My Big Loud Southern Family

 We had our annual Thanksgiving feast at Brent's parents house yesterday.  Since both of our families live here we all get together over there each year.  My MIL is also one of those hostess with the mostess types so we all like to benefit from her talents whenever possible.  I LOVE times like this when we all get to be together as a BIG family.  My SIL always jokes that we remind her of the family from My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  Except we aren't Greek we are just loud and southern!  :) 

I shared yesterday about what I made to take to dinner.  Luckily for B and the taters the rest of the family knows how to throw down in the kitchen!  Here is a little taste of what everyone else brought. 

My momma is the pie master of the family! 

A portion of the spread

Before dinner we had a little program and told the story of the first Thanksgiving.  Then we read the 112, 113, and 114 Psalms.  We go around the room every year and all tell something we are thankful for.  It's a big warm fuzzy fest and makes me so glad to be a part of our family.  This year my nephew was thankful for Jesus dying on the cross.  Ellie Rose was thankful for her baby dolls.  Oy!  Next year we will probably have to "rehearse" with the taters a bit for Thanksgiving circle time.  Haha.

After dinner we all relax, recline, read black Friday ads and talk about what the best deals are.  Even though we full well know that none of us are going to get up early to go to the sales.  We are after all loud, southern, non-morning people!  Yesterday the weather here was super nice so we were able to play outside.  Thankful I live in a place where this is possible even in late November.  Our family doesn't really do the cold weather thing very well.  From December to February we can all usually be found inside, near the fire, under lots of blankets! 

AND here comes the photo dump.  I accidentally deleted some pics from my camera so my apologies to anyone who I took a pic of but didn't post.  Chances are I still love you, but just lost your photo due to technical difficulties this evening.


Papa Frank and the turkey

Ali, Ashleigh, Roger, and Jonah.  Jonah's first Thanksgiving.

 

 

The hubs...he LOVES for me to take his picture :)

Papa Bill with Brey and Ellie

Sweet cousins eating dinner together

 

My pretty momma with the taters

You gotta watch my dad he's a big fan of "candid" photos



Circle Time.  The taters with Ms.Karel and Blake

My Uncle Greg and his girlfriend Arlena

Even Sparky got to join in the fun!

Play time

Funny kiddos

SIL Leah and Blake.  He was getting ready to go in to work at Wal-Mart

for the early Black Friday sales.  Boo.



Sista'ly love!

This is what the Erob gets for not being ready at all times for a sibling pic!


Hope y'all had a great day, made lots of sweet memories, and ate a bit more than you should have.  Last year one of the things I was thankful for was fitting into size six skinny jeans again.  This year I wore elastic waste pants to dinner.  I think that says a lot about how much I may or may not have eaten!

 

Happy Thanksgiving from my Big Loud Southern Non-Morning Lovin' Cold Weather Loathin' Family!!!

 

Talk to ya soon,

Angie

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope everyone has plans for a special day with friends and family.  We are getting ready for our feast here at the Farrer house.  I'm doing some cooking this morning...no joke.  I AM COOKING.  Look at my spread.  Real ingredients and everything. 

I am making my specialities green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole.  Actually they aren't so much specialities as they are dishes my fam has realized I am capable of making.  They dare not ask me to try something different.  Stick with what you know and all.  Works for me.  Oh yeah, if anyone knows where I can buy boxed sweet potato or green been casserole let me know.  I am thinking I might be able to make this cooking thing go a little faster next year! 

 

This time of year I miss having cable because I really really love watching the Macy's Parade.  I tried to find somewhere online to watch it live but failed.  Maybe I will be able to find it this evening. The kids are watching The Dog That Saved Christmas.  They love all movies that involve dogs.  Thank you mom for this lovely Christmas classic we can treasure for a lifetime.  :)  Sparky is in the kitchen hiding and I think hoping the kids don't try to get him to do any of the tricks the dog in the movie does.   This Thanksgiving he is thankful for taters who are messy eaters and throw rugs.  :)

This year we did a Thankful Tree for the first time.  I shamelessly copied it from a friend on FB.  I constructed this little tree in the kitchen and each evening the kids think of something they are thankful for then we write it on a tree leaf.  It is hard to keep my kids interested in something so I thought since this was sort of interactive they might enjoy it.  Here is a picture of our tree earlier this week and the list of the things each kiddo had been thankful for.  You can tell they are SUCH deep thinkers.  Heehee.

