Blue Jellyfish???

O: Jessica, what's that big blue jellyfish for?
Me: Huh??
O: That blue jellyfish
Me: What blue Jellyfish?
O: That blue jellyfish right in front of you

Me: (after a few seconds of trying to figure out what the heck she was talking about) Oh, that's not a jellyfish, that's a bright light.  See, watch the road when I turn it off and on.
Tyler: Yeah, but if you turn it upside up, its a jellyfish
Me: Oh yeah, you're right! (smiling inside)

Definitely NOT Benedryl!!!

Here's the short version:

I washed my hands with clear liquid handsoap.

Olivia got stung earlier, and was complaining about it hurting when she laid on the pillow so I gave her benedryl (also a clear liquid).

I went into the bathroom to rinse their toothpaste down the sink and clean up the aftermath of their bedtime routine and noticed a drop of clear liquid running down the front of my shirt.

(You probably know where I'm going with this by now, but I'll continue anyway)

Olivia made a big fuss about how yuck the medicine was, but I didn't think it was that bad, and I took the drop on my shirt as the opportunity to find out.  I stuck my finger in the clear sticky liquid, and placed it promptly on my tongue.

You guessed it!!!!!!! NOT Benedryl!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving

The past 2 years, we've had Thanksgiving Breakfast with my family so that we could have Lunch at Junior's Mom's. This year, Lindsey and Matt had plans at 10 with Matt's Mom, so I invited them to our house for breakfast so Lindsey would be able to see them before they left.  Tyler was up when I got up to start getting ready, and he wanted to watch TV on the couch while I was unloading the dishwasher, and setting the table, but he made sure that I knew, severall times, that he was going to help me when I started cooking.  He was so cute, he kept looking up over the back of the couch asking if I was ready for him to come help me yet :).

They did all the pigs and blanksts all by themselves (after I cut the dough for them :)).

Junior's mom is a great cook, so lunch there was delicious, and then we had dinner with Kenny and Carolyn, and headed to the auction for the Special Thanksgiving Auction, and after that, we hit up Wal-Mart for their midnight special :)

What a fun and blessing-filled day!  We truly have so much to be thankful for!

Callaway Gardens

2 years ago, we took the kids to Lake Lanier Islands Magical Nights of Lights, last year, we took the kids to the Dancing Lights at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds, and this year, I was looking for something different.  I decided on Callaway Gardens Fantasy in Lights.  We left Tuesday afternoon and headed south. 
This one was having a little too much fun :).

We had dinner, and checked out the lights (in the rain).  We had reservations to ride the "jolly trolley" but since it was raining, we had to go in the car instead.  That was fine with the kids, though, they liked "driving" with Daddy :).
Here are my people in Santa's Village :)

Here are the kids taking turns driving :)

And this was my favorite picture of the lights.

And the best part for the kids..... Sleeping in a hotel, of course :)

Wednesday was the PERFECT day for exploring the gardens.  And they had it all decorated for Chirstmas.  It was beautiful!

Here they are about to go check out the butterflies in the conservatory.  The sign said the butterfly count this week was 1000.  It was so much better than I expected.  I thought we'd be searching and searching to find one, and would be lucky to see 2 or 3, but they were EVERYWHERE! and they were Beautiful!

One of the things we saw at the gardens was the set for "Victory Garden." It was pretty cool, and even though there weren't currently vegetables growing in all the vegetable gardens, it was still nice.

And I know this will be hard to believe, but I think that my kids' favorite thing to see was the lake, beach, and dock.  Yeah! They wanted to take their shoes off and play in the sand. And when we got to the side walk, out of the parking lot, they made a B-line!

And look at the sky!!!!!!!!!!! Love this picture!

No School Fun

I picked up the kids Tuesday Morning for our Thanksgiving week together and we headed to Frances Meadows.  It has been a while since we've been swimming, so I thought that would be a great surprise for them :).

I checked the pool schedule online before I left, and the heated pool was open until 9, so we didn't have long, but as it turns out, it was just enough time for them to wear themselves out!

