Thanksgiving 2011--The iPhone Photo Edition

The three of us went to Florida the Sunday before Thanksgiving so that we could leave Amelia with my parents for the week. (That kind of sounds cold, doesn't it...like we just dropped her off at the door and waved goodbye. We actually got to visit a little with our families, and trust me...Amelia was quite excited about a week with her Nana and Paw-Paw!)



Monday, Darryl and I drove on to Biloxi, where we spent the night at the Beau Rivage. We were by far the youngest people there. Darryl's cousin Hayes and his wife, Brandi, met us there for dinner and stayed the night, too. Oh, and Tuesday morning, I was able to fit in what I have dubbed "The Best Massage I've Ever Had" at the spa before we left. I know. It's a rough life. (Also, the Beau was beautifully decorated for Christmas. See?)



We had to make an important food stop on our way to Baton Rouge. (Call me a chicken finger snob, but this is so much better than Zaxby's.)



Once we arrived in Baton Rouge, we did a little shopping because our friends Rebecca and Damian weren't home from work yet. We had to stock up on our Tiger wardrobe because finding Tiger merchandise in Atlanta is, well, impossible.



On Wednesday, I was able to meet up with my friend Martha for lunch. Oh, how I miss Martha. We taught together at LSU and our offices were next door to each other. (She's very petite and I look like Shrek when I stand next to her. Oh, well.)



I tried to fit in as many visits to the Community Coffee House as I could. This was trip number 1.



On Thanksgiving Day, we got off to a rough start when a mysterious substance in the bottom of the stove started burning and smoked up the house. There is speculation that it might have been the pumpkin cheesecake I baked the night before, but I plead innocent. There is no evidence to support that accusation.



But our culinary efforts prevailed, and we enjoyed a lunch of fried turkey, dressing, macaroni and cheese, "Not Your Mama's Green Been Casserole," and twice baked sweet potatoes.



While the guys went to the LSU-Arkansas game on Friday, Rebecca and I engaged in some good Black Friday shopping. Because of the game and the fact that most stores opened at midnight, the crowds really weren't too bad. We kept our energy up with some CC's. Again.


On Saturday, our retail excursions led us to the bookstore on campus. This is just one of the hundreds of huge oak trees on campus.


Here we are, waiting for a table at our final dining excursion, DiGiulio's. Yes, we miss the awesome restaurants in Baton Rouge, but we miss our friends even more! Good times!


Damian likes Darryl's bald head. I won't offer any further comments on that.



Before we pulled out of Baton Rouge Sunday, we had to make one more stop.


We had a really awesome week. We have had a lot of good "family time" with the three of us, and each of us has had some great one-on-one time with Amelia, but Darryl and I haven't had much time together lately, so this was a nice little getaway for us. And Amelia and my parents had a great time camping. (My mom is going to blog about that at some point, so you can see all the fun they were having.) It was a wonderful Thanksgiving week!

I'm due for a Thanksgiving post...

Y'all. I'm tired.

When I feel a spark of more energy--I hope in the next day or two--I will post about our Thanksgiving. Darryl and I went to Baton Rouge to stay with our friends, and Amelia went camping with the grandparents. Much fun was had by all!

A more in-depth update soon, I promise!

Amelia Turns 4!

Amelia's birthday was this past Saturday. (I cannot believe she is already four. Where did the time go?)

Since I'm not working right now (anyone want to hire me?), I decided to do the party myself rather than have it at a "jump and bounce" place like we've done for the past two years. We had the party at a local park so that the kids could play on the playground and enjoy the nice weather.

Amelia wanted a Toy Story party, so I did my best to oblige. Only about six kids were able to come--along with my parents and my cousin and her husband--so it was a small group, but I think that made the party more laid back and enjoyable.

Here is the main table. (That pennant banner drove me NUTS, thanks to the wind. Fortunately, Darryl was able to get it to stay put.)


Here's the birthday girl, blowing out her candle. (Excuse the "mess" of the Potato Heads in the background. They were meant to be centerpieces but ended up being played with!)




Actually, I guess those were more like "looking at her candle" shots.

Anyway, here are some other party photos...

Here are my parents. (I think my dad was eating pizza.)



Here are Amelia and Anna, our next-door neighbor, chasing each other.



Here are Amelia and her friend Ava.



I probably should have stopped Amelia from going headfirst down the slide, but haven't we all broken the rules at some point??