Ellie Rose is thankful for:  Bubs, her Ali, her friend Mara, Nanny. Michael, her birthday, Sparky, and Rhett

 

Michael is thankful for: His baby brother, his bed, Grandma and Grandpa, his school, Uncle Roger, the Lord, Daddy and Mommy, his house, his baby sister.

 

We have so much to be thankful for.  Today in particular I am thankful for our family and extended family.  We are all so close and supportive of one another. I take this for granted most days, but I realize some folks do not have the type of built in support system I do. 

 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Talk to ya soon,

Angie





Wordless Wednesday

Talk to ya soon,
Angie

Remembering My Grandpa Griff

My grandpa passed away this weekend.  Tomorrow we will lay him to rest.  Today I want to spend a little time remembering him and what he meant to me.  My mother in law said recently that we are always stuck remembering folks as they were when they were old but we should remember that being old was just a small part of their life.  I like the below photo of my grandpa in his Navy whites and the other of him and my grandma on their wedding day…not because they are the best photos ever taken but because even though the pictures are old my grandparents are young, they are full of life and vitality.  That’s how I want to remember them.  As a young girl I thought that loving someone meant that you would cry when they passed away.  Now that I’m older I realize loving someone is enjoying the time you spend together, making memories every chance you get, and cherishing those memories for a lifetime.

For most of my life my grandparents lived in the same town as me.  So growing up I spent many days and nights at their house. I remember we would go to bed very early and then wake up before the sun came up.  My grandfather would bring coffee into the bedroom and my grandparents would smoke, drink coffee, and listen to talk radio in the dark while I laid all propped up between them.  They usually let me drink a little cup of coffee heavy on the cream and sugar.  That’s still the way I take my coffee today.  My grandfather was a career Navy man and he retired early.  He spent a lot of time with my brother and me.  He was a tinkerer so he was always rigging something up to play with.  He hung a big rope swing with a homemade carpet covered wood block as seat from a tree in his front yard and my brother and I would just play and play on it.  He made a little mini golf course in the front yard and used to play on it with us.  He used to let me roll what little hair he had in my grandma’s foam rollers.  I think he even let me cut it a few times.  When I was a toddler he would pull me around in my little red wagon until I fell asleep.  My grandpa taught me how to play black jack, rummy, and five card stud when I was about five years old.  Obviously he was crazy patient, or maybe just desperate for a card partner.  He taught me how to play checkers, hit a golf ball, and was the first person to let me drive on the highway when I got my drivers permit.   He was so calm I remember thinking I had better keep control of the car because there was no way he was jumping over to grab the wheel if something went wrong!

Friends and family alike would tell you that grandpa “Griff” was a real character in every sense of the word.  He was eccentric.  He was a wacky dresser.  He even tinkered with his clothing.  He would buy jumpsuits and decorate them himself for different holidays.  He dyed canvas deck shoes to match these different get ups.  At his one of his homes he hung a disco ball from the ceiling light on the front porch and was dang proud of it.  He was always trying to get me to smell something he had made…cookies, stew, corn beef hash.  He always thought you needed to smell it in order to determine if you wanted it.  He bought crazy random off the wall birthday presents, but he was always sure he had found something you were going to absolutely love.  When I was in middle school he had a horn hooked up in his car that was programmed to play nine different songs.  Grandpa would pull up to pick me up after school and blare “Charge” or “You are My Sunshine” to announce his arrival.  Sometimes I was mortified, but most of the time I was just proud to be the girl with the crazy grandpa.  I know I always felt like was proud of me.  The most menial achievements were grand in his eyes.

I read once that everything we accomplish in life we do so starting on the foundation of support, the example, and the love of those who came before us.  I think this is true.  I know the way my grandpa lived his life and the way he loved me and others in it gave me the best launching pad I could have asked for.  If I had a chance the last things I would want to tell my grandpa are Thank you for the time you invested in me.  Thank you for the memories we made.  Thank you for living a life I can look up to.  And I love you.  Until we meet again. 

