Turkey Time at Uncle Ricky's

We finally got to my brother's house around day break on Monday of Thanksgiving week. We had tons of stuff on our list of things to do but only 5 days to get it all in. We took a nap after driving all night and woke up to SNOW!! Wahooo, one prayer answered. It's quite rare to have a measurable snowfall before Thanksgiving.

This is my favorite window in the house. It's in my room and you can see deer, turkey, and black squirrels running around...it's like looking into a snow globe!

As we were getting everyone bundled to go out and play, Rick and Kevin went out to shovel the drive. I'm sure Ricky "appreciated" the help, even though you get what you pay for...

By the time they were to the end of the drive, the new snow had covered what they just shoveled. This would exasperate me if I lived up North. Jared came out and decided that Kevin made it look easy to shovel the drive and decided to give it a shot. Um, nice try Jared...stick to inventions!

Jared lasted about 4.5 minutes and this included a few pushes with the shovel, a few snow balls to the siblings, and NO work on a snowman. I guess the white and fluffy is not his speed. Kevy and Ryan, however, decided to stay with me and make snowmen. I don't think I have ever made a "snowman". I usually make things like squirrels, turtles, bears, etc. The snow tells me what it wants to be :). The kids on the other hand had a great time dressing their snow people. Grandfather came out at one point and decided to make "a snowman that will be here until Spring"...it looks a tad like a pig, and we got creative with the decorations, but it was fun and we were making memories, all while Jared watched out the window. Is this the same kid that never wears a coat?!?

Later We saw a turkey wandering through the yard. I tried and tried to get a picture. I finally got it on film, but it was blurry...it was fun to try and catch him-guess he was a bit nervous this week...

American Girl

We decided to take a small jaunt from Rick's house to Chicago--about 3 hours--to go to the American Girl store for Ryan (we then took the boys to the museum of Science and Industry, but this was the first stop on our Windy City Tour). She'll be 6 in January (already!?!) and in our house you can pick a pet when you turn six. Since we lost Foxi in May Ryan has been begging for a dog. We would all love to have a dog again but it's unfair. We travel a lot more now with swimming and soccer and our yard is not doggie friendly. Our hearts want one, but our heads know better...so, Ryan chose to have an American Girl. She had her choice of any one she wanted and she picked the "bitty baby" with no hair. This is the closest she can get to how she looked anyways since they only have on doll with green eyes. The trip reminded me of when I made my trek to the Cabbage Patch (yes, I am that old...). I hope she will always remember the pilgrimage to the mecca that is the American Girl Place in Chicago.

Ryan Auburn and Izzy Rose

Thanksgiving Angels

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

1Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

I am so thankful for my loved ones, my friends and our Burger King Angel. Many blessings to you and yours, this Thanksgiving, from the HomerHouse!

Dynamo weekend

I just got off the phone with Rob. He and Kevin are having a great time down in Savannah, Georgia. The first game this morning was a 6-3 win for the Dynamos. Kevin got on the phone and told me he "almost" scored a goal. He did have one save, apparently he saw the kid running towards their goal, anticipated (that progress right there) and did a, head down, full out tackle. Obviously not what the other kid was expecting. A penalty kick was rewarded to the other player, but Kevin was happy because he got the save. Ummmmm, maybe football instead? :)

The second game the Dynamos lost 6-2 and I'm not sure who scored the goals. There was a ton of noise in the background with the boys playing the Wii in the hotel room. Kevy's having some bonding time which is great!

The swimmers were at Dynamo swim club in Chamblee today. At one point I made a weird face and pretended to see Phelps coming in the door. Poor Jared fell for it and then I felt kind of bad...kind of. He had a hard day. He added at least 2 seconds to each time. Kind of what I expected out of him at the last meet since he had been getting over a week long fever. This weekend he had plenty of rest (slept in which is rare for him) and had a good breakfast. I guess this was a "slow" pool, most swimmers times were up a bit--I find that so weird...water is water...I guess a ball is a ball and a lane is a lane...

Ryan had a really good day, she just loves to swim. In fact she spent about 45 minutes in the warm up/down pool today. Not goofing, just doing lazy laps and hanging with her new swim friends. She enjoys it and that's all that matters. I think she's become sort of a mascot with the coaches. Coach Falco keeps kidnapping her and carrying her around. The last two meets he's held her during the team meeting and cheer. It's a riot. Jared found a shirt that has "Pinky" on it (the little ghost from Pac Man) and he's bugging me to get it for her. She asked to do the 50 Breast today and held her own. She also did the 25 Fly for the first time and beat her time on the 25 Back. She was the ONLY 5 year old at this meet, boys and girls...go get 'um Firecracker!

