Justin Beiber singing doll

Walking into Walmart, Zeke catches eyes with Justin Beiber, the singing doll. You press his belt buckle and he sings...so all the way home guess who Zeke is, even down to the hip sideways hat? Here's a sample of our very own Justin singing doll. And NO I did not put him up to this.

some of our December

Can you believe I didn't take my camera to Hollywild? Good grief. For all of you that do not reside in the upstate, Hollywild is a zoo kind of place that houses all kinds of animals from lions to cows. Some of the animals there are trained for movies and stuff. And at Christmas they string lights around the whole place and you drive your car through...but the BEST part is the "Deer Forest" where you roll your windows down and hold onto your kids by the ankles so they don't fling their bodies out to the animals (hannah) and feed the deer, horses, zebras, za-donk (that's part donkey, part zebra) and mutant cows. And by mutant cows, I mean they are GINORMOUS. They are as tall as our large SUV, seriously. And those mammoth beasts stick their entire heads, heads the size of large SUV windows, into your car to get more stale bread. Its seriously HILARIOUS and will make you want to wet your pants 'cause your laughing so hard and shimmy back to the cargo space at the same time. I can't believe I didn't get it on camera, because I feel like some of you think I'm being dramatic.

We're friends, enjoying life and graham crackers.

Zeke likes to fold his tall body underneath an ottoman...not one of these new large and in charge ottomans that's used to hold toys, magazines, blankets, and beverages...the old kind of normal proportions you'd use to kick your feet up on.

playing in sheet tents

Hannah's hair is on the grow! I've been playing with it, trying to do fun things. Cornrows are so tricky! I am amazed at how women do this. Its LIKE doing a french-braid, sure, except you hold tiny amounts of hair at one time and have to work magic fingers. I will keep practicing. I will not give up. But for now, look at those cute little puffies! It's like a side ponytail gone wild!

Here is Zeke going to play "shootball"...pronounced oo in book.

Oh, and here is Zeke ready for work...

And here is Zeke dressed like a penguin...the bowtie was his idea...one of Hannah's ribbons he found and requested to be donned at the neck.

We love the Tom the cat app...Hannah will cackle at that feline. I mean, I love him, too, I'm not going to pretend I don't. I LOVE to make him copy what I say, whether it's an Alvin and the Chipmunks tune or a Lou Holtz impression.

Just contently playing with one of Zeke's new toys. What a fun plane.

After Zeke realized I was having more fun with his new plane than he was.
I'm so mad I could do a split...she really is so limber.

Happy Birthweek Hannah Belle

This week Hannah turned two! Crazy, crazy. Happy Birthday to that crazy, sweet, snuggly, funny, well-balanced, almond- eyed, curly- haired cutie!

Deep thoughts with Zeke:

"It's a real movie, but it's not real."

Gross moments with Hannah:
I looked back to her carseat and she looked like she was snacking on something. Hmmm. Then she took her tiny little pointer and started picking at the bottom of her shoe. Hmmm. Then she proceeds to lift her whole foot towards her mouth and lick, lick, lick the bottom of her shoe. I scream stop, she cries. Eww.

Birthday yogurt; get it girl!!

Oh Hannah

Hannah cracks me up. She loves running in circles and boots. Here she is swinging herself "faster" in a circle...Zeke is blowing a whistle with his finger, she falls down, but I'm not worried, she's resilient, but "Oh no!" What's the matter? "Dirty." As in her boots are dirty. It gets funnier and funnier to me, because this is so Hannah. She is rough and tumble and loves hanging by her ankles and jumping off high buildings, but uh-uh don't let her boots get dirty.

The past few weeks...

The last few weeks we've been...

Wearing lots of Superhero attire, all day every day.

Ruined a skillet by melting this poor ducky on the bottom. He used to be a wisk. Poor guy, doesn't he looked kerflummexed?

This picture is so pretty to me, it helps numb the annoyance of a ruff season.
Yes, I meant to bark.

Looks like the lady folk aren't the only ones dipping their pants into their boots.

Took a trip back to the SC Botanical Gardens with mom and sis. This place is worth a trip to Clemson...come spring you should definitely try to get up there and tromp around...unless you live in like Belgium or something.

We visited The GA Aquarium...SO FUN. Wow-wee that place is so NEAT!!! My favorite part was the huge tank with the ginormous fish/whales/sharks/rays....

My least favorite part of the aquarium. Sticky Goooo! Who knew she would turn that color? I think they used indigo to color that thing.

We, and I do mean "we", played in the crunchy yummy smoky fall foliage.

We jumped off of things, as usual. And this time, by "we" I mean Hannah.

The youngest practiced hanging upside down, played in rotten leaf water, and still can't nail down when to use "yethhh" (yes) and "no" correctly.

