I just wanted to share some of my favorite pictures from last week. Enjoy the smiles from across the miles :) Keep checking back there are lots more good ones....but it is time for Paige to get off the school bus and get ready for tap dance class. So ta-ta for now!

Here are some snapshots from our Turkey day in Buford, GA. We had dinner at Barb & Jim's (Mikes parents) and Carl and Janet (Jim's brother and sister-in-law) joined us. It was a wonderful dinner and a festive gathering. As you can see the weather was sunny and warm and the kids enjoyed playing outside with the pup.
I would have posted a photo of me but for some reason I'm always the one behind the camera. I guess I need to stretch my arm out and take more one armed pictures with my face in them! Ha ha :)

Last Wednesday while we were at Barb and Jim's in Buford, GA (N.E. of Atlanta on the shores of Lake Lanier) we all went to dinner at Uncle Bob and Aunt Lita's home in Dunwoody (about 30 mins. away). For those of you who don't know it Aunt Lita is a hooker.....a rug hooker! In October Bob and Lita came up to our house for a weekend visit to celebrate Aunt Marilyn's birthday. While they were here Aunt Lita was admiring some of the girls artwork from school and she took some photos. Well just 6 weeks later she presents these amazing pillows to Paige and Megan. They are original one of a kind works of art! I just can't convey how impressed I am with Aunt Lita's talents. Not only did she have to make the patterns from photos but she also hand dyed the wool to match the colors in the kids artwork. As you can see from their huge smiles the girls are very proud of their pillows. What an amazing thing to have these priceless keepsakes. As Uncle Bob said "you will still have these when you are old like me". I know they will have them and they will treasure them always. And to make them extra special on the back of each pillow is a hand stiched tag that reads "desinged by Paige , hooked by Lita 2006" and "designed by Megan, hooked by Lita 2006"....how cool is that! Aunt Lita said that without the artist than the hooker is just a rug maker....Well let me say this.....Aunt Lita without you we would just have artwork made with construction paper not wool! Thanks a bunch we love you xoxoxo!

Here are some of Lita's works of art...they are incredible. If you turn the rugs over they are just as nice on the reverse...a sign of a true artist. The rugs are walked on and used everyday...just amazing. She says "they will be here long after she's gone...they are meant to be used and enjoyed". Not only are these rugs, pillows and wall hangings beautiful but they are made by a truly beatiful, gifted, loving woman and we are lucky to call her Aunt Lita!

Paige said "All I did in the car was read, color, sleep and look out the window." Our kids are roughing it no DVD player in our car. They have to survive road trips the old fashioned way with their imaginations. I know they will survive. I sure did!
Here are some photos of our turkey day rode trip from Ohio to Buford, GA. Four states in 12 hours with two dogs (one just 9 weeks old), two kids, a husband (that refuses my offers to drive and then complains about driving the entire trip after the fact) in a blue minivan. We had a fun, safe trip....safe because when I saw the tire that came off a truck rolling towards us I said "Hey Mike ya gonna let that hit us or how about changing lanes"...yes even though I am in the co-pilot seat I still manage to help with the driving or at least manage to help keep us out of the path of run away truck tires.


Pilot Mike
Co-Pilot Brandi


Megan "Are we there yet? Can I have some candy? Can I do another worksheet? Are we there yet?" She is a good little traveler and she did do a bunch of worksheets and she took some naps....she is a good kid even though every other question is "are we there yet ? or "how much longer". Which is kinda funny since she can't tell time yet!....Must get that from her Pop-pop, always wondering about the time.

Our kids are good at sleeping on road trips think they get that from me. I could sleep for miles..my dad used to wake me up every time we passed Mt.Shasta and we always took a picture of it "for posterity" is what he always said!

I guess you probably know by now that The Ohio State Buckeyes are #1....that is if you haven't been under a rock for the past 18 hours. It was a rollercoaster game but we came out on top. #1 Ohio State 42-39 Michigan #2.Unstoppable! In a game for the ages, Ted Ginn Jr. and his teammates thump Michigan sending Ohio State to the national championship game....and that's the facts!

O
H
I

O

This is the first face I saw yesterday morning...Megan comes downstairs while I am getting ready for a busy day at Andersons...(Saturday+The Big O.S.U-Michigan game=crazy day at The Andersons).
She says "HI I'm a Hollywood Turkey". So I had to get the camera out and preserve that silly face! When Aunt Deb came over to watch the girls last Thurday while we went to parent-teacher confrences they all played turkeys....sang songs and danced. I guess Megan was still in turkey mode alomost 2 days later!
Even when it is overcast here we still have sunshine....and we call it Megan!

