Ivy's amazing hair growth!

Ivy's hair has grown in much thicker and fuller than expected.

Spooky Ghost Cookies

Spooky Ghost Cookies!

   

We went to a great Fall Party in a nearby neighborhood last night (thanks Shannon and Shane) and I made these Spooky Ghost cookies to share.

  

I found the recipe in my recipe box and decided it would be fun to try it out.  Super easy, super cute (my kinda recipe)!  Their photo showed a much smoother and shinier ghost but I was happy with the result, regardless.

 

SPOOKY GHOSTS
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 3 minutes

1 package vanilla candy coating squares
1 (1-pound) package Nabisco Nutter Butter peanut butter sandwich cookies
1 (4.25 ounce) tube black decorating frosting

• Microwave 6 candy coating squares in a microwave-safe bowl on HIGH for 1-2 minutes (or until melted), stirring once.  Dip cookies in candy coating, allowing excess to drip.  Place on wax paper and let stand until firm.
• Place remaining 3 vanilla candy coating squares in bowl.  Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute, stirring once.  Dip cookies again in candy coating, allowing excess to drip.  Place on wax paper.  Let stand until firm.
• Pipe frosting eyes and mouth on each cookie to resemble ghost.

Notes:  I didn't do this in the microwave.  Instead, I melted all of the white chocolate in a double boiler and then dipped and let harden.  I then just used the back of a spoon to "touch up" the places that needed help.  These things are so sweet they will make your teeth curl.

Moving on!

We did it!  On Friday the 15th, we moved out.  I grabbed a few shots of the kids on the front porch before taking Cole to school.  I'll cherish these special ones forever.  There are so many great things about that house that we will miss.  But, after 13 months on the market, we are glad it is gone!  Whew!

Cole (9)

I took this picture of Cole because I have one of him in the same spot when he was little.  He got a little sad after this picture because he was sure that the new place would not be as special (He has since changed his mind.)  Change is tough on a kid and we've tried to be sensitive to that.  But if we can keep the simple things the same...we know that the adjustment will come together much easier.  Cole and Cooper shared a room at the old house and when we asked them if they wanted their own rooms or wanted to share they both blurted out that they still want to share a room.  If that won't warm a parent's heart, I don't know what will.  So, we've kept their twin beds and are cherishing this togetherness until one of them decides that he wants his own room.  But, for now, they have their cozy twin beds across from each other where they chat at night until one of them dozes off.  That is the good stuff!

.

We didn't close on the new house until the 21st so it was perfect timing given the fact that Cole's Fall Break was Friday - Tuesday of that week.  So, we decided to head to Montgomery Bell State Park (just west of Nashville) to spend our celebration of homelessness.  It is a beautiful place and we had our usual bike-riding-marshmallow-eating-afternoon-napping-fresh-air-breathing good time.  The first night was spent with some friends, The Thomases, who's site we crashed since the park was at maximum capacity.  Super Duper Fun, as Brandi would say.  

 

The porch of the park restaurant - for yummy (and cheap) grub

Batting Practice

Hagan Stone (Pilkerton Realtors)

After camping (& a few nights at the Fletcher's), we were off to the closing.  With ink on paper,

we moved in!

Home sweet home!

Adding our door knocker - a wedding gift from the Shaffers!

Cooper loves the new playset

Cooper and Cole on the tire swing!

We are happy to be home!

Double Rainbow All the WAY!

You have to watch this spirit-lifting dude spotting a double rainbow.  It is so hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI

Breaking away...

We are moving this week.  And among all of the excitement, I keep finding little pieces of our lives that scratch up some tidbits of emotion.  One of those things happened today as I was packing up the pantry.

My mom always used the inside of her big pantry door as a growth chart and I, in turn, have done the same.  But today, when I opened the door to pack up the cereal and pop tarts, I noticed it again and it made me sad.  I wanted to rip off the door and carry it out with me because, though it is just a door with pencil markings, mapping the kids' growth on this door has meant a lot to us over the years. 

Sure, there will be another pantry door at our new home.  I have, of course, meticulously traced each marking so that I can transfer it to the new pantry door.  But...it just makes me sad.

Change is a blessing.  But with all of the things we look forward to, there are so many things that we will miss about this place.  This old pantry door just seems to sum it all up in its own simple way.  It just makes me a bit sad that this sweet memento will soon be painted over by the new owner.  

Unwelcomed guests!

