I just wanted to give all of you a treat by letting you see both of my guys! They are handsome, don't you think? What a blessing they are! Every day, I have to answer the question, "Where's Daddy?" a hundred times. I say, "Where IS Daddy?" and little Joe says, "Daddy's at work!" Jeff has acquired a 1973 Volkswagen Beetle, and they both love to go driving in it. Jeff has been after me to post pictures of it, so I will one of these days.
I absolutely cannot believe it is nearly December! Thanksgiving was spent with my side of the family this year and we had a blast. We drove down to meet Mom and Berk in Wrens, where they left their car and made the fateful decision to ride with us! No, we had a nice, uneventful trip to Granny and Papa's in Blackshear. As always, the food was great (yummy fried turkey!) and the company even better. We played games and laughed and stayed up too late talking. We stayed the night with Mom and Berk in Aiken on Thursday night and left there on Friday. Let me tell you about what a lovely hostess my mom is. The children had two bowls of cereal each in addition to popcorn for breakfast. She made coffee for herself and let me have some. Of course, it was not flavored coffee, but plain -- because Jeff likes the plain better. When Jeff came into the kitchen, she said, "Hello, Jeffrey. Would you like some bacon? How about a bacon sandwich? Or a fried egg? How about a fried egg sandwich with bacon? Would you like cheese? Whatever you'd like!" When Jeff agreed to all of the above, my mother said, "Okay, well, Jeni, I'm getting in the shower. You can handle all that for Jeff, can't you?" On the way home we were blessed to be able to have lunch with Jeff's twin brother Joe and his wife Jennifer. Jennifer made a really good Chicken Chili, which we called soup so Katie would eat it. We also had that wonderful pistachio-marshmallow-pineapple, etc. dessert whose name currently escapes me.
At Katie's check-up this year, I requested that her eyesight be tested. Considering my eyesight (not great) and Jeff's (deplorable) I figured it was a wise move. I'd also seen little signs that she might be having trouble seeing. They did a preliminary exam at the doctor's office, and then recommended that we take Kaitlyn to an optometrist. When the doctor put up the chart for her to read, she got to the third line and couldn't read it. He was surprised, and turned to look at me like, "Is she serious?" Sure enough, our little girl needed glasses! She got them a couple of weeks ago and she absolutely loves them. They are wire-frame, and rosy pink. She is completely adorable in them. The only problem is that now Joseph keeps asking for glasses! Unfortunately, he'll probably get his wish before long.
Last Thursday, I drove to Wake Forest, North Carolina to see my newest "niece". Oh, yeah, and to see her parents! Baby Georgia is absolutely beautiful and was so well behaved while I was there, though the picture doesn't show it! I expected to be up all night with her, but she woke up only to eat -- which I could definitely not help with! I also expected the six hour drive to be awful, since I loathe driving, but it was a gorgeous day and I loved looking at all the fall colors. (A book-on-tape also made the drive fly by!) The visit was wonderful. Leah and I never run out of things to talk about, and I always enjoy conversations with Nathan, too. I went home on Saturday, after Nathan and Leah went out to lunch together. I think they were a little nervous about leaving their two-week old baby, but that was overridden by the excitement of getting to go on a date. Of course, the best part of any trip is coming home and this was no exception. Jeff was just settling Kaitlyn and Joseph into bed when I arrived and they promptly attached themselves to me until I finally made them get in bed. The worst part of the trip had to be my fruitless search for a Hazelnut Caffe Mocha from Starbuck's on the way home. I settled for a Coke from McDonald's.
For our church's Fall Festival last week, I scrambled to come up with costumes for Katie and Joe (at the last minute, naturally). There are thousands of cute, super-easy costume ideas out there -- and all you need is a plain, solid color sweatsuit in your child's size. The hard part is finding a plain, solid color sweatsuit in your child's size! After scouring four different stores, I gave up and brainstormed these costumes when I got home. Joseph is puppy dog with floppy ears sewn on his hooded jacket, and a brown dress sock safety-pinned to his rear end. Katie is a cat with felt ears sewn on a cloth headband, and a pink fuzzy sock safety-pinned to her rear end. I had to use my make-up to give them faces, so now whenever I start to put mascara on, Joe says, "Nose!" P.S. Brown eyeliner makes great cat/dog whiskers!
We celebrated Katie's 6th birthday with a tea party for a few friends: Lydia, Danielle, and Karah. The girls loved drinking pink lemonade out of china teacups and getting to serve the food themselves onto china plates. They felt very grown up! After "tea" they gathered in the livingroom to open presents, with Katie getting some of her favorite things -- new clothes, snacks, and crafts! The girls dressed up in my nice dresses, then the mommies did their makeup. After that, I read Beth Moore's children's book, "A Parable of the King".
