Fall Festivals and Outings

We've had fun exploring around Georgia and participating in local events and festivals. (Festibals, Bea calls them.) We're also really happy that we're still close enough to reach our favorite orchard in the NC mountains. We took our annual apple picking trip and then detoured back down to Charlotte for the Perez birthday bash.
We went to a garlic festival in the Georgia mountains, Bea's preschool fall festival, and the Watkinsville Fall Festival. We tried funnel cake for the first time (delicious) and Bea got to ride the ponies. We are really enjoying life in a smaller town!

Happy Halloween

October seemed to last forever and we've got lots of fun pictures on the way. I have to say, I'm glad we've moved on. Halloween was fun though--we did a trunk or treat at church and hit the Trick or Treating event in downtown Watkinsville. Plenty of candy for everyone and plenty of costume time. Maddie didn't trick or treat this year because she felt too old. It's just a little thing, but marks another milestone for us of our girls growing up.

**Rob's mom sent us Season 1 of CHiPs on DVD and Bea is kind of obsessed with it. She was determined to be "Sindy", the only female member of CHiPs. I loved that show too and it was such a great idea that I had to oblige.

Saturday is a Special Day!

We had the best Saturday this weekend. First of all, everyone slept until 9am. I actually got 10+ hours of sleep, which hasn't happened in years. I felt so great when I woke up.

Rob and I got the girls started on breakfast and went on a 5-mile run. The weather was glorious--we are feeling fall in the air with cool mornings and a few leaves starting to turn. We stopped at a cool yard sale along the way, ran on a beautiful wooded trail for a while, and then found a treasure on the roadside. Someone had cut down a tomato bush and set it in the ditch--it had a dozen perfect green tomatoes still on it. So we stripped it bare and finished our run with hands full of tomatoes. We cut through the farmers market near our house and some lovely eggplants caught my eye, but I didn't have any money with me.

Since the market is just a block from our house, I sent Eloise and Sarah on a grown up errand to purchase eggplant while I got cleaned up. This is a definite plus to having older kids!

As we were finishing lunch, a family from our ward showed up in our yard with their pickup loaded with wood. We had mentioned we wanted wood for our stove this winter and they remembered us as they chopped down trees in their yard. They were so kind to deliver it for us!

I have been miserable with the gas stove in our house and Rob found a better one for me on Craigslist. After lots of work and tinkering, he got that hooked up for me and I'm happy to report that it works MUCH better than the old one. We broke it in by making s'mores after lunch--roasting our 'mallows in the gas flame. Much easier than building a campfire!

Next we headed over to the library book sale and scored some sweet new books. Now that the weather has cooled, we are enjoying evening reading on our front porch swing and rockers.

Stopped for a few groceries at the store on the way home. I have been dying to make this fig tart, and wanted to get some of the last figs of the season. It's on the menu for tomorrow, so I'll let you know how it turns out. While at the store, we were headed to the checkout with Rob in the lead. A lady came around the corner and took an appraising look at us and then started to laugh. She looked Rob in the eye and said, "You're outnumbered," followed by a knowing, cackling laugh. It was so random and funny.

For dinner, we ate fried green tomatoes with chipotle mayo (I've wanted to make them ever since we moved to the South, and they did not disappoint!) We also used our eggplant to make this, served over plain cooked quinoa. It was seriously delicious.

The long, amazing day ended with Maddie going to her first church dance in Georgia (which she enjoyed). The one blight was hitting an armadillo on the way home from the church. They are quite common here, but I can't get over the sight of them--super creepy roadkill. The article said they are sometimes called "hillbilly road bumps" for their tendency to get run over. They also carry leprosy. Yikes.

All in all though, such a good day. We are loving Georgia.

A little something sweet...

Since we knew so long ahead of time that we'd be moving, we tried to use up a lot of our food storage over the past year. A nice lady in our Georgia ward was getting rid of hers and moving to smaller cans since her kids are all grown up. So we scored several free buckets of wheat, oats, dried apple slices, and a modern miracle called 'Chocolate Morning Moo'. It's sort of like powdered milk, but more like chocolate milk mix and my kids LOVE it. It's killing them to have a 50 lb. bucket of chocolate powder sitting in the kitchen. This morning Sarah said, "For breakfast dessert, can we have a glass of chocolate moo?" I'm not sure which I love more--that she asked for breakfast dessert or that she's begging for powdered milk?

