eternally chaotic

Christmas this year introduced a new member to our family named Red.  And NO to those of you thinking the unthinkable – the family head count remains at a solid seven, including the dog.  This little persons name, after much enthusiastically and somewhat fanatical debate among existing family members was determined to be “Red”.  Red the Christmas Elf.  He would only be around for a few weeks out of the year, didn’t eat much and pretty much remained stationary throughout the day – at some point during the day, when our eyes were cast elsewhere, he would just vanish until the next morning.  Red had some specific rules about being touched or bothered as well – certainly the kids were to strictly forbidden to touch him and to leave him alone lest he lose his observational and somewhat magical powers granted by the spirit that is Christmas.  Red’s job was to cast a watchful eye upon his family, take score of the good versus bad and report back to some higher power a recommendation as to which list each household member might befit.  Somehow during his strictly “observational” process he would always find a way to cause mischief and leave a mess.

Two nights before Christmas however, Red left something additional in each of the stockings of the Children of the Corn.  A gold dipped envelope containing a silver inked letter from The Man himself.  Now was the time of reckoning.  The time of knowing.  Was it the good list or the bad.  What did Santa think?  What did he know?  When we opened our weary eyes the next morning would they sparkle and shine from majestic reflection of silver and gold or be dim from broken hope and disappointment.

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Today Violet performed in her school nativity play as the “Sheep with the Curly Horns”.  They have been practicing on and off since the end of October and it certainly showed.  She was very serious about her performance and we even saw her lip-syncing other classmates parts while they were singing or talking.  Violet thought the Sheep with the Curly Horns was very cool and was excited to play this part even though it meant she would have to do a solo part.  We are very proud of her.

The kids are back in school, summer is at its height and the daily scheduled grind has taken hold.  Thank goodness for the break brought by Labor Day.  We had not ambitious plans and wanted nothing other than to spend some time with the kids and enjoy our time off.  There was plenty to do however that we talked about through the summer but just couldn’t fit in so we planned to take full advantage of our few days of free time and get in some activities with the CoTC.  Specifically we wanted to see the DragonCon Parade, Atlanta Aquarium and Stone Mountain Laser Show.

DragonCon was back in town and while I would have preferred to have purchased tickets and gone sightseeing at the actual show, it was cost prohibitive to take all the kids – even if the cost was right there was no way I was taking them to wait for tickets in the six hour line that literally wrapped around the block.  The parade was a good second and something I had never seen as well.  The kids loved it.  We found a nice spot to watch above the road and behind some glass that we were able to squeeze in to – certainly better than being at ground level with four munchkins that couldn’t see over a shrubbery.  The costumes were pretty awesome and all of us had our favorites.  Jacob took the only pictures with his camera and the rest of us just soaked it in.

Next up was a walk to the Atlanta Aquarium.  We had been planning to take the kids here all summer but just couldn’t find the time to do it.  Labor Day probably wasn’t the wisest choice in timing though as it was packed wall to wall with people.  Crazy.  Oh well, tickets had been purchased already online so at the very least we were able to bypass the ridiculously long entry line and head straight in.  Having been many times in the past we were hoping to see some of the new exhibits that had been added such as the dolphins but they were not open unless you purchased another ticket specifically to view them.  We instead took our time strolling from room to room and soaking up the sites.  Many times just sitting in front of a particular wall and watching everything swim around.  We managed to time our trip to the main viewing room of the large tank in time for the feeding of the massive whale sharks.  The biologist would drop buckets of krill onto the surface and the whales would basically inhale massive amounts of water and filter it through their gills each eating twenty pounds or so of these obviously delicious morsels per bite.

We did not end up going to Stone Mountain as it started raining early in the evening.  With the laser light show changing this year to something new and supposedly now in a type of 3-D where it looks like they are inside of the mountain we were bummed and will hopefully get to check it out before the season ends.

All in all a great weekend with the family.  Lots of time away from the house but also plenty of time at home to just take it easy and chill.

It only took most of the summer, all of the fall and the early part of winter but we finally made it out to meet the newest member of the family, Hunter Brian Scheckles. Best of all we got to do this over Thanksgiving and were able to see not only Hunter but also Dad and Mom…oh yeah and those other three people as well.  

The trip over from Atlanta to the middle of nowhere was much quicker than expected once we were well out of Atlanta (the leaving Atlanta part took two of the ten hours to travel the required 600 miles).  Carol loaded up my new shiny work laptop as well as our family one (not so shiny or new) and a pile of movies.  She put the movies in and played the sound over the car speakers and until dark I think for the most part I kept my eyes mostly on the road – after dark I am not so sure but we did arrive unscathed.  I did get to see the majority of one of our favorite movies, Phantom of the Opera as well as some of the Love Actually and Avatar.  We had just started National Lampoons Christmas Vacation when we pulled up.

