Sunday, December 3, 2017

Christmas kitties!!

Friday, 12.8.17
πŸŽ„πŸŽ…Merry early Christmas to us!!!!!!!!
Welcome to the family, Miles and Milly!!πŸΎπŸ˜»πŸ’™

They're our snow kitties!
8" of unexpected snow and Christmas kitties in the same day, I apologize now for the large amount of pictures that will follow :)
**They were calling for a  "light dusting"  I'd say they got it wrong!  It snowed hard for about 30 hours straight.
**early dismissal = picking the kids up with all the pets still in the car = no time for surprises and red ribbons on kitties!

We had put the kids on the bus and it was already ever so lightly snowing, so I remember calling and moving my afternoon appointment with the humane society to as soon as I could get there :)  I picked them out from the Forsyth County Humane Society over near our old stomping grounds in North Forysth/ almost Dawsonville.  Coleson had a co-worker at the time who volunteered up there and put us in touch with someone [I'm writing this two years later, so the details are a little fuzzy!].  I had spoken with this lady at length on the phone, and she wanted me to bring Maya with me to make sure a cat would be a good fit for everyone.  Maya was so cute and timid and just stood there surrounded by all these cats looking at me like 'what have you done to me!?'  Miles, the black and white boy, took an immediate liking to Maya, so he was a no-brainer.  He had two sisters/litter mates in the room with him, both solid black.  For about two and a half seconds I thought about all three, but fortunately that didn't last long!  In fact, I was sending Coleson texts and pictures while I was there, but he was in meetings.  The only reply I got during this time period was basically - do NOT get three, hehe!!!  We had briefly talked the possibility of two, but three would have pushed us right on over the edge!  As it is two are a handful.  But Chloe LOVES them.  And now that they're over two [and declawed, don't tell!], they seem to be settling down finally.  Miles is the cuddler and still thinks Maya hung the moon.  Milly can be super sweet too, but doesn't often sit with you like Miles does.  They are truly two peas in a pod though.  They're almost always together and especially in the early days would usually be snuggled up together somewhere.

So by the time I picked them out and did all the paperworking and everything, it was snowing pretty hard, at least in north Forsyth.  Pretty sure I made a quick stop at the Rucker pet next door for basic supplies - most of it was free with coupons from the adoption.  By the time I got back to our side of town, the snow was really picking up, and they had begun the process of trying to close the schools.  Early dismissals are a mess in case you're wondering.  And I do remember the kids all saying they had eaten lunch - even if it was just grabbing it from the cafeteria and eating in classrooms or hallways.  This way it counted as a full day of school and didn't take away from our built-in snow days!  Of course we'd go on to miss at least Monday, can't remember if we were out any more then that.  

I pulled into Macedonia to collect my three kiddos and timed it so that the Conleys were there too.  I had hoped of course to present the kitties at home that afternoon with ribbons and surprises and fanfare and whatever.  But instead, as we walked to the car I was having to explain to them that their Christmas gift was in there [along with Maya still too!].  Ms. Alyson took a video, and we all visited with the kitties for a minute or two before heading for the warmth and safety of home.  

It snowed ALL day Friday and through the night, about 30 hours with an official snowfall total of 8"  Not shabby considering they weren't even predicating any accumulation!  Oops, they got that one wrong.  But we enjoyed alternating between playing in the snow and warming up inside with our new furry babies.  There's an overload of pictures of course.  There would have been just for new cats or just for snow.  Put the two together....  

As everyone knows, I don't care much for snow.  A day here or there is fine, but then bring on spring.  I will say though, this is one of the few, if only, big snows that I remember being before Christmas.  I did think the snow on all the lights was beautiful!!  So pretty and peaceful.  Also of note, we live on the shady side of the street.  Every time it snows it takes us longer to melt away.  It's such a stark difference too.  In fact, we had patches of snow until it rained nine days later, eekk!!  Also, it wasn't an overly cold snow.  So the streets never got bad or icy.  The snow was a great snow - perfect for lots of snowman building and sledding.  And yet, we could still drive comfortably and confidently.  

So anyways, I'll stop rambling now, here's a small sampling of the millions of pictures of our snow kitties ....      






