Who's with me?

In the 3 years I've had a blog, I've participated in a December Photo Project (DPP): Take one photo each day for the first 25 days of December and post it to your blog. In this month of celebrations, there is always something new to see and document each day. The DPP is a fun way to challenge yourself creatively and share the results with your friends on a daily basis.

I've decided to twist my DPP a little this year. We'll see how it goes and I may or may not stick with 'the twist'.

I got an iPhone a few weeks ago. My old phone wasn't holding a charge as well and since the 4S came out, the iPhone 4 has been on sale and I had an upgrade credit. There have been many times I've been out and needed something faxed or e-mailed for work, so I've had to go back home to take care of it - and I can't complain, I get to work from home! So, to have an iPhone is going to make that part of life a lot easier.

So....

My twist is, I'm going to see if I can do my DPP thru my iPhone. The picture quality is only as good as a steady hand taking the picture, not my specialty. There are options to add borders, mess with the lighting, etc. so we will see how it goes.

Who else is gonna do DPP this year?

Looking for some holiday spirit

So, as I've shared before, I'm a creature of habit. I take family pictures at the same time each year (except maybe Thanksgiving this year), I've had the same bank account since I started babysitting at age 14 (except now they are charging fees) and I always put the Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving (except this year when there is a lack of holiday spirit).

We've had a rough few months. Jason has been home a lot, we've had a lot more homework to deal with and the kids seem to be getting lazier and lazier and I.had.had.enough! The straw that broke the the camel's back was when Tavis couldn't find his shoe. Well, of course, he couldn't find it. Have you seen his room?

Let's just say, I had a "Mommy Moment". Not a proud one, but I had one. The kids were looking forward to doing the tree, but instead, in severe frustration, I grabbed two huge (45 gal?) garbage bags and made the kids fill them. Broken toys, old lego boxes and kleenex boxes and whatever else in one bag for the trash and toys that no one plays with in the other.

I think they thought I was kidding at first, but it was no joke.

So, we didn't do the tree. We didn't do it Saturday. We didn't do it Sunday. I just couldn't find the 'oomph' to get it done.

Today I cooled off enough to do the tree. I wanted to put the tree up and the lights by myself, even though I know the kids like assembling (sorry for all you real-tree-people) the tree. I was afraid, if I didn't put it together myself in peace, we might get delayed another night. But I had had a long weekend with Thanksgiving and a lot of paperwork to catch up on. By the time I got started, was about the time Jason went to pick up the kids.

So, I started without them, but they got to help assemble the tree - mostly! Mollee is all about the decorating and I'm sure the four day wait almost killed her.
We did it in stages. We put the tree together and put the lights on
then had cocoa and some ham and eggs for dinner.
After dinner, I pulled out their individual boxes of ornaments and they got busy decorating and telling stories about different ornaments, which I love.
I like the pictures when you can feel the mood of Christmas, but this is what I get with my 6 year old camera:
There might have been some iPhone play during this family time? I'm just sayin'.So, the tree is up! And I love having it up! And, it is November, and it snowed today - no accumulation, but it definately snowed. And the kids are on Christmas Countdown - 27 DAYS!

Two things I've learned this weekend:

One, my kids can bite their tongue and they know that if a 'Mommy Moment' happens, don't ask! (eg. When are we going to do the tree?)

And two, don't let the kids be in the car when you haul the big bag of toys to the Thrift store - after I dropped it off I noticed Mac was crying. When I asked him what was wrong he said, "That was my favorite (doubtful) train toy!"

*sigh*

'Tis the Season....

when your turkey tin looks like this.

Thanksgiving 2011

The Caines turkey centerpiece and name cards ( I might have 'doctored' this one)
I think one word that would sum up a Caines Thanksgiving is: COMPETITION

A friendly game of carroms
The girls just being girls
The boys competing who can eat the fastest The Polish Horseshoes cheer section (video coming soon - when I combine all the iPhone video) David about to catch the bottle on this one:Florida Boy giving it a try (wait until you see his video)
Even the old man gets in on the actionThen the cheer section turns into the annual cousin football game. This has happened as long as I can remember. Of course, I'm the one always behind the camera. Even 20+ years ago in the hills of Asheville, NC (thanks Heidi for remembering from otherside of the world and curious if the game has gone on!)

Pep talk from Crazy Coach Uncle David
Even Aunt Heather filled in on some plays to make the teams even
The cheer sections during the football game

Capps was pitiful most of the day with a mouth full of cold sores, so he got to sit on the porch with Uncle David's phone during the games.
After a late big lunch, Polish Horseshoes, and football, we celebrated five birthdays that were close to Thanksgiving (Mary, Jack, Jonah, Abby and David).

