a day in the life

I made Tortilla Soup, which was delicious. I'm going to make it again at my brother's. Here's the recipe if you're interested! Slow Cooker Tortilla Soup 

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This is above the piano in our living room. The painting is of Raoul when he was a baby. His dad painted it. I want to get a picture of Emma sitting at the piano with her sippy cup with this in the background, but I haven't done it yet.  

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I made cinnamon rolls for the first time in years last night. They were yummy. I think I'll make another batch to take to my brothers. Our company coming tomorrow has a lot of food allergies, so I have no idea what to make for them. 

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This is at Jimmy Carter's Boyhood Home on Christmas Day. We live about 15 minutes away from it, so it makes a nice outing. They've got animals and sometimes reenactments.  

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I finished these on Christmas Eve, when I took this pic. . They're my own pattern, but you can't tell how cute they are without a model.  

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When my parents were here they taught the kids Marco Polo. They all had fun playing, even Mom and Pop. 

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I was feeling awful the day Coleen put this, so I just snuggled up in a sleeping bag with a book. Emma thought it looked like fun, so she joined me.  

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This is a Bald Eagle at Callaway Gardens. It came a lot closer than this, actually right over my shoulder, but this is the best pic I got with my phone. We're looking forward to going back in the spring. 

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I just love this pic.  

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Kitty calls it a bednight snack instead of a midnight snack. They're having butternut squash, one of their favorites. 

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This is our school room now. It's mostly picked up, but the table needs to be cleared off. 

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Kitty got an Angelina Learn to Dance Ballet set for a gift while she was at Grammy's. This is her doing it. 

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This was taken back in early November. I'm trying to play catch up, but I've missed a lot of days due to no camera.  

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Emma loves dressing up in this costume. She especially likes the little feet. 

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Well, since I didn't take the picture of my cow, I thought I'd post another pic that I took yesterday. This is what Raoul, Mom, and Jon surprised me with for my birthday. The gal Jon is staying with sings back-up for Vince Gill, so we drove up to Atlanta for the concert. She took us backstage on the bus and all around. We would have met "the man" but he had a rough night and kind of lost his temper during the first half of the show. It was rather humorous to us but not so much to him. By the second half though he was cheerful again. He has a neat box set out with 4 cds of different genres. Raoul really, really enjoyed the bluegrass section. He was a much better musician than I thought previously. I'd go see him again, especially if I get in free again LOL. 

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This is what I've asked for for my birthday. Since its today, I thought I'd post a picture of her. Her name is April, and she's 6 years old. Paul wants a horse, but I don't think he's going to get that either. This is the first time he's been away from me on his birthday. I'm sad about that. 

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This is one of our dogs, Katie, who decided that she was a house dog today. I was in the bedroom and came out to her in the living room. She had pushed the back door open and made herself at home. I had a hard time getting her out, but finally did. I wouldn't mind her in the house too much, but she sheds something fierce! 

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This is part of the little viaduct former POWs built at Andersonville Prison for the Providence Spring. The story behind the appearance of the spring is beautiful. We went with my in-laws before they took the older kids back to Indiana with them. 

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This is Coleen, Kitty, and my mother-in-law playing the Twister Game she bought for the kids. They're leaving tomorrow and taking Coleen and Paul to see their cousins in Indiana for 3 weeks. 

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Emma is the first of my children to get attached to an inanimate object. She found this doll at a thrift store and wouldn't let go. Whenever we tried to move the doll away she would wake up and pull it closer. 

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wash our clothes, wash our clothes. This is the way we wash our clothes, early in the morning.
We were waiting to put the washer in until Raoul tiled the floor and I repainted the laundry room, but we reached critical mass on the laundry situation before that could happen. This is after 3 loads were washed, so you can imagine just how much there was before. Three of our ministers came by this afternoon, just to see the place. It was great to see them again and to have them help carry in our beast of a sofa. It's antique and quite heavy, so I was dreading having to haul it in here. Then Raoul's parents got here about 9PM to stay for a few days. They've got a few days off from watching his sister's kids, so they thought they'd come see our new place.

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I was making Butternut Squash for supper to go with our beans and rice (Raoul's favorite meal), but while I was pulling them out of the oven Emma ran underneath me and tripped me. The hot water I'd baked them in spilled all over the floor and splashed the two of us. I tried to scooch her out of the way with my foot to keep her from getting burned by the boiling waterfall, which made me do the splits considering the floor was soaked. I dropped the pan, but only one squash fell on the floor. We ended up eating the saved ones, though they look a little worse for wear. 

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Raoul thought he'd break in the piano in the new house, so the kids had to break in the carpet. They love, love, love the Maple Leaf Rag.

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