Anna and her mom:



Sophia and Ava, swinging:



This is Alejandro. If he stays as sweet as he is now, I would totally be okay with Amelia dating him in about 12 years.


Here are the three of us. Five of us if you count my double chin and sunglasses.


When we got home, we opened some presents. Amelia got many nice things, but here are a couple of my favorite shots.

She received some boots from her Nana and Paw-Paw:


And she received this doll from BeeBee (Vicky) and Robert. Is it just me, or do she and this doll look alike?


It was a super-fun day with friends and family. Amelia is truly a blessed little girl, but we feel even more blessed to be her parents!

Stuff

I definitely need to get back on the blog train. Amelia's birthday was this past Saturday, and I most certainly need to write about that, right?

Here's hoping that I can muster up some blogging energy and get some posts up this week...

Sweeney Todd Confessions

Confession #1: I miss working with high school students. Now, I don't regret leaving my job when we did because I think I did the right thing for personal reasons, BUT what I do miss most is the students themselves (and my colleagues).

Confession #2: A little over a week ago, I saw my former school's production of Sweeney Todd at Region One Act Competition and fell in love with the show. I had never seen Sweeney Todd before -- I knew Sweeney was a barber who killed his clients and something about pies baked out of the bodies -- but that's all I knew. Well, after seeing the 50+-minute version for One Act, I went back Tuesday night, with Blayne, her daughter, and her daughter's boyfriend in tow, to see the full 2+-hour version. (Submissions for One Act have to be 55 minutes or less, thus a shorter version for competition and the full version for the community's enjoyment.) And once again, I loved the show!

The music is AMAZING (I have listened to the soundtrack daily since purchasing it a week ago). The story is compelling and sad (poor Sweeney Todd). But...BUT...the best part is that these students, under the direction of my friend Kim, performed this extremely difficult show EXCEPTIONALLY well. The voices were beautiful, the ensemble numbers were powerful...it was just so very good.

SO...put those "confessions" together and I ended up going to the State One Act Competition in Warner Robbins to see these students perform this show yet one more time. I've wanted to go to the state competition several times before, but I was always prevented from doing so by either conflicting plans or stacks of essays that needed to be graded. Nothing stopped me this time!

Tim and I were the only ones from "our" group to watch all eight shows in the competition. This is what we felt like after watching essentially eight hours of plays/musicals:



Our school was AWESOME...in a league of their own. There were some other strong competitors, but in the end, the best show won! I'm so proud of Kim and these students! This honor was well deserved!

It was a fun day. (And, as a bonus...I got home just in time to see LSU beat Alabama. Woot woot!)

38

Last Thursday, I turned 38.

For the first time ever, I was able to spend my birthday with my girl all day. In all actuality, it probably was more of a day full of things Amelia likes to do, but if my girl is having fun, then I'm having fun, too!

The day got off to a delicious start when my friend Blayne brought over a chocolate cake (my favorite!!), and we had cake for breakfast!


After that, Amelia and I went to the mall where Amelia scored a Rapunzel doll at the "Mickey Mouse Store."

Then we had Auntie Anne's pretzels for lunch.


Then Amelia and Rapunzel rode the carousel.


And then we went to see Puss in Boots.

It was a fun day with my girl, and then when Darryl got home, we went out to eat. (Originally my request had been for us to have chili dogs at home--because who loves a chili dog? I do!--but it was pouring rain outside by that point so Darryl couldn't work the grill.

All in all, the day was a great start to being 38!

Trick or Treat!!

For the second year in a row, Amelia went trick-or-treating with her friend Sophia in Sophia's neighborhood. It has become my favorite part of Halloween because they have SO much fun.

These photos are really in scrambled order, but oh well.

Here's Amelia totally thrilled with her trick-or-treat experience:



Amelia and Sophia met up with their friend Connor. Here's the group, complete with Connor's and Sophia's younger siblings. (It's very hard to get five kids to look at the camera, but I think it's a cute photo anyway.)


Here are Connor and Amelia going up to a "spooky" house:

Juxtaposition: a beautiful Rapunzel in a spooky graveyard.


Amelia knows no fear. About this ghost, she said, "I want to go up to her and meet her." Um...is this my child???


They ran into another friend (whose name escapes me at the moment) who is in their class at daycare.


A rare photo of the three of us. Amelia's expression cracks me up!



Good friends! Good times!!