Fall Fun

Well, it is officially fall if Heath has to blow the leaves.  For those of you who don't know, we live on a fully wooded lot.  That means lots and lots of leaves! This year, we have Miss Bella Grace to add to the fun equation.  Look at the pictures, who had more fun: Allie, Bri, or Bella Grace?  My money is on Bella Grace - she was running non-stop through the yard.

the chicken survived!

Good news the chicken survived and so did everyone at the dinner table!  My first try at cooking the chicken in the crock pot was okay.  There are no pictures because I butchered it getting it out of the crock pot.  It was good . . . for my first try.  I can and will do better next time.  Yep, that means that I will be in the kitchen again cooking chicken!
Good luck to my kitchen and good luck to the next chicken!

Me in the kitchen - stop laughing!

Okay, so Heath is away on business.  I am trying to stay on tops of our monthly grocery store spending and I feel like I have gotten this down to a science.  There is a kink in my plan; Heath had to travel for business.  I already have the whole chicken defrosted in the fridge . . . now what?!  I have done some research, and I think that I will be cooking it in the crock pot.  As most of you know, I don't cook.  This should be exciting.  I will make the preparations tonight and cook it tomorrow.  I will let you know how it turns out.  If all is well, I may even take a few pictures!
Happy Cooking!

Oxi Day

For those of you that don't know, Oxi Day is celebrated throughout Greece.  Since Allie attends a partial Greek immersion school, we celebrate this day at school.  Allie had practiced for several weeks with the Oxi Day choir.  She was so proud of her accomplishment.  Here is a clip of here singing in Greek!

It's Fall!

It is officially November and so much has happened!   September flew by: Heath and I celebrated our 12th anniversary, the girls were in full swing at school, Brianna went on several field trips, and Allie went to the Yiasou Festival.  Then came October!  October has been a whirlwind as well.  My schoolyear has flown by.  Allie is loving second grade.  She did an amazing power point presentation on our town.  The hardest part was me NOT helping her with the typing and inserting pictures.  Brianna also loves school.  She went on a few more field trips to the theater and the fire station.  Friday (10/28) we celebrated our puppy's birthday along with the death of our beloved lab, Baxter.  Baxter was 12 years old.  He had lived a great life, and we know that he is in heaven eating all of the bread that he can find!  The girls enjoyed trick-or-treating yesterday.  Allie was a witch and Bri was a jaguar.  We went with our neighbors for our annual romp around the neighborhood.  I am so glad that the girls had fun, because I got upset at the amount of people who had all of their porch lights on and did not answer the door.  Happy Fall!

Where did August go?

So a lot has happened since the last post.  We visited my family in Florida.  That was a blast!  We rescued a puppy (our own little monster), Bella Grace.  She is keeping us on our toes and helping us baby-proof the house again!  Allie has returned to Socrates as a second grader.  She is in Mrs. McGill's class and loving it! Bri is continuing at Matthews Country Day, but only on a part time basis.  She attends "Daddy School" on Monday and Friday and attends MCD Tuesday-Thursday.  She enjoys this new change.  I even think that Heath is enjoying working with her during his "school" time.

We just helped our church celebrate their 1 year anniversary.  That was so fun!  It was amazing to see what God has done in our lives as well as our church's life over the past year.

At the beginning of September, Heath and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary.  I believe that this year was challenging, but has truly brought us together.  We rely on each other and have so many more meaningful conversations than ever before.  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who is also such an incredible father to our girls!

Happy Autumn!

The Villages, FL

Again this year, my parents rented a house in The Villages.  In case you are not familiar, it is Disney Land for retirees!  In their words, it is a "drinking community with a golfing problem."  We had an uneventful 8 hour car drive down.  Once we arrived, the girls swam, and swam, and swam.  Allie is now able to swim without floaties.  Seh proved this by swimming 2 lengths of the pool just so that Heath would get into the pool!  After all of that swimming, it was time for dancing.  The girls loved going to the town square each night for dancing, live music, and special drinks.  After dancing, the next favorite activity of choice was going on a golf cart ride, or in Brianna's words "golf horse ride."  Dad (or Papa) took the girls on a trolley ride through the Villages.  Since we missed the first trolley, we took the girls to the local Barnes and Noble for a free book and a smoothie.  While we were there, Brianna found the car of her dreams!  We had a blast in Florida again this year!