Santa Kenny Lands at Starbucks

My son has worked at our local Starbucks for the past several years. They asked him to play Santa this year.

I think he fit the part rather well.

He got to enjoy milk and cookies.....

...and listen to many Christmas wishes.

Santa's Elf passed out sample cups of their specialty coffees. I liked the Caramel Creme Brulee the best.

But I think I know Kenny's favorite part about being Santa.

It had more perks than just free snacks. :)

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Favorites

My favorite man with my favorite dog.

Tate Farms

Fall is not complete for our family without at least one trip to Tate Farms. It is a great family-owned business that opens up to the public for the month of October. My first visit there was on a field trip with Kenny's 2nd grade class.

It would be like missing Christmas in December if we did not make our annual visit.

They always decorate and have many cute things to look at . . .
. . . . and lots of different equipment for the "kids" to play on.
There plenty of beautiful horizions to look at for the "Sky Watch" people.

We decided to go on the hay ride in search of the perfect pumpkin.
Kenny studies the crops . . . .
and spots it.
Success!
He loaded it into the back of the trailer and we headed back to the farm.
I am not sure who those people are but I thought their John Deere diaper bag was pretty funny.
The Tates always grow a great variety of colorful, lumpy, bumpy gourds. Some of them are so ugly that they are really cute. I buy bunches of them and put them every where in the house. (Note. If you own Cardigans, do not put them on your coffee table in a pretty glass bowl. The dogs think that you have put out tasty snacks for them and eat them.)
We hit the jackpot this year. Kenny and I went on closing day. We stopped by their little shop on the way out. A young kid that worked there told us that he was totally sick of pumpkins. He gave us a cart and said for $20 we could take what ever we could fit in it. Kenny snagged this big boy for starters. I should have had him stand in the picture for a size comparison. I am sure that it weighs as much as my 3 dogs combined. I now have pumpkins and gourds EVERYWHERE.

I love fall.

Randomness

Brent and I were cleaning my house on Saturday morning when I hear him say, "Mom, are you expecting company?" I say "No". Then he says, "Grandma is in the driveway." I didn't believe him, because my 85 year old mother lives in Ocala and has recently moved into assisted living. From day one, she has been telling me that she wants to give her car to my youngest son because she does not drive anymore and that I should pick it up. I guess I did not move quick enough.

She talked my sister into driving it to my house, but did not tell us that they were coming. I opened my door to find them standing there. Mom hands me a set of car keys and says, "Here is the car for Brent. Can you call us a cab?" At first I was quite confussed. I thought that I had a brain freeze and forgot that they were coming for a visit. Turns out they decided on Thursday to drive here on Friday, drop the car off and take a greyhound bus back to Florida. They stayed at my house for a total of 45 minutes.

I had enough time to buy them milk shakes before they took off again. It was quite an effort for them to make that long drive. I wish they would have stayed a little longer.

When my Mom makes her mind up about something, she does not waste any time. I am now the owner of FOUR cars. My son does not turn sixteen for a while still.

My driveway is starting to look like a used car lot.

Guntersville, AL

Fall break was last week. As the boys get older and busier, we find that we don't have too many weekends to spend together any more, so we decided to spend some time on Lake Gunter.

We rented this cabin on the lake.

The view from the back door.

Kenny and Rush quickly staked claim on the hammock.

When he wasn't lounging, Rush liked to play guard dog.

While Mike and Brent went golfing . . .

Kenny and I decided to have lunch at the Lodge.

Rumor has it that the owners spent 4 years and 7 million dollars renovating the place. It just reopened this year. They did a nice job.

The view of the lake was awesome. It was kind of hazy that day, so my camera did not really do it justice.

On another afternoon, Brent and I decided to hike to the waterfalls while Mike and Kenny watched football. We hiked for an hour, but never found it. We decided that because of the lack of rain, it might have dried up.

When we got back to the cabin, Brent and Rush turned into couch potatoes. We then held a "Longest Fingers" contest. Brent won. :o)

Here are my 3 men.

We hope to return in several weeks when the leaves are in full color.

Ocala, FL

I just returned from spending a week in Ocala, FL with my Mother. While there, I think we have reached a decision that it is time for Mom to go into a progressive/assisted living facility. Since January, she has fallen 5 times and had 1 fender bender. I have also noticed that she gets confused quite easily. I think losing Dad has really taken a toll on her. I have many good memories in this house and I will be very sad to see it sold.

My husband has often said that it is easy to mark different phases in life based on location. Knowing where my Mother is headed, I have a simple question. Can I please skip this phase?

Here is Mom with her grandson Brent (sporting a broken collar bone) and sweet, adorable great-granddaughter Kylin.
I decided to take Rush with me to Florida so that he could see what it is like to be an only child. I had no idea that he is such a Mama's boy. He would not go outside without me. He also followed me around the house and would not let me out of his sight. Some of his behaviors remind me a lot of his mother, Dixie.
Dixie hates water and will make a big circle around the pool when we take her to Ocala. She won't get anywhere near the edge. After all, you never know when; "That water may just jump up and pull you in!". While Rush is not scared of water, this is the closest that he ever got to it. I think if I had brought Jenna, she would dive right in.
Here is Rush displaying a nice, pool-side, free stack.

Saturday Photo Hunt

The theme for this week's Saturday Photo Hunt was "Candy" . . .

There was a time when my boys were really excited to get Snickers and Reese Cups in their easter eggs. I now put money in the eggs too.
Can you tell what type of candy they prefer these days?

Ode To Mother

This is the poem that was on my Mother's Day card today:

"A Mother's Day Poem From the Dog"

You feed me when I'm hungry,

You keep water in my dish,

You let me sleep on anything,

Or in any place I wish.

You sometimes let me lick your hands,

or even lick your face,

Despite that fact I've licked myself,

In every private place.

You taught me how to come when called,

You taught me how to sit,

You always let me go outside,

So I can take a shxx stroll.

You'll always have my loyalty

up to the bitter end,

'cause after all, it's plain to see.......

You are a dog's best friend!

Happy Mother's Day.

Love; Mike, Kenny & Brent

Afternoon Tea

Brent made a "dainty" cookie to go with our afternoon tea. I think it came out looking more like a pizza. :-)

Another Prom

Even though he is now a college freshman, Kenny still managed to make it to the prom this year. A group of his friends from church went together and one of the girls asked him to be her date.

Isn't he handsome?

I took a picture of the flowers for his date. I thought they were pretty.

My Son the Warhawk

I was surfing the website for my son's college. During the process, I was quite surprised to find this picture of him. They even had a nice write up about him.