Baby Bea leaves the nest...

This girl is growing up too fast. We ask her all the time to stop and she just laughs and says, "I can't help it!" After touring a preschool near our house, she told me, "Mom, I just keep thinking of sitting at that little table with all the other kids, learning stuff." She has been my good little friend these last few years and I'm lonely without her, but she is so ready and so excited to have a special place to go and learn on her own. Rob bought her a new backpack and she loves it dearly. She also likes to choose her outfit and hair-do each school day. She goes 3 days a week, so we still have time to play together.

Back to School 2011

This year is a first for us--all four girls in 4 different schools. We just started our third week of school and nobody has cried yet, so I'm calling it a success. The bus picks up right at our front gate and we're happy the girls are in schools that are closer to home.

Maddie started high school and early morning seminary and is LOVING it all. She scored some sweet finds at a thrift store and has put some great outfits together. Her favorite class is Drama (surprise!)

Eloise is a good sport and puts up with middle school, even though she doesn't love it. She is doing choir this year and her favorite class is Math. She would rather spend her time crafting (see Rob's birthday pictures).

Sarah almost missed the bus the first day so we didn't get a picture. She is enjoying school and has made lots of friends. Her favorite class is science. She has become quite a weather expert and gave us daily updates on Hurricane Irene.

Rob started school again too (teaching 'Law & Policy' and 'Public Administration & Democracy'). He commutes once a week to another campus about an hour away, but he is really happy not to be commuting from Charlotte! He successfully turned one year older, bringing him closer to his dream of growing old with me.

We finished off our first week of school with a swim in our neighbor's pool. They have a lovely pool and slide and no kids, so they were nice to invite us over. The girls loved it.

Family Outings

We've had a busy August:

• Harry Potter 2 (the older girls dressed up and went with friends)
• Girl's Camp in NC for Maddie and Ellie (her first time--she loved it!)
• a family trip to the mountains to pick them up
• amazing peaches from South Carolina (even better than the famed "Georgia Peaches")
• blueberry picking (3 times! We only stopped because our freezer was full)
• swimming in a local lake

That was all in the first week and a half. School started August 10th here and that deserves its own post!

Utah adventures

Part II of the belated vacation review . . .

Way to go Idaho

As promised, the adventures continue. We're just behind in recording them. The following slideshow catches some of the fun in Idaho this last summer.

The adventures continue

From moving2011

(Rob) Interpret our blog silence as part laziness and part exhaustion. We have finally made the transition from NC to GA. We're missing old friends, getting used to a new house, looking forward to making new friends, and trying to figure out why we own and move so much stuff. In short, we're doing well and anticipating new adventures (posts to follow on our other summer adventures).

Real Marathon: Happy Mother's Day Flori

(Rob) Flori is amazing as a woman, wife, mother, and now . . . marathoner. We ran her first marathon yesterday. It was a bit more than we expected as we transitioned from rolling country hills to several miles of steep mountain grades (some between 10 and 16 percent). But Flori finished strong.

There were several highlights. At one of the aid stations a family was handing out water and gatorade. Their ~6 year old daughter had her head down and was focusing on getting the cups just right. As we walked through the aid station we stopped to get one of her cups. I said, "thanks, (and pointing to Flori), see what girls can do." She looked up from her work and you could see this sweet realization and inspiration come over her face as she saw Flori. Girls can do hard things. The next highlight was at the top of the mountain climb. Beautiful views (and the power gel wasn't bad either); a spectacular combination of running through mountains, meadows, and riversides (see New River, which many claim is one of our oldest rivers).

Finally, a great highlight was coming to the finish line and seeing our neighbors who had driven all the way up to cheer us in (thanks for the video) and other friends who made a yard sign that greeted us when we got home.

Spring Birthday Marathon

(Rob) Maddie, Sarah Jane, Flori, and Bea all celebrate birthdays within 2 action-packed months. Eloise and I feel a little left out, but we'll make it up to ourselves later in the year.

