Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! We gathered at Mer, Pete and Kate's. Look at Felix and Lucy being SO GOOD!!!

Cheers! Fairytale of New York, our favorite holiday beverage. I was in charge of orange rind garnish and peeled the skin off my thumb! It hurt but I think I finally learned how to peel an orange (and how NOT to peel an orange!).

Peace!

Look at those dogs hovering.

Lucy gets as CLOSE AS POSSIBLE.

We found this old drawing that I did of Mom and Dad's house! From back when we had Tyler! There's Tyler out in the yard. And Dad is grilling something on the front porch!

Time to eat!

Yum. Everything was so delicious.

Pie time! We had four kinds. Pecan:

Apple:

Pumpkin:

Cranberry:

All together now!

Happy 14th Birthday, Little Kate!

Today we gathered at Mom and Dad's to celebrate Little Kate's fourteenth birthday! We had quesadillas and tortilla soup!

 

Happy birthday!

Make a wish!

 
 

Red velvet!

Unicorn Pegasus Electric Box!!!

This morning, my phone started blowing up with emails, texts and calls! Apparently they were installing my unicorn pegasus on the electric box by Applebee's on East State Street! Everyone was reaching out with excitement. Here's a photo of it being installed!!

I knew that this would probably end up on an electric box some day, because my coworker Kyle submitted this artwork to the City of Athens, and his submission was chosen. The chosen submissions would be installed as electric box wraps throughout the city of Athens. We didn't know when or where this would happen, and this was like over a year ago!! I had forgotten all about it! The art is from a potluck lunch at work, where my coworkers all attempted to draw my unicorn pegasus from memory on the dry erase board. And then obviously that's MY unicorn pegasus (the perfect one) there in the middle!

It's so exciting that it was finally installed, and it looks absolutely glorious!!! I'm so excited and proud!! 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We had a fire pit and handed out candy for Trick or Treat. I didn't take very many pictures!!

Vana and Jasper! Jasper is in a big Ghostbusters phase.

Scott and Michele! Look at that cute little policeman!

Trick or Treat!

Porch Breakfast

I scored another of Dad's delightful porch breakfasts this morning!

The Magnificent Bryozoan

Today we gathered for what will probably be the last paddle of the year. Sigh! It's been a great season!

We were especially excited for today's paddle, because Valerie had told us that she'd discovered some mysterious blob things that look like egg sac! We couldn't wait to explore.

After some research, she discovered these are called Pectinatella magnifica, a species of freshwater bryozoan. Bryozoans are a phylum of simple, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary colonies. They're a little bit creepy!! But they are good news because they indicate a healthy ecosystem. Keep up the good work, little bryozoans!

Rainbow sparkle cake!

This has been an amazing birthday week, and the icing on the cake (sorry, had to) was Emily surprising me with this rainbowlicious birthday cake today at Summer's pool party! The cake itself was SPARKLY.

Emily taking the first cut into her masterpiece.

Nailed it!

A five-layer rainbow cake, covered in sparkly bourbon buttercream, with rainbows and sprinkles. I love my life!

What a special birthday treat. I love you, Emily!

I just happened to be wearing a necklace that exactly matched my surprise birthday cake. What are the chances!?

Incredible!

I also had a nice celebration earlier in the week with my family. Mom and dad cooked up a taco bar dinner, and a delicious Texas sheet cake for dessert!

Spooky!

What a great week. Thank you to everyone who helped make it so magical!

Porch breakfasts

We've been keeping up the pandemic tradition of occasional breakfasts on Mom and Dad's porch! Here's one from last weekend.

And this one is from today! Dad's breakfasts are always delicious.

Happy Birthday, Pete!

Happy 51st birthday to Pete!

Kate made this beautiful cake. Make a wish!

Happy 70th, Cheryl!

It's Cheryl's 70th birthday this week! We got together at Kayla and Derrick's tiny house to celebrate. I made a lemon cake and decorated it with butterflies.

Happy 70th birthday!

I love the color of this punch.

Their tiny house is adorable! And their outdoor space is beautiful.

Attempt at a serious group photo.

Alright, smile!!