A sweet friend gave us a boxful of costumes, so we're really not wearing "normal" clothes anymore. Here is Zeke giving us his best Mr. Incredible pose.

We ate too much and got super sleepy.

The fun people in these last two pictures were the redeeming part of a stink-stank-stunky game. We didn't get near as many looks with that crazy coat on this game as we did last year when Chris wore the same crazy coat and was pushing around a double stroller with two African American kids in it. Ha! I love it.

National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Month! Here's some factoids for us:

How many children were in US foster care on September 30, 2009? 423,773

• 25% of them were adoptable...102,615

In 2009, there were over 12,000 international adoptions to the USA

I wish I had some good facts for Private Domestic Adoption, but I do not.

Interested in SC domestic adoption? Check this site out:
www.scheartgallery.org

God bless America

This is Zeke's own rendition of the song. Let me make this clear...it sounds NOTHING like the original, but I'm 300% sure he's trying to go for it. He's been singing it since we picked up Alissa from the airport. He changes the words often, but usually there's always the word "city" and "praise the Lord" in there somewhere. I love the throat clearing at the end.

We heart costumes

This has been a fun day. We went to see Grandaddy, Di, and Ya Ya Yee (Alissa) and then to a Fall Festival with friends, and of COURSE Zeke's been talking about dressing up for the past 24 hours. I secretly ordered a Buzz and a Spiderman costume, because he kept going back and forth on what he wanted to be. Looks like someone's getting a Spider Man costume for Christmas! Zeke was in hog heave in his costume. He really wanted to wear it to church, but we draw the line, oh yes we do. I'm sure he'll be in the thing all week long. Zeke was bummed when he realized Hannah was going as a flower, he protested that she was supposed to be Jessie, as in the Yodeling Cowgirl. Nope.

That's hystarious.

This is what preceded this face: "Zeke, make your best Buzz Lightyear face." Hmmm, looks like What choo talkin bout Willis/Evil eye = Buzz Lightyear. Who knew?

Somebody's excited about candy!!! And velcro chin straps!

Sweet little Hannah is good at pulling her face, especially at picture time.

Happy happy Zeke, I mean he's dressed in an awesome Buzz outfit, has a cup filled with non-watered down juice, just ate vienna sausages and cotton candy with his bff coleman (yes we eat viennas and sometimes cheer for them, shame me if you must), rode a hayride, and finished the day off with a ride home in his very own rocket seat.

Welcome home seester!

We had a welcome home party at my mom's house just recently for my sister, who just came home from being in Uganda since January of 2009. It was such a fun time, my mom and dad have such a great backyard. She and her friends made it glorious. She has outdoor lamps and white lights hanging up and a firepit...it was so cozy and nostalgic and just delicious to me. Good times with good friends, ahhh.

Here's something that should make a comeback in mass proportions...Big Wheels. It's tricky to find one, I tell ya. There's just nothing quite like a Big Wheel, especially on a slanted driveway with an older cousin to give you a good starting push. And check out the backdrop btw, isn't that background beautiful, thumbs up to a great backyard Di.

Hannah was rocking her handmade Ugandan dress and propeller bow

The eldest and I had a knock down drag out about the outfit. He has like four really cool African outfits but he REFUSED to wear them, I wrestled him to just try them on. Then my lightbulb went off that he could just dress up as an African animal. Ha. I still dressed him festive and he didn't even see it coming. Boom. Roasted.

Fall Retreat and Reunion

We had such an amazing fall vacation/reunion with friends last week. Chris' college friends have become my friends, too, and I just love them all. It was so much fun to veg out with them last week at Lake Hartwell just minutes from the Clemson campus. Zeke had a playmate all week long which felt magical, Hannah was a ham and supplied much entertainment, I got to hang out with girlfriends that I don't get to see nearly enough, Chris got to play ball in Littlejohn and golf with his buds, what else can I say? We laughed hard and ate a lot of Break and Bakes. Good times. There were way too many pictures from the week so I picked a few to highlight the fun times that were had.

If only Uncle Zuk could throw him higher

The Botanical Gardens in Clemson are SO, MUCH, FUN. Even if you don't like Clemson, crazy as you are, you would like this. So much to see and explore. And so many good pictures to take!

MY SISTER CAME HOME FROM UGANDA!!!! Woo hoo! After almost two years we welcomed her home, not to mention she met that dear niece of hers.
See what I mean, what a great week we had!

We ended the week with a tailgate reunion in Clemson with Chris' buddies. So crazy to see your kids and college friends' kids playing together. My, how the years pass quickly. Sigh.

I even got to see a few of my college friends and their offspring, look at this cute little Ellie playing in the Liriope with Belle. That's Monkey Grass for all you who didn't take that Horticulture class.