April Foolery

Rob and I had the great idea to draw mustaches on Maddie and Eloise for April Fool's. They were surprised, but in typical teenage fashion, washed them off before anyone could see and then they tried to pretend nothing had happened. Just by coincidence, our friends did the same thing to their two boys, but got a much better reaction....

The most important day of the year!

I had a birthday (shout Hooray!) last week and had an awesome day. Rob and I went horseback riding (thanks, Groupon!) and I got to ride an enormous Percheron draft horse named Belle. We had a trail ride through a nature preserve and it was a beautiful, peaceful, sunny morning. All the trees are flowering right now and it was just lovely.

We had lunch with friends and then other friends over for dinner that night. I had a huge chocolate cake. I received wonderful, thoughtful gifts. On Saturday the girls decorated my door and Rob made me waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. Can my life be any sweeter, really? Thank you everyone who made me feel special today!

Eloise drew this poster of me and labeled all the things she loves about me. My very favorite is the "curly hair that keeps awesomeness in".

Weekend Getaway

Rob had some work in Wilmington, so the girls and I hitched along for the ride and spent a couple of days on Wrightsville Beach. The water was awfully cold (ice on your ankles cold), but it was 80 degrees and sunny skies, so we enjoyed plenty of long walks, shell collecting and playing on the sand dunes. Most of the pictures below were taken from one spot--as I lay on my towel watching the girls play. It is SO nice to be at a stage where they need minimal supervision and can entertain themselves and each other for long periods of time.

Maddie and Sarah saw dolphins one morning from our hotel window. I got to go on a long run on the beach. Rob accomplished some good work (interviews and research). Bea and I made up a great story about a mermaid who lost her necklace. I cherish the memory of her sweet little face close to mine and the tiny grains of sand all over her cheeks. It was a pretty great weekend...

Sunshine in January

**just found this in my folder...WAY behind schedule this time**

A little behind schedule, but we do have a good excuse, as we've been getting the house ready to go back on the market. Pictures of updates to come, but if you know anyone moving to Charlotte, please have them email us.

But BEFORE we started all the work, we had 10 days of crazy fun with my parents in town. Crazy because Maddie and Eloise were wrapping up their middle school musical, Annie, and had a busy schedule of rehearsals and performances. Crazy because Rob was starting his new semester at UGA and now he's gone two days a week. Crazy because we tried to cram all sorts of projects and activities and delicious meals into one week.

But so so fun! (It's always fun with Nanny and Grandpa.) Fun because we got to see the girls perform and they did great! Fun because we learned how to make taffy.

Fun because I got to paint and watch movies with my dad. Fun because we took a walking tour of uptown Charlotte. Fun because my mom and I set up 3 sewing machines and made a huge stinkin' mess and a ton of cute stuff!!!!

Our tour of Uptown Charlotte:

Seriously, what the heck?

Our family albums are all packed up in our storage unit, but we came across a few classic Maddie shots the other night. When we compared those to the latest version, we were shocked with the realization that our baby has grown so quickly. Two blinks, and it's gone. Happy Birthday, lovely girl.

You can do it Bruce (one bite at a time)

(Rob) One of our favorite movies is Matilda, and one of our favorite parts is where Bruce Bogtrotter is forced by the principal to eat an enormous chocolate cake. With a little encouragement from his classmates he does the impossible . . . one bite at a time.

In 2009, I bought a running watch to track the distance of each run. I suppose I didn't set any concrete goals, but had hoped to log 1,000 miles within a year or so. It took nearly two years and several pairs of running shoes, but at the Chinese New Year I celebrated 1,011 miles . . . a handful of miles at a time.

Flori and I were listening to the girls practice piano yesterday. Flori said, "wow, they're sounding really great." The fruits of hours and hours of accumulated practice . . . thirty minutes at a time.

Flori is looking and feeling especially healthy and is meeting her fitness goals. She's avoided thousands of calories by skipping desserts . . . one day at a time.

So if you overhear us say, "you can do it Bruce," you'll know a slow but monumental change is underway.

Go Brucie!!