Traditions

I come from a family rich in holiday traditions . . . eating beef stew on Halloween (my mom was convinced it would keep up warm while Trick or Treating--and we HAD to eat the whole bowl), drinking orange juice and taking our vitamin before getting to see what Santa brought, cutting down our Christmas tree, making cheese crackers at Christmas, cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, homemade Birthday cakes, coke floats with cherries with my grandmother, collards and kale at Thanksgiving, laughing until we are crying while playing games at Thanksgiving and cuddling up to watch all of the holiday TV specials as a family--especially Charlie Brown. These are just a few of the many traditions started when we were young. My brother has continued these traditions with his family and I have been lucky enough to marry a man who loves these traditions as much as I do. We continue to carry these on and make our own. Last night we continued one long tradition of watching The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. I had tears in my eyes as I watched Aiden BELLY LAUGHING on the couch at the antics of Snoopy and the gang. Such simple pleasures . . . What are some of your favorite traditions?

Changing times!

Rebekah and I were reading a Curious George book this morning. There was a picture of a Jukebox in the book. Rebekah said, "what's that, Mommy?" I said, "It's called a jukebox, it's like a big box that plays music." She sat for a second looking at it and said, "Oh, like a giant Ipod."

My how times have changed.

First Camping Trip

I've been slacking on my blogging lately! And I've got so many wonderful fall shots to share. Our first big fall event was our first camping trip (way too many pictures--and I have to share them all). We went to Big Meadows on the Skyline Drive for the weekend. This is the same place where I camped my my family growing up. It was so neat to take the kids and have them experience the same things I did as a child. The weekend was WONDERFUL! The kids absolutely LOVED camping and were asking when we could go back before we even left. Aiden LOVED hiking and thinks he is a hiker extraordinaire. We wore them out both days, so much that they were asking to go to bed before we were ready to send them. The sky was so clear both nights and we hoped to keep Aiden up so he could see the star filled sky, but he was asleep before it really got dark. I call that a successful day! :-) We couldn't have asked for better weather--although Mike and I did freeze the first night. The kids loved eating scrambled eggs at a picnic table and were really surprised when Mickey and PopPop surprised us Saturday afternoon by showing up. We took them on a little hike and they stayed for chili and "smacos." The funnies moment of the trip was when Aiden told a stranger that he had to go rest in his tent because he was going to hike from Maine to Georgia. We're already planning a spring trip, anyone want to join us?

Fairy House

Legend has it (according to The Fairy House Series http://www.fairyhouses.com/home.html )that if you build a fairy home and leave it in your garden, you might attract a fairy into your domain. Aiden and Rebekah were given their first Fairy House book this week and were immediately excited about building their own fairy house in the woods. Aiden spent Friday afternoon building his first fairy house in a stump found in the woods behind our home. We've spent the remainder of the weekend looking for items to add to our first fairy home. We picked up berries at the bell tower across from Luray Caverns and leaves and acorns from the Monticello Grounds. Today we gathered more leaves from the apple trees at Carter Mountain. Aiden is excited about his next project, a Fairy Boat for the creek.

Girl Talk

Rebekah and I were shopping in Target yesterday and were standing next to the bras when we had a little "girl talk."

Rebekah: (picking up a bra from the rack) You wear one of these Mommy.
Me: Yes, I do Rebekah. That's called a bra.
R: Yes, you wear a bra.
M: Yep--I do (mumbling . . . unfortunately I have to).
R: You wear them because you have boobies.
M: Yes, I do (at this point I'm looking around to see who is listening).
R: I don't wear them because I don't have boobies, I have minnies.
M: Oh you do--you have minnies?
R: Yes, and when I'm a mommy I won't have minnies anymore, I'll have boobies just like you.
M: Yes you will.

Rebekah then looked up at me and gave me a great smile and moved on to another department.