Hunter was adorable to see.  He was still tiny and little but cute and full of coos and slobber.  We got to see him play a bit, mainly by eating his hands or a few different toys, roll over, which we heard was something new, and generally be happy – all the things babies do that are cute…and the absolute best part – well other than getting to see the happiness that Hunter has brought to Brian and Kim –  was being on the visiting end instead of the mommy or daddy end…sorry Sis but it was great to sit back and let you take care of feeding and diapers and all that other “fun” stuff that comes along with the cuteness..especially the morning parts where we got to sleep in…I should stop now while I am ahead.

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Violet’s preschool put on a Nativity play recently where all the kids had a chance to participate and play various parts.  Violet was insistent upon the role of a “Wise Man” as her part – interesting choice but she is always running around the house pretending to be the prince while Piper plays dress-up like a princess.  It was a pleasure to see her perform in her first play.  She did well with her part, a few songs, a one liner and most importantly she even stayed on the stage with the rest of her class.

“This is my gift of Myrrh which will keep your skin soft”

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It is rare to get snow in Georgia, or well normally it is, but the past few years we have received at least a little, normally after the turn of the new year when winter is in full swing.  This year however we were surprised that the weathermen were actually right for once when it started snowing on Christmas Day.  It didn’t take long before the temperatures plummeted and massive snow flakes started to stick and accumulate.  It was a wet snow to start with, wet enough that Dad and I were able to chase off Autumn, pummeling her with snowball after snowball when she had to leave Christmas night – I guess next time she will stick around

The day after however much of the wetness had dried up and all that was left was a nice power – little icy for skiing but nice nonetheless.  The CoTC could take it no longer though and wrapped themselves in layer upon layer to head out into the arctic cold.  Great times ensued !!!

It was great to have snow and even better to have it on Christmas Day.

Early Labor Day morning, one am to be precise, we received one of those late night, just fell asleep, phone cuts like a laser through your dreams, serious problem type of calls.  Turns out, the call was from the surgeon at the animal hospital where Uno was being boarded.  The details about what had happened were fuzzy at best and only Uno’s current condition was known. We were being informed that he was being rushed to surgery to sew up severe lacerations and bites as well as receive a series of x-rays to determine whether or not he had a broken leg. Good to know – still know answers but at least he was in good hands.  We were told we would receive another call after the surgery was complete, and we did, confirming he was doing well and that he was comfortable, but there were still no details as to what had happened.  To make it more frustrating the vet was closed due to the Labor Day holiday (granted later we found out that the vet left five voicemails but we didn’t see until Monday night).

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Halloween has come and gone.  The loot has been categorized into various zip lock bags and put into deep freeze for behavior based distribution.  The kids had a month of various Halloween activities: Netflix provided movies, Carol provided the arts and crafts and I provided labor for scooping out pumpkin guts.  Costume selection happened about a month ago and the kids are already planning what they want to be for next year.  The costumes were fun.  Jacob was Ninja, Isaac was a Special Ops Soldier, Piper was Silvermist and Violet was Ariel.  The all looked great and the got to pick their own costumes – thank you Internet Gods for not making us drive all over creation looking for the perfect costume.

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Christmas is always fun and has been more than ever as the Girls start learning about giving and receiving gifts…  Who am I kidding!!! Piper couldn’t contain herself to start tearing into presents.  Piper seemed just the right age for starting to really grok opening gifts and watching others do the same.  Violet was a fast learner as well (and had a good teacher in her older sister) and didn’t waste any time tearing off paper and claiming what was hers.

The big gift this year for the girls was a train table.  Complete with all the trimmings this table took nearly two full hours for three adults to assemble and “test”.  It was much to big to wrap so we just put it in the middle of the living room floor with a big bow on it.  Both girls saw it the instant they came into the room and after a moment of asking “did santa bring that for us” they dug in and starting driving trains – a good distraction while coffee and cinnamon rolls were made.  I think for a short while they even…dare I say it…shared!  (more…)

Piper and Violet were delighted to see Mamma and Pappa for Christmas.  We prepped Piper for about a week prior to get her worked up and anticipating them coming to town to celebrate Christmas with us.  Each year since the we have had the girls they have been in town, insisting on spoiling them moreso than they already are.

Mom and Dad whisked the girls away for a few fun filled days either running around town or looking at the various creatures in the aquarium.  Piper absolutely loves going to the aquarium and Violet is just at the right age where she is, for the most part, easy to manage with an extra pair of hands.

Christmas Eve we spent building a gingerbread house that we never did actually end up eating.  Violet certainly got her fill of the candy though.  Every two or three pieces that made it onto the house were eventually picked off and deposited into her mouth.  (more…)