Checking In

Here's a little glimpse of life for us since last I surfaced. Life moves pretty fast around here.

After their glorious victory, Noble and his team got to visit a local sports radio station, where they were interviewed about their killer season. A few days later we all had a fantastic time at his team banquet. 

The coach initially handed out these little trophies (as a joke)...

...and then brought out the goods...these nearly life-sized trophies for the champions.

trophy from Angie Melton on Vimeo.

 Afterward, with some of his football spoils.

And with that, the season was officially OVER. We've come a long way. What a pleasure it was.

Thanksgiving (this year it was "Hanksgiving" again -  coinciding with my nephew's birthday.)

We gathered at our house again this year. And started a new tradition. My mom comes up with the coolest stunts. She read the story of the "Discontented Pumpkin" (everyone kept misspeaking, calling it the "dis-CONNECTED pumpkin" ha ha) about a pumpkin with a bad attitude that meets a bad end.

We re-enacted the conclusion of the story:


the discontented pumpkin drop from Angie Melton on Vimeo.

Mom gathered (and cleaned) the remnants to make into pumpkin pie filling, for next Thanksgiving. Ha ha ha. Not sure if the kids grasped the intended lesson from this dramatization, but it was super fun. Let's do it again next year. Smashing pumpkins. (Digression, just because this quote came up repeatedly over the holiday:  "Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins. Homer Simpson, Smiling politely." -one of the best lines in TV history. From the Lallapalooza episode of The Simpson's.)

What else?
Noble's Court of Honor. (Receiving his First Class)

Christmas prep. 

The last few years Mike has given in and let us get our tree as soon as Thanksgiving was over. We've had pretty good luck with the trees staying fresh. This year may be our last with a REAL tree. (I know. Sacrilege.) It is just so hard to justify shelling out $50-$80 a year. So I was determined to get the kind of tree I wanted this year (usually I defer to the majority on stuff like this)...just in case I never get the chance again. Years ago Mike's Dad converted me to the open / candlestick variety of Noble Fir. I think some people think they look like Charlie Brown trees. I think they are lovely, with their natural, unshaven branches. They look real. We found a perfect, not-too-fat 8 footer. It's my favorite ever.

This year I picked up this advent calendar at IKEA and filled it with treats and good deeds for the kids to do for each day. We'll see how it works out. 

I love the way it looks on the landing shelf.

One more random snap shot. We came home from shopping on Saturday to find this note posted in the butter. Rather than just throw it out, Grace devised this method to warn us all of the danger. Ha ha ha.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.