It's a step...

Well, we don't have a tree yet. Perhaps tomorrow.

Haven't purchased Christmas cards let alone getting them written or addressed.

Haven't figure out the actual plans for Christmas, including menus.

I'm only about 50% done with my shopping.

Kendall doesn't have a Christmas Eve dress/outfit.

Haven't even thought about baking cookies for people.

But...we do have a holiday photo!

I decided to share it with you because it's just not a guarantee that I'm going to get them printed and mailed out. It's better than nothing.

The big guy

Last night we went to the Neptune Beach Christmas in the Park event. We waited in a long (cold) line to see the mand himself. I'm not even sure if Kendall asked him for anything but she did have smiles!

Thanksgiving and one really (cute) determined FSU fan

We made the trek to Tallahassee for Thanksgiving. My dad's little sister and her family were there as well as Gramma and David. I was quite sick on Wednesday and Thursday but started to feel better by Friday but that's when the weather got quite crappy. It rained and was just overall yucky the remainder of the weekend. Unfortunately, John had to come back to Jacksonville to work the weekend but Kendall and I stayed in Tallahassee until Monday.

With John in Jax and the weather so crappy we gave out FL/FSU tickets to my uncle and cousin. (They went with my parents and stayed into well into the 4th quarter! Despite the Gator fans and the rain! What troopers!) Kendall and I went to our friends Dave and Barrie's house at Lake Ella to watch the game. Some of Barrie's family were there and they were Gator fans! Her nephews were very adamant and borderline rude about pushing the Gator agenda. The young boys were giving Kendall and the little kids a REALLY hard time about being a FSU fan and kept trying to get her to say "Go Gators". I'm so proud to say she didn't cave! She gave it back to them and stayed true to her Nole pride! It was highly amusing and if I haven't done anything else right in her life I've managed to instill some Nole love and pride in her that isn't going away! Unfortunately we all know what happened with the game but we didn't care - we or lose we LOOOOVVVVEEE our Noles!

We are REAL fans.

Last Saturday we were probably the laughing stock of the national media - and not because we lost. Because we Floridians were bundled up in the stands when the temperatures were probably in the high 40's. I don't care - it was FREEEEEZZZIIIIINNNNNGGGG.

Had it not been for the multiple mini bottles of vodka I was forced to consume I probably would have caught hypothermia. There were layers of clothes, hats, gloves, scarves, and blankets. And a special someone to cuddle up too. Sarah! I was really proud of her - she hung in like a trooper and she usually leaves the games at halftime regardless of the weather! :)

We even stayed all the way to the end hoping our Noles would get an extra touchdown and pull it out. Unfortunately our efforts were in vain as our dear Noles lost - but on their defense they just aren't used to playing in such sub-zero temps!

It's just Friday.

You may ask - why the get-up? What's the purpose of the fancy costume? The crown? Is it her birthday or something? Nope it's just another day in our house. Kendall dresses up frequently and even leaves the house in these wonderful (hear the sarcasm) outfits. She is that child you see at the grocery store bedecked in faux jewels and tutus. Yep, that's my kid. But I guess its just another reason that we love her.

Catching up...

So, it's been a few weeks. So here's a recap of some of the crazy things we've done.

Halloween was a great success. Kendall has a blast with Rutger and Rafferty Mowry (cousins/nephews of Eli/Laura who I used to nanny for YEARS ago). Anyway, Henry is Laura's younger brother and Kasey is his wife and they live about 3/4 of a mile from us and we are good friends with them. Tinkerbell costume was a huge hit and even held up during some brief scattered showers. Rutger was a Man in Black and Rafferty definitely had the best costume of the night and was Indiana Jones. Precious!

After Halloween it was a whirlwind of activities gearing up for Election Day. We had a huge parade through Jacksonville. Governor Mike Huckabee, Lynn Swann, Jack Kemp, and Pat Sumerall were the Grand Marshalls and it was alot of fun. It was Kendall's first time riding in the back of a pick up truck!