Kaden and Ryan enjoying
the rare good-snowman-building snow 
Gracie, Abs, and Hannah

Zoey and Chloe





photo credit to Abby :)

it didn't take long for the afternoon sledding
and snowman-rolling tracks to cover over again


so glad I took a few mins to wander outside. 
It was so unbelievably calm and pretty and quiet.

Christmas lights in snow are absolutely stunning!! 
We don't usually get snow before Christmas


Saturday morning we woke up in the Artic circle


why yes, yes, this is our backyard!


most snows, kids sled on this stretch of road,
but it wasn't even slippery, all watery slush
we made it to the front of the neighborhood
where we played with the Griggs and the Taylors.

This little hill by the playground
was perfect for sledding!

Josh Grigg and Chloe
I bribed them for this picture - right after I took it,
Josh got to throw that snowball at me :)

Chloe and Addie Taylor


first full family selfie!

Soooo sweet!!!! 
And these two were still sleeping together when
I peeked in a couple of hours later before I went to bed

church was snowed out,
lazy Sunday morning

Saturday, December 2, 2017

early December 2017

I finally decorated the Charlie Brown tree with lights and tacky ornaments.
And Coleson did the rest of the awesome lights, Merry Christmas!


Seth starred in MES's performance of Shrek.  We gifted him my original Shrek poster!  It was curled up in a poster tube that was addressed to Amy Crouse in my Athens apt in May 2002 :)


 Reindeer Run 5k with my favorite little runner!
He's a speedy little one!  Ryan finished in 25:45 and I finished in 27:40
He ran ahead of me, but I was able to see him across the open park almost the whole time - loved that he had on his bright red Falcons hat!  And I love running local races where we always know race volunteers, makes me feel more comfortable :) 

Santa visit, check!  hehe

Married Leader's Date Night at Woodstock City church
complete with a photographer, a great meal, 
a speaker [Kenn Kington], games, etc




Friday, December 1, 2017

Christmas card pictures 2017

We borrowed the Conleys' fancy camera and took these on the fields behind Avery.  I didn't charge the camera though, and the battery died.  We used Coleson's work iPhone to take the ones on the playground, and they were our favorites anyways!  Hooray for technology?!







cutest and funniest outtake :)

This year's winner!!  love my babies!!





Thursday, November 2, 2017

Thanksgiving in Florida / end of November 2017

Wednesday - a run for me :) and the movie Wonder

Finally a decent sand hill crane selfie. 
I resisted the urge to take a selfie with the
10' gator that was sunning by the pond.


We haven't seen a movie in probably six months and now we've seen two in the same week!  [we saw The Star with the Conleys just a few days before this]
Thanks to Grandma for buying Ryan this book.  As much as I enjoyed the movie, I can't imagine how good the book must be.

Thanksgiving Thursday! - we watched the Macy's Parade, passing along the tradition 

feeding the sand hills


Emily loved Maya,
and I loved how good Maya was with Emily!

Thanksgiving Dinner
with Steve and Howard too




Friday fun!!



Silly selfies while waiting to see our favorite golfers to go past!

Ryan was mostly the golf cart driver and score keeper, but he hit a few too.
"I'm good for my age, but overall I'm horrible"
Thanks to Grandpa for taking the guys out! 




Back home in time for a relaxing Sunday around the house - outdoor Christmas decorations and raking leaves among other things.


A beautiful late-November afternoon watching these awesome girls put on their performance for me :)
They worked really hard on their routine.  
However, I think Chloe and Zoey dancing in the background stole the show :)
There's some pretty priceless videos to go along with these photos!
I love these girls!  ::  Abby, Kinsley, Hannah, Chloe, Kayla, Zoey, Gracie




Eekkk!!!  My baby is sitting in the
back row in a real booster seat!!

I can't believe this picture actually came out!  They were playing on the dome when I had the ah-ha let me lay down and take a picture looking up idea.  And it worked!
Loving the wonderful weather this week and all the extra time outside!



And what a wonderful day it was!
That picture of Abby and Great-Grandma is one my favs,
it's framed in her room :)