Sick Kids

Well, we have had our share of germs around here this week. First it was Liv, then Alex, and now Mary. The younger two had strep. Poor Alex - he had to have the throat stick but I am so glad I took him in to the doctor. He got his meds and was better within a day. So I went back to work and wasn't there but thirty minutes before I got another call from the school. This time it was May May. Poor little angel (like my dad would say). She was so sick. And pretty unreasonable too. She could not understand why she couldn't play with Ashlyn even though she was sick. Ugh. But after 24 hours she, too, was better. In fact, she kept me super busy all day painting, crafting, and playing. When she went to bed she said, "whew, it was a long day!". Can you imagine?

Tomorrow we will have a great day - we will all be healthy and we will laugh a lot. I guarantee it!

Mama's Birthday

Well, it's been another year since we all got together and celebrated Mama's birthday. Is it just me or is time really flying by? I wish we could have done it up bigger but I guess the important thing is that we did it. We met my brother and his family at Red Lobster and had a family dinner in Mama's honor. She loved to order the Ultimate Feast - she wouldn't eat half of it but she'd order it every time. Mama loved her seafood! It was bittersweet to not have her there but like I always tell my kids...absent from the body means she is present with the Lord. And what could be better?

Olivia enjoyed her crab legs. My girl likes her crab legs! And she cracked them all by herself this time. I was impressed!

Guess what Alex had?

Chicken fingers and french fries. What else?

And Mary enjoyed a fabulous dish of Macaroni and Cheese - the same kind we have at home that is made from a box. But this plate cost $5. I hope it tasted good!

Here are the Wrights.

Fred and Alex. And NO! They don't look a bit alike!!!!!

Happy Birthday Mama. We love you and miss you more than ever. We never thought we'd be okay without you but somehow, we are good. We are living and we are thriving. One look at those little faces proves that "One smile shatters a thousand griefs". And we are smiling!

Happy New Year

So far the new year has crawled in very quietly. We spent the big night at some friends' house w/ our other close friends. The kids were all playing and running about - very kid friendly atmosphere. There was lots of food! It has been cloudy and rainy ever since. In fact, I think it has been this way for the entire break, except for two days when the sun came out. Kind of depressing.

Alex has been enjoying the heck out of his Wii. Jay likes it too - the girls have played but are not nuts about it. Mary has been doing a lot of drawing and coloring. Liv has a fascination w/ gmail right now so she has been IMing w/ her friends. Why not pick up the phone if you have so much to say? Although I can't complain too much. I love FB and the freedom it allows to just drop a note here and there w/out committing to an entire conversation. Who has time for that?

I am learning to play the guitar. It is a very painful process. No one ever talks about your fingers hurting so much you think they are going to fall off! They are on fire. But, I have been assured that it is only temporary and that as soon as I develop some nice attractive callouses, the pain will be gone. We will see. So far I have learned three chords that I have memorized and am now working on switching between these chords w/ ease. Not that easy! But I am sure it will come.

I have also already failed at my other New Year's goal - to take at least one picture a day. Since I haven't gone out of the house in two days, it really limits my options of what to take a picture of. It will get better. I have to get a camera bag, then I can take the camera out and about w/ out worrying about damaging it.

So, today is Saturday. We are enjoying the last remnants of our vacation - just lounging and relaxing. The kids go back to school on Monday and I go back to work on Tuesday. I think THAT is what I am most dreading. I think my excitement about being a Spanish teacher has ebbed and now I wish I could just stay at home and do my thing around here. Laundry, cooking, cleaning, going to the gym...all in English. Alas, no es posible.

So, I'm off to enjoy some time w/ Jay. A Bientot! Wait .... that's French.

Stone Mountain

We spent the day at Stone Mountain Park yesterday. It was sunny for the first time in forever so we took advantage of it and headed out. We stopped at Chick-fil-A for lunch first - can't go wrong with that, right? So we entered the park around 1:30 or so. Our plan was to climb up to the top of the mountain. My kids had never done that before. And I know Lorena has never done it.

I used to do it as a child many times - my Uncle Renee used to take us most every weekend, we would take Chico the dog and climb up to the top. We'd stop at our "cave" and have a picnic, head to the top and then climb back down. Those were fun memories. Anyway, the kids were excited about giving it a whirl. So we started out. Alex fell down and skinned his knees right away. I thought it was all over at that point. But my boy brushed himself off and started on his way, despite his injury. Way to go Bubby!

We had a great time. The kids climbed on every rock they could find. They climbed trees when they could find them. Mary had an incredible amount of energy and would run everywhere. Everywhere.

