Open windows

We can officially say Fall has reached Middle Tennessee. Finally. Thank goodness! We have had our windows open for over a week and it has been delicious. I tell ya, there is just nothing compared to sleeping with the fresh, cool, crisp Fall air coming in the windows. Some might say that sleeping outside in the fresh, cool, crisp Fall air would be better....but I prefer a real mattress to an air mattress & sleeping bag. LOL! Now if I could take my real mattress camping...then maybe just maybe that would beat all. ;-)

The Fall soccer season has just ended for both kids. Alex got a trophy and Morgan a medal. We had an end-of-the-season party here at the house. Everyone had a good time but we still have cake left! I even took some to mom today.

Ooh, as our weather changed we had our first (my first) tornado threat. We were having horribly strong thunderstorms and the conditions were ripe for tornadoes and of course it was after midnight. I was so very uneasy about going to bed but went anyway. A lot of good it did me since I laid there & waited for the weather to get worse. I kept asking Corey how we would get the kids awake & downstairs to safety if a tornado was about to hit. We have a safe place under the stairs in the center of the house. But the kids are upstairs. Ugh! I almost went up to get them to have them sleep in our room for the night. I was *REALLY* freaked out about the whole thing. Finally it blew over and I was able to go to sleep. I told Corey that I just knew if I went to sleep during the storms that a tornado would hit then. I don't look forward to dealing with these very often.

Halloween is almost here. This is also Samhain for us. It is a day & night to remember & honor your loved ones that have died. This can be done in many ways. Most common is to look at pictures of them, talk about them, have some of their favorite foods during your meals, light candles in memory of them. It is said that the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest on this night and many feel closer to their deceased loved ones during this time. We celebrate both holidays. Then we can start looking to Thanksgiving, then my birthday (woo!), then Yule and Christmas. I must add that Corey has managed to get pager duty for both Thanksgiving & Christmas. Yuck! Hopefully it will be q-u-i-e-t. ;-) He has vacation time off scheduled in between though so that's cool.

To New York and back....

in a week, actually less. LOL! Last Tuesday morning we left our house at 6am to head towards NY for a good friend's wedding. Corey was the best man. We had gray, rainy weather for the first couple hours of the drive but then it dried up for the remainder of the day. We took our time, making nice stops for eating & stretching,etc. We got to Macedonia, OH (outside Cleveland) about 5pm ET. We took the kids swimming in the indoor pool for a while, then out to dinner. After a leisurely breakfast where Alex entertained the hostess we headed on our way. The weather got cooler and when we stopped at the rest stop in Chautauqua Lake in NY it was sooo crisp, breezy and delightful. I was in heaven!! The views didn't hurt either. :-) We arrived in Norwich about 5pm and once we got a room issue settled we went to dinner with Mikey (our friend, groom-to-be) and his parents. They brought a cooler full of juice boxes and cans of Diet Coke as well as a basket of games & snacks for the kids. SOOO sweet!! Thank you Sandy & Brad. :-)

On Thursday we walked around Norwich (little town) in between bouts of rain. Others arrived late in the afternoon so all the men in the wedding party had to head up to get their tuxedos & go out with the groom. The tuxedo shop was almost an hour away. Sooo...Corey missed the get together I had with my friend, Carla (her blog is linked on the right sidebar). We've known each other online for almost 10 years, since I was pregnant with Morgan (and Carla with Cassidy). After all these years we finally got to meet in person. Carla, her hubby & 4 kids drove over from Syracuse & met the kids and I for dinner & visiting. It was great to meet her & we had a nice time. Her husband was quiet and helped with the kids so we could chat. All 6 kids were *so* good! The only bummer is that we didn't have more time to spend together. Morgan & Cassidy look alike enough to be sisters and happened to both wear striped shirts to dinner. LOL! And they got along really well, even exchanged addresses so they could write each other.

On Friday we hung out with Fuzzy & Christine (friends from Corey's Clarkson days & our Poughkeepsie, NY days) and then helped prepare the church for the wedding. After rehearsal (which was relaxed & fun...finally met Mikey's bride-to-be...she's cool & fits right in) we all headed to a place in Norwich called Nina's Pizzeria & Restaurant. Oh my gosh....this place looks like a hole-in-the-wall, small town pizza place. Well, once you get inside it opens up and is just fabulous. Murals of country Italian scenery on the walls, excellent service & TONS of food...huge helpings. Alex had made fast friends with Olivia, the flower girl, and Evan, the ring bearer (niece & nephew of the bride) and insisted on sitting with them for dinner. He met Evan's brothers and got along very well with all of them. I tell ya, a very open & welcoming family that Mikey has married into. They just welcomed us and took us right in as well.

Saturday was the wedding and it was just beautiful. Heather (bride) was gorgeous! My sweet hubby cleaned up nicely and was looking quite dashing in his tuxedo. The reception was fun, fun, fun. It was great being around friends, dancing & just celebrating Mikey & Heather's happiness and just having a great time. We have decided that we all want to get together in the spring here in TN. I can't wait to plan it! :-)

We started home on Sunday after saying goodbye to our friends and having a nice breakfast. We drove until we got just south of Columbus, OH. We got up at 5am this morning & headed home to TN. We arrived about 12:30pm and my brother met us halfway between our house & his house to deliver our fuzzy babies to us. Poor kitties missed us!! They are happy to be home. And we are happy to be home & have them with us. Funny how you can miss the little fuzzies. :-) The kids were very well behaved the entire trip. It was wonderful. It was so worth it...getting to meet Carla & her family, being there for Mike & Heather's wedding, and seeing Fuzzy & Christine. And....we got Morgan home in time to go to her dance class. ;-)

Busy days

Soccer practices, bowling league, poetry workshop, birthday party, soccer games...and now time to pack. That was our week in a nutshell. LOL! I've had to take one thing at a time so I could get through it all. Nothing was a huge deal in & of itself, but I felt like I needed to focus on each one before moving on. So now we've made it through all that and tomorrow will be a busy one...then New York and cool weather here we come! :-)

We pick up the rental car, the kids need to pre-bowl for this week of bowling league, get laundry finished, pack our bags (wedding stuff & cold weather stuff...plus "keep the kids happy in the car" stuff), and take Morgan to soccer practice. We leave early Tuesday morning. The drive is about 15 hours and we've done that in the past, numerous times, but we've decided to break it up into 2 days each way. We will be taking a new route to NY and adding a couple states to our "traveled to or through" list and we are all looking forward to it. One of my FAVORITE things about the trip is the expected cool weather. Seriously, I've been obsessed with the weather forecast and we are supposed to have high temps of the 50s and lows in the 30s & 40s. Heck, Saturday night is expected to be *below* freezing. Yes, you are reading that correctly...and I can't wait!!

Another really cool thing about the trip is that I will be meeting a cyberfriend of almost 10 years for the first time in person. Isn't that cool?? We've known each other since we were pregnant with our first babies...both girls btw...and are finally getting to meet. I think it is fabulous!

My mom is taking care of Parker bunny for us. Morgan and I took him over there today. He seemed fine with the whole thing. I think as long as someone is going to feed him he doesn't care. LOL! My brother & his girlfriend will be taking care of our other babies...Kali & Tux. We are so lucky to have family around that can help out while we are out of town. We feel so much better knowing our furry babies will be in good, loving hands.

It is great having Corey on vacation. He's having a harder time than he thought he would...he has already checked in with work to see how things are. LOL! It doesn't help that they did notify him last night of a big problem. I need to get him to the mountains quickly and hope his cell phone doesn't work. ;-)