Getting Colder

The cloudless skies and mild temperatures finally gave way to a steady drizzle accompanied by a cold wind blowing out of the north.

Luckily Agnes is prepared for such indoor weather. After a few short minutes of over sized origami made slightly more difficult by a three year old "helping", Noah and Andrew had themselves a grocery store with working doors and windows.

You only had to saunter up with a few pennies (Andrew refers to any coins as pennies) and the finest plastic produce in Midtown could be yours. Andrew worked the window while Noah handled stocking, which mainly involved flinging plastic food items around the store.

In what has become a Sunday morning tradition, I bring out my old box of Lego's. I can only imagine that I looked something like this when these tiny blocks were in the hands of their original owner.

Look at the concentration and imagination of Andrew. I'm not exactly sure what thoughts Shelby is experiencing though. After church, Andrew asked me when we were going to see Peter Pan at the theater. I misread last year's show dates for this year and I was hoping he had forgotten that I mentioned, in passing, that attending the play was a possibility. Alas, the child never forgets a comment, promise or opportunity that is in his favor so I was on hook for some sort of performing arts entertainment. I was able to bargain my way out of trouble with a trip to the movie theater. So, I looked up the shortest running animated movie playing at Malco and Andrew and I ventured out into the chilly rain to see "Puss in Boots".

The sting of the cost for tickets and concessions was lessened because Agnes hooked us up with a $20 gift card she won at work for a paper airplane throwing contest. I could have sworn they were paying her to do taxes.

As we crept into the evening after the movies, sous chef Andrew once again stepped into the kitchen to help prepare buttermilk biscuits to go along with the potato soup that was on the menu for dinner.

They were, much like the rest of the weekend...delicious.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Although this happened last weekend, I'm throwing it in with this post. Santa Claus came to the Pink Palace...In a Freakin' Helicopter!

I know, it's a little early for a visit to Santa, but come on, a helicopter. After the landing, we go inside and wait in line to go through the Enchanted Forest and see the big man.

The big hits of the Enchanted Forest were the model train sets and the ginger bread houses. This led Andrew to think that he might want to build a ginger bread house. So, in the never ending quest to keep Andrew doing something constructive, we picked up a ginger bread house kit on the way home to be built at a later date. After waiting in line for a while we got the payoff. Santa also gives you a candy cane if you tell him what you want for Christmas.

Andrew asked for a blue microphone with a stand. This makes no sense because the picture below shows him at his first school performance. He's the one facing the wrong direction and trying to melt into the floor.

Since the Thanksgiving program wrapped up Andrew's week at school, there was nothing left to do but cook. And drive the dogs crazy with the wicked good aromas wafting through the house.

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So turkey day arrived and the first waist expanding meal was at Nana's, with her world famous Mac n' Cheese. Seriously, people in Poland have heard about this dish, so it can be classified as world famous. I was too busy eating to take any pictures before or during the meal, but I did catch Andrew and his cousins playing some weird game that involved putting a waste basket on Brooks's head. Ellie Kate wisely stayed on the fringe of the main action.

Oh yeah, remember that ginger bread house I told you about? Construction began Friday morning. The first thing I should mention, the icing is the main binder on a ginger bread house. When you think you have too much, double it, and then it may be enough. Also, you're fighting a losing battle when your general contractor keeps eating the binder.

As of this post, it still stands...barely.

Finally, where do you go the day after thanksgiving? With sunny skys and upper 60° temps, you go to the Botanic Gardens of course.

There may still be more to come this weekend, but so much has happened so far, I had to get it in the books.

First Post

It's Thanksgiving weekend and we just got a new camera. These two developments have me uploading and sorting through a ridiculous number of new photos. While going through the normal process of saving the pictures to the computer, I realized, that while perfectly functional and cataloged, the captured moments don't tell the whole story. Hopefully I can use this blog to document the various ways we attempt to "Seize the Weekend"