Zoe's Kitchen

Rhett took off early and headed to Lost Maples State Park for a little hiking on Friday. We took this opportunity to have a girls night. Well technically there was a very little man present but it's as close to girls night as we can get.
I was overjoyed to pick up both of the kids knowing I was about to catch-up on my Z and H time over the next 48 hours.
We invited Hannah to join us at a new little restaurant not far from the house. It is called Zoe's Kitchen and my little Z has been very eager to check it out. I wasn't in love with the food but the company was delightful. It was a wonderful end to a crazy work week.

Something I wasn't expecting

Our school is having a small Veterans Day event tomorrow. We've asked students to bring photos of family and friends who have served. We're hanging them in the breezeway along with their names, branches, and where they served.
So I came home this evening knowing I wanted and needed to do my own searching to honor the many people in my family who fit into this special group. This led to lots of flipping and flipping through the many photo albums that have been collecting dust at the top of my closet. Prior to the digital age of sharing photos, I took LOTS of pictures and neatly organized them all. This would, of course, be prior to having my children as well.
I kept smiling as I rediscovered so many favorite pics that brought back good memories with friends and family. There is one of me with my papa and memaw holding a birthday cake they surprised me with one year. I think I'm 18 or at least too old to be excited about a birthday cake from your grandparents. But I was excited. In another we're playing The Christmas Game. This is a rockin' board game from way back that I would do anything to track down, which was a family tradition for many years with my mom's side.
Of course there is page after page of faces that are so permanent in my life now that I often forget how far we do go back. Cliche but true. Pictures of Amanda and I swimming at a pool in Memphis. I came across so many pics of Rosemond and I hugging, giving cheesy smiles I lost count. One last one I'll mention still seems so real and present to me. It is a picture of Taylor climbing up a sign along the highway. I can feel myself standing there in the tall grass watching him. We're only 17 I think and we're on a road trip over spring break. What the picture doesn't show is a large (I mean large) statue of a bull and Ang and Bob contemplating how to climb it.
I'm so much about trying to enjoy the present, be mindful in the moment, that I may forget to relish the past. I think it is important. Especially with those people for whom our memories have been sealed.

Christmas in November

My mom will be very happy to know we finally used the food processor she bought us for Christmas last year. Rhett reverted to his former self and chose several more labor intensive meals this week. The first endeavor was grilled shrimp and white bean bruschetta. Yum! We have made the white bean spread before. Using our old ,very tiny food processor to make this recipe would take a while. The capacity was about 2 cups, the spring for the button would keep popping out unless you were holding it down and the machine made the worst high-pitched sound you can imagine. The new processor is BIG and quiet. We love it!

Today was literary character day at The Girls' School. It was a whirlwind but lots of fun! All the lowerschool teachers dressed-up as Fancy Nancy.

We May Have a Winner

Trick-r-treat
Smell my feet
Give me something good to eat
If you don't, I don't care
I'll pull down your underwear

I think I have successfully found a costume that Zoe is excited about. She started telling me a few weeks back that she wanted to be a sunshine flower. I have no idea where this came from but she's been adamant-this is what she wants to be.

I looked online for some homemade costume ideas but didn't find anything Zoe liked. We stopped at a party store today and Zoe found exactly what she wanted. Hannah's grandmother made the toole skirt.

If I can just get her to walk down the street and wait without screaming as Hannah gets her candy, I will feel like this has been a success.

Week in review

Embarrassing moment of the week:
While waiting to get our flu shots, Zoe looks over at the not-so-fit woman 3 feet from us and says, "Mama, why is her belly so big?"
Zoe says this twice! The woman pretends she doesn't hear but there is no way she didn't.

I'm a little freaked out moment of the week:
A student in my class has swine flu.

It may be time for a new pair of jeans moment of the week:
After eating my second slice of pizza Friday for lunch I began to get woozy and loose feeling in the lower half of my body. I could be held liable if my button flies off and causes a child to lose an eye.

Time for something new.