Boo

Happy Halloween!

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What I wouldn't give to be young again, dressed up in a costume of my choice (a grim reaper? really?) and running from house to house yelling, "trick or treat!" with my brother and sister...

 

 

only to come home, dump out the candy from our plastic pumpkins, and spend an hour eating and trading our treats.  

 

 

Here's to the memories and to the second best job on Halloween...

 

 

I hope your day is de-fright-ful!

 

 

 

Long Overdue Update

Ah, I have been the WORST blogger lately.  I apologize and promise I'll be better from here on out! 

 

Today was the first day in so long that I've actually left work on time (work has just been crazy busy this year!), so I came straight home, fired up my laptop, and started writing with my favorite furry friend next to me. 

 

 

The last time I left you, I had just celebated my birthday and Gaines had just had back surgery.  He's doing so well and is stretching, walking, and standing up much straighter.  I feel like I keep commenting about how much taller he looks now.  Thanks again (on his behalf) for all of the prayers and support. :)

 

 

One major reason I have time to blog again is because my first of four Gifted Endorsement classes is finished (seven papers, four projects, and three presentations later...), and I have two weeks off until the next one starts.  A lot of people say, "The gifted don't need good teachers.  They can just learn on their own!" but after taking this first class, I see how untrue that mindset is.  Gifted learners need just much attention and educational resources to succeed in school as students on the other end of the spectrum.  

 

 

A few days after my birthday my brother came to visit on his way back from working in North Carolina.  Even though I only got to see him for a few hours, it was so so wonderful catching up with him (and getting to call Dales together!).  There's nothing like a big sister's love for her little brother.  Awww.

 

For my birthday Gaines got me an iPhone (remember the plastic apple and the phone with an eye taped to it?), since my LG Vortex is a little 2010. It turns out I'm not due for an upgrade until December, but I will finally be joining the rest of the world on Decemeber 9th.  And I may or may not have already picked out my three favorite covers...

 

 

 

The last time I posted I had just started reading "Where We Belong," which I have since finished and recommend.  It's far from being the best book I have ever read, but it was an easy, fun read if you are interested. 

 

Six weeks ago, I mentioned that three babies would soon be joining our group of friends in Waynesboro, and I am so happy to annouce that they all made it here safely.  Gaines and I have gotten a chance to meet them, and I can asure you that they are every bit as precious as their names suggest. :)  Welcome to the world...

Emma Gray Lively

Robert Brigham Scott

Sydnee Marie Smith

 

Like every else, I am l-o-v-i-n-g fall and everything about it-- afternoon walks, pumpkin bread, hot coffee, cider candles, colorful leaves, and comfy sweaters.  I mean, really?  Is there anything bad about this season?

 

 

Another thing I love about fall is football. I am perfectly content watching football games all day on Saturdays... and all of Sunday for that matter. There's just something so exciting about a good football game to me. The last time I posted, UGA was ranked #5 in the BCS and now we're ranked #6. We had an absolutely horrendeous loss to South Carolina in between those rankings (which is something I would like to forget), but we also had wins over Kentucky and Florida. There are honestly few things I like more than watching my football team beat the jean-shorts-wearing Florida Gators.   Oh, a #2 ranked Florida, might I add. How 'bout them dawgs!

 

 

Two weekends ago Gaines and I flew home for the wedding of my two high school friends, Steph and Kyle.  They got married at King Family Vineyard in Charlottesville, and I'm ashamed to say that I never went there while I lived in C'ville.  It was an absolutely beatiful venue, and we had the best time celebrating all weekend with perfect weather, delicious wine, lots of dancing, and the best friends anyone could ask for.  Plus, I loved getting to spend time with my parents. :) Congratulations to the Martins!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This past weekend we went to dinner with our friends Drew, Kristina, Jason, and Caroline.  Even though the service wasn't the best, the comany made it worthwhile.  Jason, Drew, and Gaines graduated from high school together, and it's been so much fun to create close friendships with Caroline and Kristina over the years.  Cheers to many more triple datenights!

