The Keene Family

Lots of people have been posting things they're thankful for every day on Facebook. It's nice, but... I try to be thankful every day, for the not-so-great things too, and I just don't need to tell everyone about it. (I feel this way about lots of holidays: Veteran's Day? Thank one in person, don't post a photo of an aircraft carrier on your Facebook wall and feel good about yourself.) Stepping off my soap box now. In the past three days, we drove almost 300 miles and were never more than an hour from home. Our kids have fallen asleep in the car four times and have eaten about four times as many treats as normal. While it was wonderful and we had a great time, I am ready for normalcy. Also, this year was also completely nontraditional. Usually at this point I have all of my Christmas shopping done, wrapped, and under the tree because my house is decorated too. And my cards are in the mail. This year I rebelled: I didn't go shopping. Not at all. Forget putting t...

The weather feels, well, a little Novemberish.We have moved our activities to mostly inside, and we miss the outdoors. But we've found some ways to stay busy. For instance, JT is becoming an actual help in the kitchen. He is suddenly proficient in things that really do save me time, instead of causing more work to teach him how to do it, which is how I've spent the last two years. It's nice to see the pay off! We made pita pizzas the other night for dinner, and both kids built their own pizzas.    Then JT chopped the fruit for the salad while Haley tossed it all together. They make a good team. Our pita pizzas - yum! We've also brought back out the "rainy day toys," like puzzles. Low and behold, Haley can do age appropriate puzzles just fine. I hadn't seen her sit still long enough to do one! One night this week, I had a great idea. I built a fort for the kids as a surprise, and they got to watch Ratatouille on their sleeping bags in...

I'm not sure what happened, but I missed posting some October pictures from my dad's birthday. We came, we ate, we celebrated!

Jim has a new schedule at work, and for the first time in four years he was off and home on a Saturday. It was very exciting. We went to workout as a family (first time in 11 months) and came home to watch football. Our friends the Bonnells came over for the big Alabama-LSU game and dinner. I made Game Day Chili and banana bread and Blockbuster Cookies, and Katie brought fresh fruit and drinks, and we had a fabulous time. We made sure the whole family had spirit by loaning out our Bama shirts too! We looked pretty cheery during half time, but things got serious in the fourth quarter. I don't think Jim moved from this spot until Alabama scored to win in the last minute of the game. Talk about a nail biter. Then we spontaneously decided to put the kids to bed and watch a movie... so we made a make shift crib for Carson by moving furniture in our guest room. Nothing like good child flexibility to let the parents enjoy the evening!

Jim let me pick which show to see, as the certificate for our date this month only read "Theater," and date TBD. There were several options but I had been thinking about seeing Wicked . Then our friends Christian and Elisa suggested we go see it together, so it became a double date. We went to John Howie Steak for happy hour and filled up on some pretty yummy appetizers and salads before heading to the Paramount. Everyone takes a picture of the outside of the theater, so I thought I should too...   Ready to go in We had great seats - the first row on the first mezzanine - and the show was amazing: great costumes, amazing set, and fabulous singing. The two witches were very well acted. Jim was hungry after the three-hour show and so we stopped at Dick's on the way home for burgers and shakes. It was a wonderful night!

We started Halloween festivities with a party at a friend's house Sunday night. The kids went in costume and got goodie bags, and we had a great time. (I guess it actually started the week before, when my supervisor at work sent home goodie bags... but it didn't feel official yet.) Then on Tuesday JT had his Masquerade Parade at preschool. He got to wear his costume and Jim and Haley went to visit and watch. On Wednesday, we went to our church's Harvest Party. I think it's ridiculous to dress up in costumes, get candy, and throw a party on October 31st and call it a Harvest Party. Don't fool yourselves, people, it's a Halloween Party at church. Anyway. Our church's event was at a skating rink! They rented the whole thing out and had skating for free, plus lots of stations like fishing for prizes and balloon animals. The pastors all walked around with bags of candy handing out all sorts of yummy treats, plus necklaces and glow stick bracelets and Blo-Po...