They always ask to play on the playground outside of Frances Meadows, but I don't usually let them, because we're almost always headed somewhere else when we leave there. Well, Tuesday, I let them play, and they really enjoyed themselves.  Olivia was a maniac on the monkey bars, the girl loves them! And Tyler enjoyed climbing on the rocks beside the playground, that I'm fairly sure are just for decorations...

 Taking a little break... he was worn out.

 Photo op ;)

Just a swingin :)

Our Frances Meadows adventure was followed up with a trip to the library and the dollar store, then we picked up some Burger King drive thru and headed back to the house.  It was a beautiful day, so we had our lunch on the porch and spent a little time on the trampoline :).  By that time, it wasn't even noon yet, but I for one was ready for a nap!

It was a good thing we took our nap because the rest of our day was a great adventure! We headed down to Callaway Garnens to see the Fantasy in Lights and the gardens :).

Pilgrims

H is for Hard. That first winter was very cold and hard for the pilgrims. There was not enough food. Many people got sick and died.

This was Tyler's line for their Thanksgiving play. I typed it without looking at the notecard I wrote and taped to our kitchen cabinet. We've been practicing for a couple of weeks :).

This was the play that we sent the muffins that I blogged about previously to, the strawberry-banana-chocolate chip muffins.

And here's my favorite Pilgrim :)

The Power of Advertisement

I was on the way home from school, doing a little facebook check while waiting in traffic for one of the redlights that takes about 15 minutes to get through, due to poor timing, and I saw a picture my friend Melissa posted of her with a cup of starbucks coffee.  Next thing I knew, my car was pulling into Starbucks (which I could see from the redlight where I was parked)!! WHAT!?!? It was like it had a mind of its own. Then I saw that they had the buy one get one free on the Holiday flavors, so I got a Pumpkin Spice AND a Caremel Brule Latte.

What a WONDERFUL afternoon treat, and even though I didn't need the two cups of coffee, you know I do love a BOGO deal :).  I had quite a bit of one of them still in the cup when I got home.

My handsome little stud didn't mind helping me finish it off :)

That's IT!!

I'm getting new carpet!!!!!!!!!

I usually never make a plan to spend our income tax return, I just put it in our savings account knowing that something will come along where the extra money will be needed.  Today, (thanks to my cousin's post about her new carpet.... thanks Beth Owen) I have decided that when we get our income tax return, we WILL be getting new carpet, and if it costs more than that, oh well, that's one of the reasons I  save!

My carpet was already a disaster when I bought the house. When I moved in that October, my intention was to get a part time job that next summer and use the money for new floors.  But, I met Junior, and spent the summer dating and falling in love instead :).  Then the next summer, I spent a lot of time with the kids, and doing different things, and you know how that goes.....and, well, here we are, 4 years later, with the same junky carpet. NO LONGER!!!!!!!! I'm getting new carpet!

Muffin Mix Up

Tomorrow is Tyler's class's Thanksgiving skit.  We volunteered to bring in Muffins. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it was tomorow until almost 7 tonight, and of course I'd told the kids they could help make muffins.  Usually, that entails pouring the half cup of milk into the muffin mix, stirring, and scooping into muffin cups, but tonight, our routine went a little differently. I didn't have any muffin mix!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, I cook more than most people I know.  I enjoy it, especially with the kids. I am NOT, however, a "from scratch" cook! I use mixes, cans, gadgets, and especially the microwave! SOOOOOOOOOOO.... when I realized that I did not have muffin mix, I got online to find a recipe, USING THE BOX OF CAKE MIX I FOUND IN THE PANTRY. HA! I found a recipe for Banana Muffins, using yellow cake mix, and modified it slightly since I'm out of butter, and only had 1egg left. YEAH! PERFECT night to need to make muffins for school the next morning!!!

So we improvise... The result? Strawberry-Banana muffins with mini Chocolate Chips!!!!!!!!! It was a great recipe for us too because as Olivia smashed the bananas and stirred the mix, Tyler chopped the strawberries with a butter knife.

