Sunday, November 30, 2008

Thanksgiving, a birthday and Black Friday

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving. I know I did. It was a little weird because the kids and I were gone while Kevin stayed home. He and his Dad are attempting to build a bedroom for Chloe in our basement and I didn't really want to be home for that. Unfortunately, they met a few challenges along the way and not a whole lot of progress was made as far as the actual building process. But the kids and I certainly had a good time with my parents.


Thanksgiving itself was pretty low key: just me and the kids with my parents. My brother joined us on Friday night. And on Saturday, the kids and I drove to my grandparents' house which is midway between Mom and Dad's and our house. (Midway being nearly 3 hours to either one) We had Thanksgiving Dinner their with my Mom's extended family before heading home for Kevin's 30th birthday. Yes, you heard that right, Kevin turned 30 yesterday. I think he's handling it pretty well. He played around 18 hours of Xbox with his brothers that day, so I suppose he's trying to hold onto his youth or something.


For the past several years, my Dad and I have gone shopping on Black Friday. Previously, we've gone into the city, about an hour, but this year we decided to stay a little closer. The town they live in is less than 4000 people but still has a SuperWalMart, so we thought we'd check that out first thing. We got there at 5am and had to park on the grass, but the store was really not too bad. Everyone seemed to be pretty patient with each other and we were back home by 5:30. We didn't even wait in line to check out.

After a quick trip home for breakfast and to get Jadon, we headed into a slightly larger town nearby to do some more shopping. JJ lasted a couple of hours until we stood in line at the cutting table at JoAnn Fabrics forever. After the first half hour, my Dad decided to hold my place while I took Jadon home to Grandma for a nap. He was waiting in line to check out when I got back a half hour later. We hit several more stores and then made it home for lunch. Wanna see all my loot?




You didn't really think I'd show you all my Christmas presents did you? Not only did I get most of my shopping done(only a neice and a couple things for Micah left), I even got it all wrapped! Sorry for showing off, but I'm so excited to have that done so early this year. Hopefully I can get the rest finished next weekend so I can spend the rest of the time baking yummy goodies. That's one of my favorite things about this time of year. Oh yeah, my parents brought home a cat for my Dad's mother to visit (she just went into the nursing home near them) so this is the introduction she got to her new home. (sorry for the blurry photo, but I could not get this kid to be still!)



Monday, November 24, 2008

Rodie Christmas

Okay everybody. This post is actually my second for today, so be sure to scroll down to get to the interesting stuff. I use the word "interesting" very loosely here. Kelly was looking for the Christmas list for the kids earlier today and once we found it, I thought I'd put it up here just so there would be a central spot anyone could find it. It's pretty generic, you decide which kids to actually pair up individually. I never remember by Christmas anyway.

Todd's kids have Teegan, Ilese, and Eliana
Mark's have Claire and Lydia
Jody's have Andy, JJ, Mallie and Micah
Mine have Luke, Abby and Katy
BJ's have Caleb and Chloe

Now you know. Grown ups are doing that crazy white elephant game. I'll be out of town the rest of the week while Kevin and Joe destroy our basement so Happy Thanksgiving everybody. And try not to kill yourselves on Black Friday!

101

Last month Kevin's Grandmother had her 101st birthday. I had several people ask me, "HOW old is she?" as we were preparing for the day. Yes, she is actually 101. And don't call her Grandma or Granny, she is Grandmother. She's not too fond of nicknames in general. BJ is "Bryan" and Andy is "Andrew." She loves all the kids. She has 10 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren, so it's a good thing. But the babies are her favorites. She lives with Kevin's Mom and Dad just around the corner from us. This morning I wandered over there to say hi and drop off some dishes to Grandma Ellen. This is what Grandmother had been doing all morning. Her current project for the great-grandkids. You gotta keep busy. Don't think even being 101 years old will keep you out of working.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

A preview

In the interest of making this holiday week just as crazy as possible, I had 2 photoshoots today. Kevin was off in a deer stand somewhere blowing out his eardrum, so I got a babysitter and went to work. The kids and I are leaving for my parents' house on Monday for the week so that leaves me with a whole bunch of work to do either tonight and tomorrow, or to procrastinate and wait until after the holiday. Hopefully, I can get a good start and not feel too guilty for leaving the rest until next week.


But, I digress. The whole point of this post was for the preview. This little guy is sooooo adorable. His mama and I have been friends since high school. While she was feeding him in the middle of the shoot, we were reminiscing about her first date with her husband, or rather, how she asked him to our Junior Prom. His response was something noncommittal "sure" or "I guess," something along those lines. But 10 years later, this is what comes from "I guess"
I think that was the best answer he could have ever given. Just look at that face!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

What an Awesome God we serve

Last weekend I had the great privilege to photograph the wedding of a friend of mine. They actually got married about 5 years ago, with a justice of the peace. They have since had two beautiful girls, but a very difficult marriage. Our pastor offered to do a rededication ceremony for them some time ago and they decided that they really liked the idea. When Elisabeth first approached me about being her photographer, I really wanted to do this for her, but I was unsure. I am by no means a wedding photographer, but I told her yes anyway.
I am so thankful I said yes. The ceremony was short and simple, but beautiful. Joy permeated the room. There were only about 30 or 40 people present, but every one of them was there to celebrate the awesome power of God evident in the lives and marriage of these two people. I feel completely inept trying to describe this in words. I'm much better with images.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Finally!

