Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas 2010

MERRY CHRISTmas 2010!!!

our 2010 photo card

time for stockings, the kids got stuff from all over the world, that Santa guy sure does travel alot!

shortly after we finished opening gifts, it started to snow. Guess who was the 1st out to play? ;)

Time to warm up with some of Rob's home brew. Like the glasses he got from mom and dad for Christmas? ;) Now, "I'll have a beer" takes on a whole new meaning...

The kids finally got on their extended deep sea diving gear and ventured outside. I took a picture of the snowman they built with Grammy but it didn't come out very well...

...see what I mean? white on white. reminds me of a Carvel cake mom ordered once. :)

Haley decided this snow stuff looked kind of neat...

...you could see the yummy birds really well! Just kidding. I took this picture because Grandma Lou always loved Cardinals.
It was a fantastic day with our family. We were able to have a white Christmas, first in Atlanta since the 1800's. We all ate, and ate, and ate. We also got to warm up with my new Keurig machine. Made making hot cocoa by the gallon very easy!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Total Eclipse of the...moon :)


I love that song, Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler....Ryan loves the movie Eclipse (she's on team Edward ;)) and Jared loves lunar eclipses. I got an email from my dad that there would be an eclipse that night. Not that big a deal they happen quite often, just not always in the northern hemisphere. What was cool was that it was happening on the winter solstice. Not long after I got a call from Rob that the Tellus museum in Cartersville (about 25 minutes from here) was having an all night-"Night at the Museum" kind of thing in honor of the event. Rick happened to be in town so I asked him if he wanted to go on a field trip to see the eclipse. He was game, Jared was stoked and I was picked to be the driver. We headed out around 1am to partly cloudy skies. When we got there the clouds were thickening and by the time we got our tickets the moon was gone. No worries, they had live feed from Florida so we still got to see it, kind of. We had fun walking around the museum past hours, sitting in the theatre for the Q & A session and going out to check the skies in the big observatory on the campus. Hey we even made the 11-Alive news...well a glimpse of the back of Rick and Jared's head made the news. :) We tried to do a goober in the back ground shot but they must have edited us out. The guy in the black shirt was where we were standing. Guess they didn't appreciate our 4 am humor. ;)

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Mid December Recap

After an awesome time for Thanksgiving, the kids went back to school for three more weeks. In that time we hit Bethlehem, Nancy's concert at Mt. Bethel, The Bartow's Christmas party, driving around looking at lights, Christmas concerts & plays and various sports.


Here's a shot of Ryan helping me get the gingerbread men ready after swim practice one night. My thinking was to take the kids to Bethlehem and then come home to hot cocoa and gingermen. Best laid plans. Mt.View changed what nights Bethlehem was open so we just came home to some sweet treats. We ended up going the next weekend.



This is supposed to be a video of Kevin playing the blocks during his Christmas concert (click here to go to the HomerHouse YouTube site where I uploaded it). I guess the video is too large. :(He was super excited to be the understudy and was tickled pink that the original person couldn't attend, making him the block player for his class' song. He even made the credits. :)

This is supposed to be a video of Ryan's class play (YoutTube). This girl worked so hard at her lines. She knew hers as well as everyone elses. The best part was that Rob was supposed to be out of town but his trip got cut short due to weather. We surprised Ryan with his attendance and she was over the moon. I think we have an actor in the family. ;)

Monday, December 13, 2010

Jingle Bells and Grizzly bears


This weekend is one of my favorites every year. The Jingle Bell swim meet up in Dalton Georgia. It was Jared's first meet and is super fun. Not only do the coaches and attendees wear Christmas hats, but the kids get candy canes for best times. It is also broken down by age group so it's an easier meet. For Pinkie swimming against 11 year olds most of the time, this was a welcomed relief. This girl did awesome. I was so happy for her that she won each of her events. I have never seen a Homer name at the top of the list so I took a picture with my phone. Cheesy, I know.

And from the Chattahoochee Gold Newsletter--
The event winners were: Pinkie Homer (50 free, 50
back, 50 fly, 50 breast, 100 IM)---awesome

While Pinkie and I were in Dalton; Rob, Gran and Kevin were wrestling at the Grizzly meet in town. Kevin got pinned in 11 seconds the first round and again in about 45 seconds the second round. He ended up with the bronze but is still waiting for that win!

Sunday of that weekend took us up to Gainsville to swim. Kevin stayed with Grammy and Pop Pop while Gran, Jared and Mom went to the pool early. Rob and Pinkie came a bit later. Jared swam well, he even made a qualifying swim for the 100 breast!
We figured Ryan wouldn't do anything of interest since she had been posting best times for the last three meets. At one point she was told she was on the free relay team & she was super excited. After her 25 Free (posting a 17.14-SUPER fast for a 7 year old and a personal best) she was told she wouldn't be on the relay. To say she was devastated is an understatement. She was ANGRY. She wouldn't talk to Rob, myself, her coaches or Gran. In her mind her best wasn't good enough. I was a bit upset because she still had the 100 free to go. When she got on the blocks she wouldn't look in the stands. No cutesy little I love you's, dances on the blocks or way to gos. Nope, she was all business. When that horn went she was off like a shot. In lane 4 she led the pack through the first 25. By the 2nd people were starting to look at her swim, by the 3rd lap they were looking to see "who was that kid" and by the 4th we were all in awe. That little monkey took 14 seconds off a best time 100 Free. I don't know where that button is for turbo charge but we need to find it! :) She ened up getting a ribbon in all 5 events that day.
After that monumental swim Rob and Ryan left the pool to drive mom back to the lake while I stayed with Jared for his first finals. IT's a LONG day when you have prelims and finals with little sis swimming in between. I think we were there for 13 hours?? Jared placed 12th in the 100 breast, super cool since he was seeded 16th. Way to go Jared! He wants to make a finals first heat so he can hear his name called on the blocks. That's an awesome goal. :)