Faves.

Some of my favorite photos and moments on the beach during Thanksgiving. 

I love that my Mom does a fashion show with the grand-kids every year. I love that we have our own traditions that resemble our family and not so much the Pilgrims. I love that Pa-K spends time building sand castles, digging "pools" in the sand. I love that my brother and sister in law are there for the week because that time is priceless. I love my family and feel so blessed that we have this time together every year. My heart is full. My cup runneth over. Love you all SO much!!!

Sea of Bubbles.

We were at this really cool restaurant in Gulf Shores when the Manager came outside, dumped some concoction into this machine and 20 minutes later, BuBbLeS!!!

It was a mixture of soy and sugar water. Essentially, making HUGE bubbles that don't hurt your eyes and tastes strangely sweet. The girls had that big belly laughter that you get when you are filled with complete joy. It was so fun. 

~They ate, made a wish on a wishing wall, played in the ginormous sand box and swam in a sea of bubbles ~

A day in the life of childhood!

Family Getaway.

On a warm November day....WHAT? Yeah, you heard me correctly, it was a warm day in November and the girls were on the beach in swimwear. We spent the week with family and it was a complete blast. There was shell hunting, wave jumping, sand art, fashion shows, photo shoots, great meals, awesome company and family. What more could you want on a warm day in the winter? OH, I know...fresh grapefruit from Pere's garden, add vodka with salt.

Word.

Sometimes, during the holidays, people WIG out on each other. It happens.  


In my family, we all stay together, in one condo, for a week. We learn something about each other every year. We wholeheartedly love one another and that is such a beautiful thing to me.

This tradition is a fond one embedded in my heart and in the hearts of my children, forever. Times like these are truly priceless. Even if we are wiggin' out on each other.....

Traditions....

We stopped in Houston to visit Paw Paw and Gordie at the RV park for 2 nights. It rained the entire weekend we were in Houston, but we managed to find a little fun at the clubhouse, playing pool, working out and a little trip to Sam Moon :~) (for work, wink wink)

Here, the girls are making homemade, sprouted flour biscuits with Nan-E. They were super yummy and the girls have a tradition of baking something good in the kitchen with Nan-E at Thanksgiving. Thank goodness for Nan-E's baking skills, that gene definitely did NOT get passed on to me. My baked goods look more like a science experiment, geez.

We always do the line up for pictures. The usual suspects, only, our faces change, our bodies change (well, some of us more than others), our hair...forever changing (ok, just my hair), the girls grow taller and we change our shirt color to define the year. I love to see the progression we have made each year. This year, I wanted to try to do something different than that usual cookie cutter photo....only, I couldn't take an action shot from in front of my camera. So, sans moi, here it is....

From Left to Right: Ted, Mel, Pa-K, Nan-E, T-bone (top row)
Gabrielle, Bella, Lexie (bottom row)

Here is the Betty Crocker, cookie cutter, everyone say "cheese" for about 30 seconds straight, don't blink, look at the camera....no, not at the seagull, oh...ok, lets try again. Say Cheese, don't blink, look at the camera...oops the wind pushed my hair right across Lexie's face....one more time......(it is freezing out here, please be good enough, please be, whew, ok, this one works, let's go inside and play Guitar Hero).
Maybe next year I will have done my research, learned a little about photography snapshots vs. poses, along with the technicals of my camera and will have (fingers crossed) a dynamic, frame worthy photograph for the 2010 Thanksgiving Week.

The main thing is, we are building traditions that will make a mark on our children's lives and we will resource this time together, as a family, when we need to fill that void when life gets in the way of spending time together. Thanksgiving always marks a time that I am especially thankful for the incredible family I have and how important they are to me.
I hope your Thanksgiving week was fulfilling and that you are building a tradition for yourself and your family that will provide you with many years of happy memories.....

Happy Thanksgiving Y'ALL

Ok, SO I'M FASHIONABLY LATE...

Here they are, our little turkeys in their shirts.

It's the holidays, you're gonna gobble til ya wobble anyhow!

THANKSGIVING Thankful Thursday

It has been a while since I have posted a Thankful Thursday, however, that doesn't mean that I am without thanks....It doesn't mean that I am without time, either, there is just as much time in my day as the next person's....
I know that even if I don't post the things I am thankful for, that I am still thankful for them in my heart.

Today, I am thankful that we have this day to celebrate being Thankful. To GIVE thanks. What does that mean exactly?

1. An act of giving thanks; an expression of gratitude, especially to God: a hymn of thanksgiving.

So, in honor of celebrating "THANKS"giving, I am thankful to God for giving us this divine land to live on, for my children and the love they have in their hearts, for my family and I am thankful for the ability to know what it is to give thanks.
I am also VERY thankful that I don't live next door to people like this.....

I hope your celebration today, and going forward, will be to give thanks to God for all of your blessings, whether few or many.

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all!

We are THANKFUL!

I am thankful for my Mom and Kenny as they orchestrate and continue our family tradition of "Thanksgiving on the beach". (We look forward to spending it with you next year, how about the Bahamas?)
Traditions are such an important part of our familial existence. I firmly believe that traditions are a vital ingredient in keeping family values alive. Traditions are something to look forward to and continue on through many generations.
I am also thankful to God for keeping all of you safe, fed, healthy and happy this holiday season.
I am grateful for Dana and Eric for hosting my family this Thanksgiving Day. Please send me good thoughts as I try to prepare the apple sausage stuffing today. This is something I have never done before.

We woke up this Thanksgiving Day morning to something completely out of the ordinary for us. COLD weather and a YUMMY FIREPLACE. It was so nice to have coffee on our sofa, cozy by the fire....Ok, it is not a chop the wood up, haul it and stack it on a rack fireplace, it is gas, and it lights up by remote, but HEY, it is a fireplace. Something we have really missed about Texas.
We also have a brick house, something Tim has longed for since the very day we moved to Tampa.

I am thankful for my children's artistic abilities. Bella painted this Turkey from scratch, then named it Tim. Did I mention that I am also thankful for their sense of humor, and their intelligence for not naming the turkey Charisse?

We are thankful that "Fluffy" (the girls named this strapping young buck) let us get close enough to him so we could feed him apple corn feed. We are thankful that Fluffy lives in our neighborhood so that we can enjoy feeding him and teaching our girls about nature, without getting poison ivy.

I want to thank you for reading my blog. I hope that each of you have a list of somethings to be thankful for today, and every day.
Have a blessed Thanksgiving Day!