Christmas... on the road

Ok, let me start by saying this post is rather long as it includes the story and lots of photos from our trips to Cullman and Atlanta for Christmas.

Brock and I decided to be the "visitors' this Christmas and travel to visit each of our families. So we loaded up the SUV with two kids, one dog, eight Christmas movies and lots of snacks and juice boxes. The luggage and all of the presents went in the box trailer (a must when traveling with two kids and one dog, whose crate takes up the entire third row seating). We left Florida on Tuesday afternoon (after Audrey finished school) with temperatures at a very pleasant 85 degrees! We drove to Birmingham to stay the night at my brother's apartment and arrived around 2:30 (yes, that is AM) to temperatures right around 36 degrees or so! Freezing!!! I was ribbed about my lack of tolerance to the cold temps because we had lived in Colorado and were used to much colder temperatures, but as I said to my brother, "That was FIVE years ago! We are Florida people now!" My teeth did not stop chattering even though I was clenching my teeth together as tight as humanly possible. It probably didn't help that I failed to pack a 'heavy' winter coat but I honestly thought the coat that I packed would be sufficient. Well, I was wrong! We unloaded the necessities and went to bed thankful for the warm accommodations.

McWane Center with PawPaw and Grandma Becky

The next morning we met my dad and stepmom for breakfast before visiting the McWane Center in Birmingham. The hands-on children's museum had just opened right before we moved to Colorado, but we did not have the opportunity to visit before our move. It is a very cool place. The girls loved it. There was something for all ages. We spent the entire day there and saw every single exhibit. It was really fun to see my dad "playing" at the exhibits with the girls. He is a great PawPaw! They had a hard time choosing one, so Audrey's two favorite exhibits were Vulcan's Dream Machine and the High Cycle and Claire's two favorite exhibits were the Dig Pit (archeological dig site) and Just Mice Size, especially the water part. They loved every exhibit and had great day! Here are some photos from the day...

The Virtual Tornado with Mom

And again with Grandma Becky

Audrey and the Bed of Nails

They built the arc...

...then tore it down!

PawPaw "playing" at the Pin Wall

I have some video that I will add to the post soon.

Christmas with the Schuman family

The next day the girls and I went with my mom to have our nails done - it seems this is becoming a tradition as we usually do this when we come to visit. Audrey wanted red fingernails and green toenails (very much the Christmas spirit) so that's what she got. I have to admit that the colors were a bit darker than I prefer on an 8-year-old, but the white dots that we added to each nail toned down the "darkness" and was super cute so Claire and I followed suit with the white dots. It was very festive and as I said before, very much the Christmas spirit! You can see glimpses of the nails in some of the photos below.

That evening we celebrated Christmas with my mom (Gramma), my dad (Pops), my brothers and their significant others. It was fun and crazy all at the same time. The girls were the center of attention and they ate it up! Below are some photos from the night...

Photos by Brock! :)

Claire is excited... Presents are FUN!!!

Wrapping Ripping by the Pro

Monsters vs Aliens... Yeah!!!

Do you think she is excited? Oh yeah! This was the first thing on her list after the iPod!

You can see Audrey's nails in this shot... Cute and Festive!

Helping Gramma

Helping Pops

Something was quite funny...

On Friday, we visited with my Aunt Roxie, who just turned 93! She is in good health and is still as funny and charismatic as I remember from my childhood. The girls really liked our visit with her. Audrey was disappointed that she wasn't able to play the piano for Aunt Roxie because there was a Christmas party going on in the dining hall where the piano is located. But she promised Aunt Roxie that she would play all of her compositions for her this summer when we come for our visit.

Audrey & Aunt Roxie

Aunt Roxie with Audrey & Claire

That evening we had our Schuman Christmas at my Grandma Schuman's (or "Great" as the great-grandchildren call her). It was a lot of fun to visit with family and enjoy Great's traditional spaghetti/lasagna Christmas dinner. She always said that people are tired of turkey and ham by the time you have eaten so many family dinners and everyone likes spaghetti. Well, she's right and I love it every time! My cousin, Carmen, her husband and daughter were there too. So there were three little kids running all around the house. It was almost like looking into a portal to another time when Carmen and I were that age playing at Great's house. All in all, the night was full of family and good food... it doesn't get much better than that!