We made it almost to the top, when we saw the rails on this super steep spot. To the left of the rails was the "cave". I was unable to enjoy it at all because my kids suddenly became crazy kids and were climbing all over it and jumping off and in every possible way trying to give me a heart attack. Apparently I have a fear of heights and it was raging yesterday on that mountain! I could just picture any one of the kids falling off the cave and rolling down the mountain. Yikes. Thank goodness no one did.

At one point, we went off on a trail and were able to see a great view of Mount Carmel. The kids were excited about that.

Liv saw moss everywhere and was particularly interested in it. For some reason, Lorena thought it was gross so Liv would tease her by touching it all the time. Here's a shot of her moss.

We finally made it to the top!

It was c-o-l-d!!! The kids were shivering and dying to get down. We decided to take the tram down to the bottom of the mountain and take the train around to our car. Well, long story short, the tram cost $30 for us to ride and when we reached the bottom, there was no train to take us to our car. So we had to walk! All the way to the other side of the mountain.It was getting colder and darker. Mary was whiney and we were all exhausted. Praise the Lord we finally made it before anyone fell out! We were so thankful to see the car! So our adventure ended w/ four very tired kiddos but some wonderful memories made.

Fun Day

We spent a fun day at the World of Coke Museum. It was a foggy, cool day but we didn't let that stop us. We headed downtown and made it to the museum by our reserved time - 1:00. That turned out to be a great time to go because when we left the museum at around 4pm, the line to get in was ridiculous. The kids enjoyed it - they learned a lot and had fun. Liv got to use her new camera and really, really enjoyed taking pics of every single thing she saw. But that's the fun part of having your very first digital camera, right? Right.

So, I took about 75 pictures....oh - by the way....want to see what Santa brought me?????

Yes, it's true. Now, my mission in life is to become a photographer. Not professionally but professional quality - does that make sense? I have a lot to learn - it's like learning a new language. But, I have a lot of friends who know a lot about photography so I have lots of resources.

Okay - back to the 75 pictures. I won't bore you with all of them but I will post a few of my favorites. By the way, my kids have beeeaauuutiful eyes. Love them and can't take enough pics of them.

Oh my goodness - those eyes!!!!

Merry Christmas!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Vacation

Today was our first day of vacation. It was a nice and relaxing day. I got up fairly early (7:30ish) to write out my Christmas cards. I know, I know - it's awfully late to be sending them out but that's just the way it has to be this year. I feel lucky to have gotten them out at all. I just can't believe how busy we have been. There has been something every single day. But it's done. The cards are in the mail.

Of course Jay slept late. That's his favorite thing to do. The kids played, read, and just relaxed. It was all good. Lorena came over around 6pm. We were expecting her at 4:30 but Uncle DoDo was on Bolivian time. So by the time she came and DoDo left, we still had to have dinner. We ended up leaving here at 7:45 - we were heading out to Lake Lanier to see the lights. Needless to say, we didn't make it. We got there and the line was so long to get into the park that we turned around and headed back home. We didn't think we'd make it before the park closed. We drove all that way for nothing! But we will not give up...we will try again tomorrow.

Last night was the kids' Christmas program at church. The kids all did a great job! I am always amazed at how the program just comes together. There were kids aged 2 all the way up to 18 in this program!

This first picture is of Alex participating in the Angel Choir during the regular service. The kids dressed like angels - it was very cute.

The next picture is later that night. As you know, Mary has never cared to participate on stage. She chooses not to speak, sing, or in anyway follow directions. This year was different. She did it all ! She was awesome!

So she sang two songs w/ her friends. I like the star sunglasses they wore while singing "Jump for Joy". She actually jumped! Here's a video:

Then she had to come out and say her lines in a poem. Each child had several lines and together they made up a poem. Mary's lines were "Don't be afraid, the angel said, I bring a happy story. Then all around the shone the light of heaven's greatest glory". Just listen to this!

Isn't that fabulous? But let's not forget the boy. He was the most reluctant participant this year. Not sure why but it didn't matter - he did great anyway. He sang first...

Then he said his lines....




Wonderful!

Now, onto our other girl. She did double duty - she was in the elementary program...

and also in the Youth program (middle and high school).

She sang the cutest song!

And then changed clothes to be an angel in the finale of the play.

We were blessed to have Mimi and PapaJohn make the long drive out to see the kids. It meant a lot to the kiddos. Mimi said that John took over 200 pictures! I can't even imagine! Of course he has a very fancy camera....

That was the excitement for this weekend. And with the big performance, all of our obligations are finally completed. No more parties, brunches, recitals, pageants, programs, ornament exchanges, cookie swaps, ensemble singing, belt ceremonies....it's all finished! We are coasting into Christmas now. Now, I just have to find some "alone" time to wrap all the gifts. Hopefully, Jay will be able to help w/ this soon - maybe he can take the kids somewhere.