Thanksgiving 2011

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving we began our road trip to Destin, FL, but before we could leave Mt. P we had a feast a Drew's school. How cute does he look!





I love this picture of Drew and his buddy Jack. While they were waiting for a turn on the swings they looked like a couple of old men just carrying on a park bench conversation.



Because we didn't leave until 2:30 on Tuesday, we decided to drive as far as Tallahassee and then save the remainder of the trip for Wednesday.

Uncle Wes has a FABULOUS rental property in Destin (if anyone is interested in renting it then let me know...it is a 3 min. walk to the beach! Omi and Papa arrived on Tuesday...we arrived Wednesday shortly after lunch, and Uncle Andy flew his T-38 plane in on Wednesday afternoon.



Fun with Uncle Andy...Drew asked me to "play paparazzi".








Andy's fiance Nora finally arrived Thanksgiving morning with her dog Nesta and our group was complete!

aren't they so cute :)


Izzy was in heaven with Nesta! For Christmas she told me she wants 100 dogs (and that is down from one million).


My mom is an amazing cook and Thanksgiving dinner was delish! It was so funny because prior to the blessing Drew lead us all in the "Pledge of Allegiance". After dinner all the men crashed into a food coma. Nora took this opportunity to photo bomb some shots.







Izzy and Drew even got in on the action...




Lots of games were played over Thanksgiving...one favorite was "Spot It" which I picked up before we left. For any friends looking for a super fun game for kids off all ages (adults too) check this one out! We have had SO much fun playing it.



...and what would a trip to Destin be without some beach fun? I was so happy I packed the kids scooters because Wes's place is on a street that was great for the kids to scoot around on. In fact, a favorite scooter game was when someone would call out a name of an adult and the kids would do an impression of that person while on the scooter. For example if I said, "Do Papa", then Izzy would approach us while on her scooter and then in her best Papa voice say, "I want to play golf...NOW!"

For Pete they said, "Kids, shhhh, I'm on a work call!"

For Uncle Wes they said, "I'm crazy Uncle Wes!"

Uncle Andy, "I'm a fighter pilot, vrrrr..."

For Omi, "I have two grandkids that I love soooo much named Izzy and Drew."

For Nora, "I'm getting married to a fighter pilot!"

...and perhaps the most disturbing...

For me, "I like coffee in the morning and cocktails at night!"

Scootin to the beach...










Another fun highlight of the trip was getting to see Santa. In Destin he arrives via helicopter! But the helicopter was a little late so we took some family pictures.







Finally we spotted the helicopter!


and Santa






And last but not least we celebrated an early birthday for Papa :)


We are so excited that we get to see all these people again at Christmas...and then even more excited for Uncle Andy's wedding in the fall!

Pierced Ears

This girl has had a rough few weeks. Seizures suck. Meds suck. Side affects suck.

Her attitude has proved better than mine many times and although it isn't what I wanted, it was certainly what she wanted.



I'll come around.



How could I not with a face like this :)



The short story is this...

Izzy's original meds don't seem to be working. We have seen an increase in both the number of seizures as well as the length of the seizures. In fact, longer seizures have caused her to wet her pants, and I fear the day a kid at school makes fun of her. The doctor had wanted to stick out the meds another couple weeks, but once I plead my case he agreed we should change meds over the Thanksgiving holiday. Not knowing what the side affects would do to Izzy I wanted her in my site as much as possible.

Well, the old meds are a liquid that she takes without too much of a battle...in return I pay her $1 a week :)

The new meds are a capsule that I break open and mix the little beads into something for her to swallow. Unfortunately she has to slowly wean off the first meds while increasing the dosage of the second med all at the same time. She gagged, cried, stomped and hissy fitted the first two doses of the new meds. Well on the third dose I told her she didn't have to take it in hopes she would see my disappointment and begrudgingly agree to take it. No such luck.

Next I moved onto bribing her. I knew she wanted her ears pierced and while I didn't want them pierced I felt if I could get the meds in her without a battle it would be a small price to pay. Izzy agreed to take her meds as long as she could get her ears pierced.

Off to Claire's we went...


At one point I thought she might change her mind, but she didn't. The tears didn't last long and so far she has kept up her end of the bargain with taking BOTH medications twice a day. ...I think it helps that we found the winning combination for those pesky little balls in the capsule...FROSTING :) Much like her mama, girlfriend loves frosting. Go ahead and judge (I know none of you will even care too much) but if she happily takes her medications prior to school and bed in a scoop of frosting then so be it.

Izzy's Future Family

My morning drive with Izzy to school sure does make for some interesting conversations. On the mornings that we are fortunate enough to leave Drew at home I get all sorts of scoop from my girl. As much as I dislike leaving the house every morning, I will miss these talks once she starts taking the bus at our new house.

So this morning my girl seemed to have all sorts of energy and lots of giggles! We started our drive to school playing "guess the singer" on the radio and then our conversation quickly turned to her future...

Izzy and Averie have it all planned out. They are both going to marry a guy whose name begins with "E" and they will have two boys and one girl. The boys will be twins and their names will start with "J". The girls names will start with "S". Izzy is going to marry Eric, and they will have Joseph, Jake and Sarah. ...she plans to marry at 39 :)

Izzy and Averie will also live one house apart. A girl named Stella in their class will live between them. It is my understanding that Izzy and Averie plan to store lots of stuff at Stella's house as well as send the kids over there to play.

Both girls will have a dogs, Bichons, Izzy's will be named Daisy and Averie's, Rose.

I spoke to Erin, Averie's mom, this morning to see if she was aware of the girls future plans and I am happy to say that she told me the girls were planning to attend college, downtown Charleston, prior to any marriage and babies. Smart cookies :)

Won't it be interesting to see how these two really turn out...