This is an original Paige face.....Megan is not the only one in the family that mugs for the camera. Whenever Paige makes this face it makes me think she is smelling something funny with her nose all scrunched up. I love that you can see where the sun kissed her hair from swimming at the pool and her sprinkle of freckles across her nose.
Here is some sunshine on a rainy day in Ohio. Pictures from late August back when the rosebushes looked lush and alive!
Hey Dad here are the pictures you requested. You can take them to Great Grandma and please give her hugs from her Ohio girls. We love her and miss her a bunch. xoxoxo
Megan's first day of kindergarten Aug.2006 age 5. She got the dress for her 5th b.day from Aunt Deb and Uncle Bud. Deb bought it on a trip to Virginia, it is handmade and the color matches Megan's eyes perfectly.
The silly picture....their reward for taking nice pictures!
Paige's first day of 3rd grade Aug. 2006 age 8.

Megan's "thankful family turkey". This is the turkey that our family made for the kindergarten hallway at school. We were encouraged to put a family photo on it and tell what we are thankful for. I was just thankful that we had a photo with all four of us in it. We had fun making it and as you can see we used up more of our colorful turkey feathers. We hope you all have a happy turkey day. We are thankful for having so many wonderful people to share our lives with. XOXOXOXO :>
All those rubber stamps I have are good for something. Megan had fun stamping her turkey. Then I wrote the words. Things we are thankful for such as, our home, family, friends, our dogs...Rowdy and Rebel, our fish, school, books and of course toys. I was just thankful that she did not have me write candy! :)

If this doesn't make you feel better when you are sick nothing will. What better medicine than a warm, soft puppy to cuddle up with. Paige was actually awake watching the puppy for me while I went in to get ready for bed. I just had her close her eyes so that the flash would not blind her. The lights were out in her room just the nightlight was on. The camera takes good photos in the dark on the nightime setting. After I was done I put Rebel in his puppy carrier bed for the night and Paige slept with her assortment of stuffed animals. She woke up all better in the a.m. so it must have worked! ha ha :)

It's Paige and her "plump and perky turkey"....she had to decorate a turkey for the class bullitan board. The turkey was supposed to represent the childs intrest. So Paige's turkey is wearing a fancy and colorful dance costume and she is holding a sign that reads "Express Yourself". Paige reported back to us that her turkey has the most feathers so far out of the entire class. I don't doubt that for a second....I know I helped her glue all those darn feathers on. You should have seen my fingers...and the tablecloth was covered with little feather fuzzies. All in the name of class projects!
Oh My Gosh! I just noticed that Paige is almost as tall as
the fireplace mantel....when did that happen???
Megan doing her best "I'm so sweet pose".
It's Princess Megan with her funky 80's look ballet headband!
Rebel drop the leaf! What weaf, I don't have a weaf!
Rebel has the cutest little puppy butt....The End!

The girls report cards came home from school yesterday. They are both doing very well in school. Paige received mostly "E's" that means Excellent or exemplary work at the standard....E is what an A would be back in the good ol days. Out of 27 catagories she had 19 E's and 8 M's...M is Meeting grade level expectations....so that would equal a B from the good ol days. For effort in all of the different subjects she received 4's which means "Consistently". Mrs. Heald wrote some very positive comments about Paige. She really enjoys having her in the class and said that she is a great role model for the other students.

Megans first kindergarten report card looks great. She is progressing with her letter sounds and she is doing great with rhyming and recongnizing high-frequency words, such as I,a, see, the, green, blue, black, white, brown, red, yellow, orange, purple, mom, dad, by, and my. She does need some improvement with rocognizing her numbers up to 30. It is funny she can count to 100 but has trouble recognizing numbers past 5. We have been working on that each day. She is making progress, it just seems like she has a hard time remembering the shape of the numbers. I have her trace the numbers with her finger as she is saying them. I also have her write the numbers as she says them too. Maybe that will help her recall the images. Mrs. Gallagher says that Megan is adjusting well to kindergarten and that she is doing well with her patterning skills. She is also doing well in computer class. She received all 4's (consistently) for her work in Art, Music and Physical Education.

The most important thing is that they are both enjoying school and they are being challenged and taught by wonderful teachers

Megan and her My Little Pony's or as Aunt Deb calls
them "My Scary Pony's"
Paige and Rebel
Megan is proud of the necklace that she made
all by herself! Nice patterns!
Paige reading an Animal Ark Book...."Hound
at the Hospital"