Dinner Out

Papa Ford came up around the time Owen and Kelley were finishing up with the Help Portrait Project.  We had a late lunch together, hung out around the house and then went out for dinner at Ipp's (a newly opened Italian restaurant in downtown Woodstock).   Papa helped Chloe with her word search puzzle.

Chloe squeezed Daddy's cheeks.

Afterwards, we walked across the street and railroad tracks to check out the Christmas lights in the gazebo and square.

It was cold.

And we had a little girl not very interested in posing for her Mommy.  Or even making eye contact.

So we called it a night after a minute and a half in the freezing cold and ran back to our car.

Brrrr!  It was pretty out, but way too cold to stand out snapping photos!

Early Birthday Celebration

Papa Ford drove up this morning to spend the afternoon with us.  College football was watched, as were photography video tutorials.  A dishwasher repair was attempted, but was ultimately delayed while parts are being ordered.  And then, Papa Ford made ribs for my birthday dinner.  Woot!  He tried to change them up on me and mess with my birthday dinner by using a different barbecue sauce, but I pitched a stink and he ended up doing half with his sauce and half with the Maul's barbecue sauce I love.  Thanks Dad for not messing up my ribs (although your new sauce is a good back-up for when we run out of Maul's)!

He also brought along an Italian Creme Cake that was soooo delicious.  It might be my breakfast later this week.  I love that I'm still his kid and can get the 'kid' number candles on my cake when Dad comes to celebrate.

Busy Day!

We started off the morning with a pit stop at a big camera store.  There might have been angels singing as we walked in.  ;)  

Momma needed a new flash and in the process tried out a new lens (she sadly handed it back after taking the below photo of Owensk).

Once the new flash was in the trunk, we headed down to Senoia to visit Papa Ford.  He borrowed his old golf cart from Grandma Stella so we could ride around Peachtree City.

Chloe sat up front with Papa.

The kids weren't really hungry, but Club Penguin cards held the boy child's attention.

Love how the sun lights up the ridges of the tunnel.

We drove by the house Kelley grew up in and thought it looked funny with the red trim.  That's new.  The shelves her parents built in the garage are long gone, as was the over-sized mailbox that Kelley would climb up and sit on as a child.

We went to Huddleston Pond to feed the ducks fish.

Owen was determined he would feed the fish by hand.

He was very persistent.

We had some turtles come up for bread.

The kids wanted to play on the exercise equipment.

We drove over to Lake Peachtree in the hopes that there would be more ducks to feed.  But there were no ducks in sight.

Back on the golf cart in my favorite pair of shoes.

This square tunnel was neat with the lights inside.

We had to cross back over the tracks to get back to Grandma Stella's house to return the cart.  It was slow going after this as the golf cart was running low on battery juice.  One of us might have had to get out and walk at the end.

Once back at Papa Ford's, I got out my new flash and played around.  Marissa's dog Maggie wanted to eat it.  She is like a cat and will chase lights around a room, so I had to be quick in jerking my camera and flash away from her!

Hi smiley boy!

Father's Day for Papa Ford

Papa Ford came up to celebrate Father's Day with us. He got cards from each of the kids (because if you're coming to the house to celebrate a special day, we actually scramble and buy cards for the occasion.  getting them out in the mail is another story!).

He got a new grill set, too.   Woo hoo for new grilling toys.

Happy Father's Day to our Papas and Daddy!

Zombies and Swimming

Yesterday after lunch, Papa Ford picked up the kids to take them home for a sleepover.  They got spoiled with fun and treats.  When he returned them today, one was still my child and the other was a zombie.

The boy is obsessed with turning the unsuspecting into bunnies.

Papa was worn out and needed to be at work early the next morning.  I took the kids out swimming before dinner in an attempt to wash off the rest of the face paint that wouldn't come off with a wash cloth.  They are such fish and just loooooove being in the water!

Aunt Kiki came over for part of the evening and the kids enjoyed seeing her.  Doesn't Chloe look so grown up with her French braid?