I thought I would have some fun with photos since I didn't take my camera today:

Homer & Phelps

who's who? :)

Jared & Ryan meet Katie & Michael....

ready for the backstroke

fancy footwork by Kevy and Beckham

bend it...

Kevin's sleepover

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN!!

Dave & Busters "portraits"

It's Kevybu's birthday party day...finally. We have had to listen to him plan this since last year. He felt since he was on a plane for his 7th birthday (on our way to Costa Rica) he kind of missed out on something. He has waited quite a while to have his sleepover with his two best pals, Jackson and Drew. Here are some of the pictures. We went to dinner, Dave & Busters, Krispy Kreme for tomorrows breakfast and home for cake.

Playing the Wii and opening gifts

Picking off the wax since it took so long to blow out the candles

Jackson, Drew and Kevin

Always and Everywhere hits the news

If I had written a book for Jennie and Ty, I would hope that my friends would have helped spread the word. Matt & Laura are friends of ours from Rob's work, so it is my pleasure to be vocal and help share their personal fight against Cancer. My HOPE is that one day our grandchildren ask us "what was Cancer?" much like our kids ask "what was Polio?" Unfortunately the HomerHouse knows way too much about Cancer, but by our actions we can help others on their journey. Please click on the link to the
11 Alive site
and watch the news piece on Laura's book and her friend Margie's family.

Day 2 of the Carrollton meet

No pictures today, I wanted to pay attention. Sunday usually goes faster and there are less heats so we have to be on our toes to make sure the kids get to where they need to be on time. As it was, we almost missed bull penning Ryan because we were cheering for Jared and she was in the next event, she made it in time but barely. The kids did fantastic to say the least. We are so proud of them, they did their best and they had a great time. I still think the highlight was getting to stay in a hotel. If you beat 4 personal bests you got a treat from the coaches, it was a surfboard necklace for the boys and a flip-flop necklace for the girls. Jared got his and Ryan got hers. Here's the scoop:

Ryan's 50 Free-52 nd of 58 BUT her split time was 24 seconds!!...posted a 1:07.54 (-7 sec)
Ryan's 25 Breast-33 rd of 50...2nd in her heat, the ONLY 5 year old to swim...posted a 36.78
Ryan's 50 Back-38 th of 55...fastest 5 year old..posted 1:07.66 (-11 sec)
Jared's 100 Free-30 th of 39...posted a 1:49.05 (-1.5 sec)
Jared's 50 Breast-15 th out of 29...posted a 56.09 (-3 sec)
Jared's 100 Back-20 th out of 32...posted a 1:54.22 (NT)
Jared's 100 IM-results not in yet...BUT he came in FIRST in his heat!!! with a 1:52.38 (-5.5 sec)
**Results from Jared's 200 Free posted, he was 31 of 32 BUT you have to think he swam from one end zone to the other-twice...I don't think I could do that-especially in 4 minutes!

Jared had 3 probably 4 top 20 finishes, that's awesome. Ryan was swimming kids that could possibly be almost 9-so she did great holding her own. I'm going to see if there are "B" time standards posted on the internet for the 8 and Under group, I'm sure there won't be any standards for the 6 and Under...

Next meet is in two weeks, when Kevin is at his soccer tourney in Savannah--that will be a busy sports week in the HomerHouse.

5 personal Best GOLD times!!

The greenhouse effect-nice and toasty. Cool pool layout and lots of deck space!

Nick, Jared and Ryan

thought this was a cool shot

Jared on the blocks for his 100 Breast

Ryan set for her 25 Back

So the 5 am wakeup call came way too soon. The kids went to bed early and so did Rob & I but I am still sleepy sitting here. The lack of sleep was worth it, Jared and Ryan did really well today!! I can't wait to see how they do tomorrow. They get a stick on tattoo from Coach K if they beat a Gold time, Ryan had two tattoos (out of 2 events) and Jared had three (out of 4 events). Apparently there is something special if you get 4 tattoos (break 4 personal records)-maybe we'll find out tomorrow???

Here's the rundown:

Ryan's 25 Free-71st out of 83...2nd of the three 5 year olds...personal best of 31.46 (-4 sec)
Ryan's 25 Back-62nd out of 83...2nd of the three 5 year olds...personal best of 31.50 (-2 sec)
JB's 50 Free-39th of 52...beat his best Gold time with 47.06 (-1 sec)
JB's 100 Breast-18th out of 31 (Top 20 placed!! :))...2:06.59 (+.12 sec)
JB's 50 Back-33rd out of 50...NO DQ on his turn!! :):)...personal best with 56.63 (NT)
JB's 200 Free-results not up yet...but he beat his best by 6 seconds to post a 4:05.48 (-6 sec)