Talk to ya soon,
Angie

Happy 3rd Birthday Ellie Rose!

Ellie Rose turned three on November 3rd!  Due to the sickies floating around our house we just got around to celebrating with our families earlier this week.  She was so excited.  Her birthday has been a LONG time coming this year.  She has been waiting on it since M's birthday on May.  :) 

We didn't really have a theme.  E wanted to wear her cinderella dress for the party.  I put together a Krispy Kreme donut cake and meemaw made some cute rice crispy treat cones.  Sneaky girl ate at least two donuts before the party ever started!  She was a little overwhelmed but had a great time opening her gifts.  She got a Disney Princess art set and did a little painting right away. 

 

 

 

 

On her actual birthday aunt Ali was in town, and since the Farrer boys were all sick she took E out for dinner at Mimi's and a special Build A Bear date.  She is so lucky to have Ali in her life!

Now for a little trip down memory lane.  Sniff sniff.  Where did my bitty baby go?!

Birth



One Year



Two Years

 

Three Years

Before I had kids and maybe even when I only had Michael I thought I would be just fine being a mom to all boys.  Now I can't imagine what my life would be like would be like without my sweet beautiful E!  Happy Birthday baby girl! 

Talk ta ya soon,

Angie

Wind-It-Back Wednesday

Michael and I at Petit Jean Summer 2008.  He had just turned two.  YES he was still drinking a bottle!

Brent and Michael fishing Loch Lomond Summer 2009.  M was three.  Love those glasses B (I am sure camo frames were totally in that season)...hahaha. 

Talk to ya soon,
Angie

Vein Vein Go Away

There has been a touch of the stomach bug around the Farrer House so life lately has consisted of chicken soup, Gatorade, and lots of laundry.  I figure you don't need or want a detailed description of what the stomach bug is or does so I decided to share a little about my recent Sclerotherapy.  I have been intending to post about it anyway in case there are any gals or I guess maybe guys (creepy) out there considering it.  AND I don't want you to have to whisper behind my back when you see my vein free legs in shorts next spring.  This way you'll all know what my secret is.  Haha.  I'm totally kidding.  We all know I won't be wearing shorts anytime soon!

I was at the dermatologist several months ago, for a procedure that shall remain nameless, and noticed Sclerotherapy on the Spa Services menu I was browsing in the waiting room.  I developed some spider veins on my legs throughout my pregnancies with the taters. They aren't terrible but they do bother me so I asked for a quick consult before I left.  Turns out it is a very simple procedure and is kinda, sorta, a little bit affordable-ish.  The cost depends on how many viles (?) of solution they use.  I had veins in just a few spots so they estimated it would take 2-3.  I scheduled an appointment for just before my birthday so I could write it off as a little present to myself. 

Here is what I was workin' with. I had several spots like this on my legs.  I only took a photo of the one because it was easiest for me to get to.  :)  This one is on the outside of my leg just above my knee.  I obviously will not be pursuing a career in medical photography any time soon.  Just bear with me! 

 

The doctor sticks you numerous times around each area being treated.  If you don't like needles this type of treatment is probably not for you.  I think it is a salt solution of some sort that they inject.  They explained to me what it was, but all I heard was "vein" and "go away."  Anyway, the solution is pretty irritating (as you can see in the photos).  There was immediate swelling, itching, and irritation.  This is the same area right after the treatment...ouch!

 

The nurse told me before I left that the appearance would get worse before it got better.  And that the treated areas would go through a healing process similar to a bruise.  Dark purple, blueish, fade to yellow and so on.  She was definitely not kidding.  The below picture was taken the day after treatment.  Most of the swelling was gone but lots of bruising.  Ouch again!

This is what my legs look like now 7 days later.  :0

I wish.  Unfortunately, I don't have an after pic yet because it is approximately a six week healing process. :(  But I am seeing improvement each day.  I would take another pic real quick but my new BFF's shown below make it a wee bit hard.  Me and my compression stockings are supposed to stay tight (haha get it?) for another week or so!

 

So I'll be back in a few weeks with an update, and hopefully a miraculous AFTER pic.  Or I might be back in a few weeks to rant about how I can't believe I wasted my hard earned money on such a frivolous treatment.  Only time will tell.

Talk to ya soon,
Angie