Christmas with the Parker family

The next day we visited with my dad's family at my Grandmother Parker's, but not before the girls got to meet Howie, one of my dad's goats. He bought a female goat back in the summer and Audrey and Claire got to pick out her name. They went with "Madamoiselle" but they wanted to call her "Maddie" for short. I thought it was a very cute name and my dad did too. So Maddie had two kids, one of which is Howie.

Meeting Howie

Holding Howie

Then it was off to Grandmother's house...

Audrey and Claire with Grandmother Parker

We visited with most of my dad's family and got to meet Carson, my cousin Jennifer's new baby boy. He was so sweet and cuddly and simply perfect. I have to admit that he smelled heavenly. My grandmother said if they still smelled good to me then I might not be finished, but trust me, we are done! Two perfect angels makes our family complete! Anyway... We visited and ate another great meal of fabulous barbecue with all of the fixings.... then it was time for presents...

Audrey got a new keyboard!

She has the piano at home but this will go in her room where she can practice with headphones when things need to quiet.

Claire's Dress Up costumes and trunk

Princess Claire

Dad opening his autographed book by Glenn Beck

After a day of fun with family, we loaded up everything and headed east to Atlanta.

Christmas with the Ballard family

We arrived in Atlanta just in time for another family dinner... at this rate we have probably gained at least ten pounds each, but Christmas calories don't count, do they? LOL... So we had our traditional Christmas dinner with Brock's family including his grandparents (Grandmother and Papa). Claire is the youngest grandchild on that side of the family so she likes to show everyone that she is big (not a "baby"). Well, she did just that. Barbara (my sister-in-law) was stuffing the celery slices with cream cheese mixtures (one is with olives and the other is with marichino cherries) Claire, proving her "bigness", wanted to help. She did a great job for an almost-four-year-old.

Helping with the cherries and cream cheese

We enjoyed the amazing meal and then Grandmother played the piano for everyone. This is always a treat as she is very talented! At 91 and 90, she and Papa are in good health and even better spirits. Audrey played a few of her own compositions for Grandmother and then Grandmother played Audrey a few songs on her new keyboard.

Before they left, we got a photo of all of the great-grandchildren with Grandmother and Papa.

L to R: Sarah (5), T.J. (11), Papa (90), Claire (4), Grandmother (91), Audrey (8) and Lucy (8)

Early in the evening, carolers from the neighborhood came by and sang songs for us. They invited Audrey and Lucy to go with them for the last few houses. Audrey was very excited about this since she was supposed to go caroling with her friends in Florida but couldn't due to our travel plans. The big girls bundled up and joined the carolers. They returned with hot cocoa and cookies and huge smiles on their faces. Audrey said she had the best time! Later that evening, it was present time! With five grandchildren who are all fully capable of opening presents on their own, present time becomes quite chaotic. It is fun but proves quite challenging to capture the moments on film as everyone is opening toys and paper and bows are flying everywhere. Here are the photos that were captured...

Art Supplies... for our budding artists

A camping set is perfect for our camping family

Claire got new luggage... with her name and a BUNNY on it! Perfect!!!

We had a great night and then we went to my in-laws' lake house for a few days which was very nice. It is a peaceful location on Lake Lanier. With a raging fire in the fireplace (thanks to my brother-in-law, Bill), everyone was warm and cozy and we all had a great time!

We left Atlanta on Wednesday, the 23rd, for our drive back to Florida! It was a long day but it was wonderful to be back home in time to get ready for Santa!

Photo of the Day - 12.14.09

It's not your award-winning type photo... it's just a photo that captured the day. We have been very busy getting ready for our trips to Cullman and Atlanta - shopping, wrapping presents, finding "cold weather" clothes and getting all of the presents for friends, teachers and neighbors ready and delivered... so you get the idea, it's been busy (like everyone else this time of year). Anyway, today after we got Duke from the groomer, everyone (Duke included) was ready for a much needed nap. I laid down with Claire for a minute and Duke snuggled at our feet. When I got up, he raised his head for a second and gave me a look that said, "I'm good here. I think I will rest a bit longer." That was about 30 minutes ago and Claire and Duke are still resting peacefully together. I just thought it was a cute snapshot and I wanted to share it with you.