On a sad note, the restuarant John was managing shut down leaving him somewhat jobless (although he returned to his old job almost immediately). The original 2 owners parted ways shortly after the restuarant opened and rather quickly the remaining owner decided the restuarant biz just wasnt' for him and sold.

The is why Kendall was with me at the office all day on Election Day. She was actually quite well behaved and mildly useful. She waved signs on the road and was hiliarious! She would shout "Whoo Hoo - John McCain!" and "Oh yeah, McCain Baby!". She was also upset the next day when we told her that her beloved John McCain had lost.

We've been hanging low lately gearing up for the holidays and whatnot. It's been uncharactristically cold here in Jax so we've been having fires every other night or so. Hope it warms back up - I live in Florida for a reason.

I'm trying...

Well it's now been 4 days since the election and I'm still not ok. I am absolutely bewildered at the American people and completely irate with the media and Hollywood. Let me assure you that this isn't a Democrat thing - it's all about which Democrat was elected. Hard to imagine me saying this, but I'd have been fine with Hilary.
But it's about HIM. I think he's scary and I truly am scared for our country. I did alot of research on HIM, his associations, his past, and his plans. Needless to say I was less than thrilled. It's extremely upsetting to me to have a First Lady who has only spent 6 months of her life proud of her country.
Regardless, I'm still crushed. I've been looking for the silver lining and having to put trust that God has a plan. I've never had to deal with such a loss like this - there were so many people fired up for McCain and Palin. I just don't know what happened or what went wrong.
I'm confident I'll never like him, but I don't have to. Lord knows how many people have been so outspoken over their dislike of President Bush (whom I still love.) I'm trying to get over this but it's been really hard for me. I know how many people spent sleepless nights working hard to get McCain elected.
I'm just trying to learn to respect him by January 20th, but I still have 2 months of tears to shed before then.

A labor of motherly love

One of the wonderful qualities Kendall has inherited from me is my sense of rationale. I'm overly rational, you should see me at the grocery store. So when discussing and deciding her Halloween costume this year - her sense of being overly rationale kicks in. She wouldn't be Snow White because she would have to wear a wig, not Ariel because it's hard to walk in, her hair wasn't long enough to be Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella.
"Mom, Tinkerbell has short blonde hair like me, so maybe I should just be Tinkerbell for Halloween?"
Well it seemed like a good decision, not too popular, had to be a pretty easy costume to find...and it was - but the costumes at the store were so chin-cee. The Target costume was so pitiful the hanger it came on probably cost more to manufacture, the Deluxe official Disney costume at the Disney Store was chartreuse crushed velvet and light up wings. So I decided - I'm crafty - I can do this. How hard can it be? A little sparkley green dress, some wings, slippers - instant Tinkerbell.
Now the underlying problem with this thought process was that I am in the middle of an election..in fact days away and my free time is extremely limited. The other problem was that after deeper thought I realized I needed to go to 4 separate stores to get all the products to make the costume and I would have to pull out the sewing machine.
I worked on it for awhile on Tuesday night and finally finished it up tonight. I'll admit, it's a little ghetto - I'm still a newbie on the sewing machine. But it's quite obvious who she is and she LOVES it - and that's all that matters right?
This picture it's about 98% done, but I put the finishing touches on it tonight and I'll post pictures from Halloween later this weekend.

A night at th Fair

It's that special time of year...you can smell fried food and carnies...the fair is in town. I opened my big fat mouth at work and suggested that the Republican Party get a booth for McCain and the local candidates and who do you think gets stuck organizing, setting up, and manning it? Yep - me.

John and Kendall came out on opening night. Kendall rode alot of rides and still seems to be the no fear-cavalier. However, the most exciting thing to happen to her was when Daddy won her 2 new fish! She's named them Dragon and Kate and I have no idea why.

Overall it was a great fall family night even though it was pretty chilly!

GO Noles!

The whole family went to Tallahassee this weekend for the VA Tech vs. FSU game. We got to spend some time with Jon Townsend and Missy. It was a beautiful day for a football game and even better when the Noles won!

FSU has even come up to #15 in the BCS! Whoo Hoo!!