Today, Black Friday, I went shopping and finished all my shopping. What I didn't get, I was able to order on Amazon.com this afternoon.

Tonight we went to Jason's parents for a much calmer and quieter Thanksgiving Round #2.

What I am Thankful for....

in no particular order.

My husband, the perfect match for me!

My freedom, as we pray for Gideon every night, I am so thankful to be an American!

My children, no matter how crazy they can make me, I am thankful for them, their love for the Lord and for their health.

My home, a warm (or cold) place to sleep!

Skype, I know we are spoiled, but I am thankful we live in a time that it is an option.

My friends, near and far!

And, lastly, but most importantly, an unchanging Lord that promises to take care of us and not to give us more than we can handle.

Painting with Daddy

Jason is home this week working on some household projects. Remember a year ago, we started to paint our house? Well, we finally got a second coat on the back of the house (far side still needs to be painted). We went from off-white and brick to sage green and brick.

Yesterday, Jason started to paint the shutters. You can see that they were blue, not so pretty with the sage green. So Daddy and Mac primed them yesterday. Jason couldn't believe the non-stop talking he got to 'enjoy' with all the 'help'. And today they are turning black!

My Far Away Brother and Sister And Niece

at Fish Hoek Beach! Gary, Ruth and Lilly (in utero)

Weekend Recap

It has been a good weekend, so I wanted to recap it!

Is it fair to recap just because it was good? Well, it is my blog and I can post what I want! Right?


It started with Jason picking up the kids from school Friday afternoon. Any day that I don't have to carpool is automatically good. At about 4:45 I got a text from a friend to see if we could get a last minute babysitter and double date. We usually hire babysitters for date night, but I called Mom and she was willing to help out. Yeah for Grandma!


We went to an awesome "burger lounge" that we had never been to before - and we had a gift certificate, bonus! Ironically, I didn't get a burger, but had an incredible salad that was covered in sugar snap peas, asparagus, beets, corn and sun-dried tomatoes. It was so yummy! I must confess it wasn't a decision to be healthy - I also enjoyed some potato skins and some incredible onion rings.


Saturday morning I took Tavis to the library, which was fun because he was amazed at the size of the local library compared to the one at school. I'll try not to mention the fact that we were looking for a book for him to read for a book report due on Tuesday - he had already read one book but failed to keep track of the book, so we were making him read another whole book this weekend. When I got home, I got a call from my sister-in-law to meet for lunch. We met, ate, visited and then shopped a little together.


I came home, worked on my digital scrapbook while sitting on the deck, took a nap, served cereal, mac-and-cheese and popcorn for dinner (I know, stellar mom award!) and enjoyed watching a really exciting football game with the hubby.


Today, Sunday, consisted of going to church, lunch at Mom's, a beautiful day for the kids to play outside, and some reading time at home for EVERYONE. Then we watched 'Thor" as a family (good flick), ate cereal for dinner again (because that is what we do on Sunday, no matter what) and now the kids are in bed, I'm blogging while keeping track of the NASCAR lap-by-lap online and watching a football game and Jason is playing Xbox.


A perfect weekend!

Friday Nights

at Pops and Mimi's Tavis testing Pops' TV headphones

Not adjusting to the cold weather

To say that Mac HATES pants is an understatement. I don't know if it is his eczema or what, but he HATES pants.

I've bought him all sorts of cute snuggly pjs, but he insists on his shorts sets. And we keep it cold in the house, I'd feel better if he'd go with the snuggly ones.

This morning, I told him to get dressed and remember - it's cold! This is what he came up with: Can't complain about the shirt! :)

Turning 10 Party for Tavis

We only do a 10-year old birthday party. When I reminded Tavis of this a few weeks ago, we came up with the idea of taking him and his friends to the Tellus Science Museum - no siblings!

So, today was the day! Christine came and stayed with the siblings and Jason and I took four of Tavis' friends to the museum.

Everyone came around 12:30 and we left the house at 1:00. It is about a 45 minute drive. We went through very quickly as they each wanted to see the next thing and the next thing, but I think they had fun.

The cool Earth's Rotation Pendulum.

The large amethystObserving the different earth layers.The fossil exhibit
Checking out the "first" cars
and the control panel of a space shuttle.
Digging for fossils
and panning for gems.

Go, Go, Go!

We headed back to the house for cookie cake

and presents before the parents came back.
I don't know about the kids, but Jason and I will sleep well tonight!!

Tavis' "other" birthdays

Tavis' birthday Sunday at Grandma and Grandpa's!

and a lot of cousins!
Of course, the famous oreo cake!

(a noisy football that sounds like a bomb)
And his Friday night birthday at Pops and Mimi's