I made the mistake of walking into a new Brentwood store, C'est Moi, today.  It looked so welcoming from the sidewalk and I thought it would be harmless if I just perused for a brief moment before heading to the car with Cooper and Ivy.  I was thrilled with the selection and quickly told Cooper not to touch anything as he followed behind Ivy (who was on my hip) and me.

The store is small but full of French-style goodies and decor.  It was lovely and offered me a moment to dream about future home decorations and lovely embroidered pillows.  With every step, I continued to remind Cooper not to touch anything and he stayed close behind me with the innocence I demanded.  His four-year-old hands were wrapped tightly around the cup of sweet tea we had bought moments before at the cafe up the sidewalk.

But, as I turned the corner to eye a beautiful white and pink dresser with an antique mirror and pink crystal pulls: CRASH!  I whipped around to see Cooper's eyes as wide as dinner plates.  He had picked up a beautiful glow-in-the-dark glass ball - the kind you would nest together on a coffee table - and had thrown it straight to the floor.  "I thought it was a bouncy ball, Mama!  I thought it was a bouncy ball!"  His tears started to flow and I quickly rushed to see how much it cost to help clean up the mess.  I snapped at him and said that I had told him not to touch anything and this is why these things happen because he doesn't listen when I tell him to mind me and it makes me so mad and this is why things get broken because if he would just do what I tell him to then things wouldn't break in a nice store and it just makes me so mad!

I looked over my shoulder to tell her that I would buy it immediately but the owner rushed over and said that it was fine and that she has small children too and that it wasn't a problem.  Of course, I was thinking that she shouldn't have had the damned things in a basket on the floor...but I didn't say that, of course.

So, after taking a breath, I asked Cooper to sit down on the floor with his tea while we cleaned up the glass.  After the owner got it swept up and told me about her kids, I looked over to see a huge puddle of sweet tea on the floor of the store and Cooper's eyes were, again, as big as dinner plates.  So, I said "What in the WORLD, COOPER?!!!  Why can't you just sit there and wait instead of cramming the straw down in the styrofoam cup so that it gets a big hole in the bottom and the tea spills out all over the floor of this nice store and makes a big fat mess for this nice woman to have to clean up when she just opened the store 6 weeks ago and is probably paying who knows what in rent for this itty bitty store and now we've come in here and made a big fat mess because you won't listen!!"  So, I am frantic and I quickly grab some paper towels from her and sat Ivy down beside me so that I can start wiping up the mess that Cooper made and then CRASH!  Ivy has picked up another one of those glow-in-the-dark glass balls and thrown it down on the floor because she thought it was a bouncy ball.  So I screamed and grabbed Ivy and ran out the door with Cooper's hand in mine and ran to the car for the sweet comfort of the straightjacketlike car seats for a little piece and quiet.

I never looked back.

Please go to C'est Moi in Brentwood (7020 Church Street) and buy something and tell her that I am sorry.  Also mention that my kids are still alive normally very well-behaved.

Friendships!

Ivy and Finley share a snack

Friends are good.  I am reminded of this every time I get together with my girlfriends.  It is always one of those things that pops right back into a groove the minute we get together.  Timeless.  I have always been blessed to have close, meaningful friendships and as I get older they somehow seem to grow even stronger - and with much less effort.  

I remember when I was in high school and I thought it just couldn't get any better.  We were so "cool."  On top of the world.  And, though we didn't know it at the time, we were extremely lucky to have made it that far.

But now that I have kids, I know just how lucky I was.  I was lucky to have landed in a pile of girlfriends who truly loved me as much as they loved themselves.  As time trudged on, we picked up a few more worthy stragglers to add to our tight-knit group.  And, now, (insert two-digit number here) years later, I still have these girlfriends as a wonderfully fulfilling chunk of my life.  I am lucky.

One dear friend is Sabra.  She lives in LA now and has two gorgeous, loving daughters: Ollie Kai and Finley.  They just left Nashville after being here for 3 weeks and we were lucky to have this time to get our kids together again and watch them get to know each other.  As she and I frantically juggled these 5 kiddos day in and day out, we both were reminded of the gifts a friendship brings.  To watch our kids become friends themselves is certainly a precious gift. 

But the hardest part for us (and them) is that our visits are over almost as soon as they begin.  That's the way things always seem to be when you grow up.  The moments that stand out are always the shortest.  I hope that the girls return soon before the curls straighten, the chubby legs are lean, and before they forget each other.  I miss them so much already!

Ripening a friendship at San Antonio Taco Company

Friends