Pumpkin Carving

Papa Ford drove up earlier and went to Owen's soccer game with us.  Once we got back home, we pulled out the pumpkins and drew faces on them.  

Both kids helped scoop out the guts and seeds.

Chloe had to be on top of the kitchen table to help.

Owen was determined to not get slimed by the pumpkin guts and was more careful in his endeavors to clean out the innards.

Once the pumpkins were scooped out, the kids supervised as Papa and I carved the faces that they drew.

Dinner with Papa Ford

After an afternoon of getting spoiled by Papa with shopping for Silly Bandz and then playing with legos on the floor for over an hour, we went out for Mexican.  It was soooooo goood.  I begged to sit outside, even though it was still about 90 in the shade.  I knew the light would be perfect for pictures and I wasn't disappointed.

Silly Bandz are all the rage.  They even have Silly Bandz for the fingers!  The kids love them and they drive me nuts because I find them EVERYWHERE in the house, in the car, left behind in restaurants.  And then there are tears and panic on the hunt for where they could have been left.

While Owen organized, Chloe played tic-tac-toe with Papa.  Can you tell there might have been a little cheating going on here? ;)

Before our food arrived, I asked for some Papa hugs for pics.  I thought they turned out great.  Now we finally have some pics of the kids with Papa that are recent.  Woot!

Both kids behaved excellently while we were out for dinner.  They both did a good job eating their dinners and we even ordered dessert (a rarity!) of fried ice cream.  It was delicious!

Chloe was being a siller with her Silly Bandz and giggling non-stop.

Friday Morning Cleaning Fish with Grandpa

Chloe was up early this morning to take Grandma Sharon to the playground.  They were out of the house before anyone else was awake.

I was still rubbing sleep out of my eyes but hurried to grab my camera because I knew Papa was headed out to clean the fish.  Owen was still sound asleep back on the homefront and Todd was just rolling out of bed.  It was barely 8am.  Pretty sunny for so early, no?  Chloe was interested in seeing how Papa Wenzel would clean the fish and wandered over to the Fish Cleaning House after she saw him pull up in the golf cart and walk in.  

She was fascinated from the moment she walked in.

Watching him carefully as he used the electric knife dangling from the ceiling to fillet the dozen or two croppies.

The fish were flipping themselves out of the bucket just in time to be the next one on the cutting board.  If they only knew....they would have flipped themselves toward the back of the bucket!

Bean took a short break to watch the fishing minnows in the sink, but quickly hurried back to her spot.

These croppies aren't the prettiest fish, but they are some of the most delicious.  They are also very slimy, leaving a slippery coating on your fingers after touching them.  Every time I remove one of these guys from my hook, I have to reach overboard to dip my fingers in the lake to rinse them off.

Surprisingly, Chloe did not fill the air with questions or even idle chatter.  She quietly watched almost the whole time.

She leaned in to watch closely and was very interested in the whole fish preparation process.

After a good fifteen minutes of watching, she summoned up enough courage to start touching the fish.  I was curious to see if she would poke at the eyeballs, but apparently that is not a genetic fascination (I was wretched as a child and mercilessly poked and prodded fish eyeballs as they awaited my Dad's knife for cleaning fish.  Thankfully I grew out of that!).  Chloe just petted the fish with one or two fingers from their faces back to the tails.

She was showing me that her two fingers were not gross after touching the fish. :)

I liked watching the boats zoom by outside.

My little monkey was standing on her tip toes on top of a tall bucket so she could see everything that was happening up on the fish cleaning counter.

As Papa neared the end of the line for cleaning fish, Chloe helped dump them out on the counter for him.

I think this is the first time I have ever seen her gently pet any creature.  Perhaps there was still a small amount of fear and respect that these strange creatures might get her if she wasn't gentle.

And suddenly, she had the courage to pick up the fish and hold them!  I was stunned.  On the boat, she was a squealing little girl, afraid to touch the fish.

"Here Papa!"

She's turning that poor fish upside down!

Look!  She can hold TWO fish at the same time!

I think she was pretending that she was making the fish swim again.