I finally got around to checking out Jody's photos from the birthday party and they are really cute. Here are some of my favorites. Thanks a bunch Jody!

The airplane cake was gorgeous. Thanks Amelia.

Jadon got his own cupcakes sans milk. He seemed to think they were pretty yummy.


This is how Micah started out the evening. It seems his face was a magnet for the bat.

But he still loves that bat.
Jadon knows all too well what that camera is all about.
Double vision. Two year old cousins.

This was definitely Jadon's favorite gift. He took it to bed the next 2 or 3 nights and even fed it breakfast Sunday morning.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Fab 5 number 3

Micah turns 5 tomorrow! Still waiting on photos of the big party, but I'm sure I'll have them up soon. We had a photoshoot for my big guy today. He's super cute! So let's have a quick overview of my guy, shall we?

Let's see, everybody knows about Micah and baseball, right? Since he was about 18 months old, he's been a dedicated Cubs fan (sorry Dad) and he watches baseball intently all summer long. Anytime he missed the end of the game this summer, he made sure to check with Kevin in the morning to see if they won or lost. As a toddler, he carried around a tiny little orange bat EVERYWHERE he went. He only gave that up for actual bats and balls and somebody to pitch. Up until this past summer, anytime you played wiffle ball with him, he was always willing to let you bat too, just as long as you bat both right- and left-handed. If he has to, so does everyone else. Anyone who thought that was a raw deal can thank my husband for that little quirk.

Micah's also a tiny little guy, but what he lacks in size he more than makes up for in personality. He makes friends with everyone he meets. At the ballpark during Kevin's softball games, he always manages to get the girls at the concession stand to pitch his wiffleball to him. Right now, he's playing basketball on the front porch while serving as his own commentator, just like in the pros. "And he saves the day! Incomplete... Micah goes back for another one, and he makes it. 42 to 0!" You just gotta love this kid, he always makes life interesting.

Not to be outdone

I got a new lens yesterday. I love it. No really I love it. I actually used the phrase, "It's sweet." I have never, ever said that about anything other than sugar-filled recipes or sweet babies. Like this one. She's sweet too. I think I like her more than the lens. I'm not sure though. It's close.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Two for one Birthday Special

The Rodie family is suddenly overflowing with fall birthdays. In the next week, Lydia and Teegan will both turn 1 and Micah will be 5! Jadon turned 2 about 3 weeks ago, and of course, we have new little Elianna (sp?) just 2 weeks old. So this year we decided that maybe Micah and Jadon could share their birthday party, just to make things simple. I called Jami up at the church several months ago and asked her to find a time for me sometime between October and November when the gymnasium would be available for the boys' birthday party. She came up with last Saturday.

Micah, of course, wanted to play baseball. Who could have guessed? And Jadon has really gotten into airplanes. So we had an airplane themed party, and played baseball. Amelia made an airplane cake to look like Uncle John's plane. And we had foam gliders(airplanes) and paratroopers for all the kids. We took the kids up to the balcony to drop their little paratroopers down to the gym floor. They all thought that was really cool.

We only had 36 people(I think) because of some unfortunate sicknesses and a very unfortunate run-in with a deer(literally), but it was still quite a fun crowd. And we did polish off most of the food. I don't have any pictures yet but I promise they're coming. I asked Aunt Jody to take pictures for me because I was afraid I'd miss most of the fun shots while I was trying to run the party. I think it was a good call, because I didn't even see the boys open their gifts. So as soon as we get around to it, I'll get you some photos. I'm actually pretty excited to see them myself!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Would you eat this???!!



Or this?

Or this?

How about this?


This one isn't so bad is it?
Or maybe you'd like something to drink?

Welcome to the Putrid Potluck.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

We're off to see the Wizard...

The wonderful Wizard of Oz!

When I was pregnant with Jadon, I thought for sure he was going to be born on Halloween. I can't stand Halloween. But I figured I'd either be miserable every year or I'd just have to learn to embrace it. I chose the latter. So every year since I've made themed costumes for the kids. When Micah was Jadon's age he had this oh, so adorable lion costume so we centered our theme around that costume. So then we got Dorothy... and the Scarecrow. My kids have actually seen the movie, so they did know the characters, despite the fact that Micah really doesn't like the movie.
They loved the costumes. Of course we had to have a photo shoot before Trunk or Treat. Happy Halloween everybody!
Mom to four beautiful blessings including a brand new little guy. Laugh and cry with me as I navigate the joys and perils of motherhood and homeschooling.