Hurricane Sandy never hit us in Waynesboro (except for her crazy wind), but she has certainly left her mark in Virginia.  My parents say that there isn't much damage (thank goodness!), just a lot of wind, rain, and high water.  Here is a picture of Harbour House yesterday afternoon. :(

 

 

And last but not least, I though I'd leave you with a picture of my little bug yesterday afternoon.  She hates when the weekends end just as much as Gaines and I do. ;)

 

 

I promise it won't be so long before I blog the next time.  Thanks for reading this long update, and I'll see ya back here real soon!

 

Ten on Tuesday

1. Happy October!  Geez Louise, where does the time go?  I'm so excited it's finally starting to feel like fall, though, and I can't wait to pull out my jeans, boots, sweaters, and scarves and drink Pumpkin Spice Lattes all the time. 

2. I turned the big 2-6 on Sunday and had the BEST day thanks to my awesone husband (who made the day so special despite just having had back surgery), my fabulous family (both mine and Gaines'), and my great friends.  We had a low-key day that started off with breakfast, included a lot of relaxation, and ended with a delicious meal "catered" by my in-laws.  Thank you for all of the sweet messages- I really, really appreciated all of the birthday love. :) 

3. I opened my gift from Gaines yesterday morning and sat there for a few seconds confused. A fake apple and a phone with a picture of an eye on it? Ooooohhh! An Apple iPhone!! What a sweet, corny guy he is. :)

4. Ten years ago (again, where does the time go??) my parents planned and exectued the best surprise birthday party I could have ever imagined. Elisabeth and I went down to the rivah on Friday night with my dad and Dales while my mom and Sammy stayed home in Richmond for a "soccer tournament."  Saturday morning I was woken up with a video camera in my face (mind you, I didn't have my contacts in and was wearing my retainer...) and my dad saying, "Kates! Kates! Go look outside!"  I couldn't actually see anything since I'm basically blind, but when I went to the window I heard lots of cheering and "Happy birthdays!"  I rushed to get ready as 25 of my friends came running upstairs.  My parents had rented a huge 55-passenger bus that had picked up all my friends in Richmond that morning at 6am and drove them to Deltaville.  We spent the day hanging out and celebrating by the water, and it was by far one of the best days of my life.

P.S. How young do we look?!

5.  Gaines' back surgery went well and I just wanted to thank you all so much for the love and prayers.  The surgery started at 1:45pm last Wednesday, lasted exactly an hour, and we were in the car on the way home by 5:15pm.  He's doing really well right now and has just been spending his days laying down, playing video games, and ringing a tiny bell anytime he needs me.  Kidding (about the last part). ;)

6.  On Saturday a bunch of my girlfriends and I signed up to walk in the Bird Dog Breakaway 5k run/2-mile walk in Waynesboro.  In the last 5k we did together, we were crowned the "Winners of the Walkers" (even if we were the only ones who knew about it), so this time we were deteremined to continue our reign.  I think Kristina sums up this race pretty well when she said, "Through a unanimous vote (from the three of us) and several disqualifications (also given out by the three of us) - we are pretty sure we were the winners of the walkers again this time!" 

   

7.  Later that afternoon after the walk, I'm pretty sure Gaines and I had a combined 25 heart attacks as we were cheering on our Bulldogs from our den.  Thankfully, we pulled out a 51-44 win over Tennessee, but boy was it look ugly at times.

8.  Speaking of football, we're still ranked #5 in the nation!  And how 'bout the SEC taking up 5 out of the top 10 spots.  Best conference? Hands down. 

We play USC this weekend in Columbia and ESPN Gameday is going to be filmed there. Even though we aren't going to make it to the game, I told Gaines I'm going to need a few of his pain pills to make it through this one.  I can already feel my anxiety rising.  But hopefully we'll show the who's best in the SEC East. Sorry, Liz. ;)

9. This weekend I started reading "Where We Belong" by Emily Griffin.  I didn't get too far into it yet, but I love her other books and so far I'm loving this one, too. 

10. And what would a TOT post be without a picture of our spoiled luttle Mollybug?

Happy Tuesday!