Olivia and I also sampled the chocolate chips while we waited for Tyler to finish the strawberries.  When Tyler asked for some, his hands had strawberries all over them, so I poured a few in his mouth. Guess who else had to have them poured in her mouth (besides me)?

Here's the batter just before we folded in the strawberries and chips:

And our final product. 30 muffins, packed tight in a tupperware bowl, and ready for some kindergarteners.

Too Pooped to Party?????

We were headed home very close to bedtime Sunday evening. After having a late lunch, a nap, then baking a birthday cake for my dad, we went to Gillsville to deliver the cake, sing happy birthday, and visit Memaw and Papa. I stopped to get the kids some food at Wendy's and had them eating on the way home so they could brush their teeth and go straight to bed when we got here.  Well, I knew they were hungry, so their silence didn't bother me, then I asked Tyler a question and he didn't respond.  I looked back to see if he was okay, and this is what I found.  The poor guy had his Chicken Sandwich in hand, and fell asleep in the middle of eating it!!

Family Photos

Thank you Stacy Roberts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are several more GREAT ones!  but I must say, that I really LOVE this picture!! It's so true to life LOL

A Morgan Thanksgiving

My dad likes to get friends and family together periodically to have a little target practice.  He calls these events "shootings." Well, he had been planning a shooting for November 12th for a while because it was the day of the Midway Methodist BBQ and we would be able to shoot guns and hang out together and Mom wouldn't be slaving away in the kitchen and everyone would still eat good.... cause you know the Morgans have to eat good!
The week before the shooting, as my mom was trying to get together with other family members to coordinate Thanksgiving dinner, my dad decides to turn the Shooting into Morgan Thanksgiving this year. Everyone was okay with it, and there were a few family members (Josh and John, namely) that were more than okay with the idea :).

Olivia and Tyler brought their Nerf Guns so they could shoot too.  We stood this sign up behind all the action so the kids could shoot.  I love how Olivia's bullet stuck to the "target"!!

My dad, AKA "Mr. Kent" or "Uncle Kent" was kind enough to give us a target to shoot at :).  This is Cousin Anthony, he brought his "beebee gun" complete with holster and earmuffs. He has very good aim :).

And here are my boys. Yes, my 5 year old is shooting a real gun, and it makes me proud :)

(Notice the cheering section in their chairs sitting a few yards away from the action. It looks like the kids' target had been relocated as well.)

We had a great time together shooting guns and eating BBQ for Thanksgiving dinner.  I am very thankful for my family!!!

Not much going on with the Lances

I haven't written a blog in over a week.  I was pretty addicted there for a while, I must be boring myself to death these days or something... ha ha.  Truthfully, though, not much going on.  Here are some of the highlights:

-The kids and I went to the mall with some coupons for victoria's secret.  I got free panties, and the kids got free hand sanitizer.
-Chic-fil-a has free kids' meals on Tuesdays with the purchase of an adult meal, so we all ate for 11 bucks Tuesday.
-Olivia got an A on her spelling test.
-Olivia had a follow up with her neurologist today, she's still doing fine
-We all went four wheeler riding down the dirt road behind our house the other night and really enjoyed that.
-Tyler's been helping me cook more, he's such a good helper :)
-The anniversary of Junior's an my engagement was Monday, and we had a delicious steak dinner with roasted asparagus and baked potatoes.
-Oh, I did almost blow myself up with the grill. The ignitor button wasn't working, so I used a lighter... and well, long story short, I singed off all my arm hair, eyelashes, and eyebrows... there was also a burned hand and a pine needle involved.
-I had to wash and dry the rugs in the bathroom due to the kids having too much fun swimming in the bathtub... and not drying off for potty breaks. ha.
-Last weekend, the kids weren't home, Junior went to the drag strip with his friends and took the Nova, and I stayed home pretty much the whole weekend eating soup and taking medicine.
-Work has been good and the weather has been very nice.

I guess that's about it. This weekend should bring some excitement.  I'll keep you posted :)