her skunk costume, despite having loved it earlier in the afternoon. She ended up just going in her "adorable toddler" costume - jeans and a t-shirt.

Sisters!