A night with the Cheetah Girls

On Friday night Kendall and I went to the Cheetah Girls: One World Tour in at the Veterans Arena. We were given tickets in a box suite by the Chairman of the Duval Republican Party. Kendall was excited for weeks! She insisted on getting a new rockstar outfit - complete with knee high patent leather boots!

She really was in awe with the place and loved the opening acts. She was dancing with the other little girls in the suite and having a grand old time. The Cheetah Girls put on quite a show - within the first 45 mintes they must have changed costumes 7 times.

Then about 45 minutes in, Kendall was dancing like a rock star as usual. She was dancing on or near the steps in the suite. The next thing I know she's fallen and screaming bloody murder. We rushed out to the hall and some people got us ice. She literally had a huge golf ball sized bump on her head within 30 seconds of the fall. Then the arena EMT showed up. They checked her vitals and whatnot. They wanted us to go to the ER but we rushed home to Daddy and "Dr." Christie came over and checked her out. Dr. Christie deemed she'd be fine and she is except for this HUGE bump on her head.

Regardless of the accident she still says she had a great time at the concert and wants to go back and see the Cheetah Girls again!

Amendments on the November Ballot

So I know all of you look to me with utmost respect and always listen to my voting recommendations - HA! Regardless, I've decided to post my thoughts on how to vote on the amendments on the November ballot.
Drum roll please....
VOTE NO ON ALL OF THEM!!
However, my conclusion has nothing to do with the substance of the amendments. In fact I agree with a few of them. However the bottom line is that I am a conservative and I'm opposed to all of this constant "amending" to our Constitution. I've looked at all this amendments and there really isn't any good reason that this ideas can not be made into laws by our elected Legislature.
To those of you who remember the bullet train fiasco - we've seen first hand what happens when we amend the Constitution without researching the ramifications. True there are good amendments up this year but none of them seem worthy enough to amend the Constitution for.

Scooters for Hooters

Today was the 1st Annual Scooters for Hooters Breast Cancer Research Event (although expect a name change for the 2nd Annual event). It was organized by our friends Tyler, Terrell, Bon, and Erica. All of their moms have had and (thus far) survived breast cancer. It was a great event, they had over 30 scooter (moped) riders ride from Jax Beach to Fernandina and back. Then a great party at Mojo's Kitchen with live music by the one and only Matt Still.

One of our friends who was riding had her mother and 3 aunts affected by breast cancer, and she was well aware that it most likely will happen to her. I realized how lucky I am to have not had any family members affected by breast cancer.

Here are a few pictures of Kendall and the crew. She loves her Matt Still - I'm pretty sure she's the President of his fan club!!

Good for Something...

So last Christmas Kendall got a Jack Russell puppy for Christmas. By far the WORST decision of my life, everyone knows I CAN'T stand him. However....tonight he came in kinda handy.

So we discovered about 3 weeks ago that a small mouse had taken up refuge in our garage. John has had several goes at trying to catch him with no avail. He's only been spotted about 3 times and it's most likely because John isn't the best at remembering to take the garbage out but still if you know me you know I can't stand rodents. Give me a snake or spider in the house anyday. I've literally been petrified to go in the garage and have to have Noah (our golden retriever) accompany me when I go out there to put laundry in.

Well tonight, Marley earned part of his keep. He knows he's extremely low on my list and is constantly doing odd things in attempts to win me over. He's brought me a palmetto bug from the yard and one time caught a lizard on the porch in hopes to win my approval. Well, what do you thinks he brings in from the front yard tonight - yep dead mouse. Of course the whole him bringing him in the house and dropping him on the floor about 3 feet from me was NOT COOL and resulted in me having a minor panic attack - I can now go into the garage again.

I hope this was the garage mouse, I'm about positive that he captured the darn thing from near the garbage cans outdoors. I really hope this guy was a loner...if I find or hear another one I'm calling the Orkin man ASAP!!

First Timer!

Well, everyone else is doing it - so here we go. Hopefully I will have the time to update this...here's to nothing!

j/k/m/m/n
John, Kendall, Meredith, Marley, and Noah