Under the Sea

After Thanksgiving we headed to Chattanooga (a short drive) to meet up with a friend of mine from college whom I hadn't seen in years. We had as-good-a-time-as-can-be-had trying to catch up on the past 10+ years with kids in tow. It went something like this "oh my gosh did you hear that so-n-so got divorced...stop hitting your sister." We visited the Tennessee Aquarium which while not as flashy as the Georgia Aquarium...is much less crowded therefore way more fun.

Amy's son Kai and "T" and "J" in a brick boat (a brick boat?)


Jill at the Butterfly Garden


In the Shark Tank

Hanging with the Penguins




Amy (aka Chia) and Me Before



And After.....

Ho Ho Ho

It's Santa time at the Green house...or basically time to make the earliest possible appointment to see Santa. Yes they have appointments now and yes we go even before Thanksgiving. I hate lines. The advantage of going to see Santa early is that he is fresh....early in the day he has plenty of energy, no one has peed on him yet, and he takes his time talking to the children.

Our time with Santa may be limited. This year as we were driving to the mall "T" said "is there more than one Santa? Because there has to be one at every mall" then later as he was looking over our Santa photos from previous years he said "Mom, I think there are four Santa's because I see four different Santa's in these pictures". Oh, so that is why parents make such an effort to go to the same "Santa" each year...duh...wish I had thought of that.

Pie in the Sky

Every now and then I try to make up for my failings as a mother by doing something "fun" with the children. I love having make your own pizza night. It is dinner and an activity all in one.

The (Obligatory) Family Photo

Well we survived it again, the annual obligatory family photo session. The photographer this year was a saint. You have no idea how difficult it is to get my children to smile (and at the same time). What follows is the result of many threats and bribes.





J's School Pictures

Crash Bang Boom

This has been an eventful week. On Monday afternoon I was driving "J" to speech therapy when I was seriously rear-ended. Apparently, according to the witness, the other driver was talking on her cell phone, tail gating, and not actually looking when she slammed into me. "J" and I were OK. My car suffered minor damage considering how strong the impact felt. The other drivers car was totaled. She bounced off of me and crashed into a really large thick metal mail box post. I only wish I had a photo of her car to share. Suffice it to say her car looked like she hit a telephone pole.

On Tuesday we woke up to discover that D's car had a dead battery.

Then today we woke up only to find that the rental had a very flat tire.

I am not sure what will happen tomorrow but I plan on getting a good nights sleep so I can be prepared.

While you were sleeping

This could have never happened if "D" were awake. But while he was napping "J" lured the neighbor's cat into our playroom. "J" absolutely loves animals. She especially loves the orange and white cat that lives across the street. This poor sweet cat was abandoned by his owners and now the lady across the street feeds him. I am sure he enjoyed his little nap on the chair with "J". Update: the orange and white cat now uses our cat door and comes and goes as he pleases. Whoops!

Boo

Wow! what a GREAT Halloween. Maybe it was because for the first time "D" and I let the kids walk up to doors alone while we waited in the street-yelling out "say trick-or-treat" and don't forget "thank you". Less walking for mom and dad is always good. Or maybe it was because for the first time neither child had a complete meltdown 1/2 a mile away from the house. Whatever the reason the evening was a complete sucess. There were tons of families out-kids running around everywhere. One neighbor had created a haunted "lawn" with a lighted spooky trail and multiple special effects. Awesome. The kids loved it. The key to our success was going over to the other side of our neighborhood where more kids live. I love our secluded corner of the neighborhood-but when it come to trick-or-treating....it isn't too great. Jill had a party at school-thus the two costumes.