Our First Florida Christmas Parade

As a child, I remember watching the Christmas Parade as it marched down 2nd Avenue. The bands playing Christmas music, the floats decorated with Christmas spirit, the pageant winners waving to the crowds from the back of the local car dealership's convertible, the candy tossed out to all the "good" children lining the city sidewalks and of course, Santa. No parade was over until Santa came to give everyone a hearty "Ho! Ho! Ho!" Well, those are some of the memories that I cherish from my childhood and I want my children to have memories like that when they are my age. On Saturday, we watched the Cocoa/Rockledge Christmas Parade march down Florida Avenue. It was filled with the same elements that I remembered from my childhood. The main difference between our parade and the parades from my childhood was about 20 degrees or so. At a nice 75 degrees, the weather was good - slightly cloudy, but in Florida that can be a very good thing. We arrived at the parade sight and found a spot along Florida Avenue for our blanket. The girls decided to make themselves comfy before the big event. Our friends, James and Shannon, and their three children joined us. We enjoyed popcorn while we waited for the parade to start.(Thanks Shannon!)

The theme for the parade this year was "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle". There was no shortage of aluminum cans, plastic bottles, newspapers and other "recyclable" things. The floats were not as grand as I remembered them (but then again, I think sometimes we tend to remember things being a bit grander than they may have actually been). Anyway, the floats were good. Most of the floats were from the various Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts troops in the area. There were the traditional pageant winners waving to the crowd and the high school bands played classic Christmas tunes. And of course there was candy... lots of candy... maybe too much candy... (Audrey says "not too much", but isn't that the classic mom/child dilemma over candy?) The parade seemed to run a bit long, but then the end was in sight... SANTA!!! Riding in on Engine 31 with his reindeer leading the way, Santa was there (and Mrs. Claus too) waving to the crowds and greeting everyone with his hearty "Ho! Ho! Ho!"

It was just as I remembered Christmas parades... What a truly wonderful season!!!

Here are some more photos from the parade:

Enjoying some popcorn with Daddy

Waving to "Manny"
(Our local AAA baseball team mascot)

They just realized that candy is being tossed from the floats

Comparing candies

Santa & Mrs. Claus

Santa's Sleigh and his 8 "not so tiny" reindeer... and Rudolph!

There were Angels...

and Camels...

And even Flat Stanley...

The recycling theme dominated...

What goes around...

Maybe it's just history repeating itself... this inter-family rivalry that Audrey and I have going... I mean, I grew up with my mom in a house full of die-hard Alabama fans, but my dad, and that whole side of my family, are huge Auburn fans. As many of you know, the Alabama/Auburn rivalry is one of the biggest in college football. So having a daughter that cheered for the "other" team must have been really hard for my dad, especially when this said daughter decided to go to the "other" school for college meaning he had to send his hard-earned money to the enemy (aka - University of Alabama).

Since Audrey decided to become a Gator I can now sympathize with my dad as I now know first-hand how hard it is. My dad just laughs about it now... I know that he thinks it is poetic justice... that my daughter is now cheering for the "other" team... but at least the "other" team isn't Auburn! :) I say it's karma... I am a true believer in the adage that "what goes around, comes around"... And in this instance, it has come back around.

Audrey loves the Gators, Tim Tebow and anything Florida. But just like my dad did with me, I will support Audrey's choice (as hard as it may be) to cheer for the Gators. That said, I am still a Bama girl and will continue to cheer "Roll Tide!"

Tomorrow is the big game - Alabama vs Florida... It's round 2... Audrey won last year and I am hoping that she doesn't get a repeat performance! When I was in college, my dad and I started a tradition for the Alabama/Auburn game. The winner gets to call the loser and "boast". There have been years where we were pretty boastful (to the point of being a bit obnoxious) and years where we were rather tame. This year was the latter. The game was great - exciting from the first second to the last! I was very thankful to have the honor of being the one to get to make the call, not receive it, because it could have gone either way... the game was that close. I called and basically said, "That was a great game! I'm really glad my team won!"

Audrey and I have started our own tradition too with regard to the Alabama/Florida game, which you probably read about in the "The Bet" post. I hope that our rivalry tradition will mean as much to her one day, as my tradition with my dad means to me. It is all for fun, but it's still hard to be the one who receives the call or, in the case with Audrey, wears the "other" shirt.