Cell-ebrate!

I have to be out of town a lot over the next couple of weeks and so I wanted to make sure I spent alot of time today with the girls. Ali Grace's friend Jordan spent the night last night and they trounced around the farm most of the morning before Jordan went home. I went to a great cookout last night with a great group of colleagues and even though I was still tired this morning, I willed myself out of bed! 

This evening I took some ground beef over to my Mama and asked her to make chili. It's good living close to your Mama. Most days. :)  While we were there, she had Ali Grace to decorate her Halloween tree. She already has her house beautifully decorated for fall.  I am just trying to keep my children in clean clothes. Benefits of retirement I guess. 

Knowing I'd be out of town Monday and Tuesday, we decided that rather than leave the "Cell Project" to Daddy, we'd try to get it done tonight and have it already done before Tuesday's due date. We went back and forth between a pizza, a cookie, a melon, and then back to a cookie. We had most of the ingredients either at our house or at Nanny's so this was the most inexpensive and convenient way to knock it out!  First, we made a big sugar cookie and iced it with vanilla icing!

Then we used a pecan twirl, iced with buttercream icing, for the nucleus. Ali chose gummy worms for the cell membrane and whoppers for the vacuoles. We were kinda stumped on the mitochondria since each organelle needed to be a different color. We wanted to use a miniature snickers but since we already had brown whoppers we had to choose something else. Rambling through my pantry, I found a small bag of candy easter eggs leftover from spring! (Heads up to Ms Johnson's 5A class- the cookie is delicious but stay away from the "aged" mitochondria!)

Ali Grace made the labels on Nanny's label maker and then she added sprinkles just for a little "bling". 

I am going to be at a conference in Forsyth, GA tomorrow and Tuesday. Then Friday, I am headed to Greensboro, NC for the weekend. The South Atlantic Relay for Life Summit is there at the Four Seasons and I am so looking forward to getting started with Jefferson County's Relay this year. I think I was suckered into being the chairperson for this year's event but I'm really looking forward to it! Have a great week everyone! Slow down and smell the roses. I'm working on that too! 

A Little More Country Than That..

It's been one wild week around here! Thank goodness there was no Jr Pro football game this week or I would have gone from being a Mama on the edge to a Mama OVER the edge!

We were all very busy, but we did stop to enjoy the rain this week. It's been so long since we've had mud puddles around here, I had to relent and let the girls play in the puddles.

Addie didn't mind the rain this week. She is no fan of hot weather and when it rains and there is no recess at school, her wonderful teacher, Ms Harrison, lets the children bring toys to play with during their recess time. Of course Woody and Jessie tagged along with her to school all week this week. Woody got in trouble for talking she tells me. 

This afternoon Pete left for a short weekend hunting trip with his ABAC buds so the girls and I are looking forward to a little girl time. While Ali and I sat on the porch with my Mama doing some online shopping, Addie went off to Kackleberry Farm with Poppy to drop off a load of straw. The two of them are peas in a pod. Addie completely adores her Poppy and I am SO glad that she does. On several occasions I have asked her questions like "what would you rather have for supper" and she will reply "whatever makes Poppy happiest." That girl is either wild about her Poppy or she knows where her bread is buttered. I suspect both.

 

Don't Worry BEE Happy!

We had a rough start to the week. We were all exhausted after  a wonderful weekend. However, after we all got up and going this morning things seemed to calm down a bit. This afternoon Pete took Ali Grace down to the beehive to change their sugar water and to get some pictures for her 4-H Mini Booth exhibit. She's really excited about being able to participate in the 4-H exhibit at the Burke County Fair soon.

Ali is starting a fire in the bee smoker.

I'm not sure why she has the smoker tilted towards herself. 

Lots of honey!

 Addie is totally into the reptiles and amphibians but she's totally unimpressed by the honeybees. She sat and watched for a few minutes but eventually headed off to the nearest shade tree.

Fall seems to be settling in and even though the days are still warm, the evenings are quite cool and we've enjoyed having some windows and doors open. I can't wait for it to be cool enough to start a fire and make some veggie soup. It feels really rejuvenating after a long scorching summer.

It's GREAT to BE a Georgia BULLDOG!

My husband deleted my blog. It's a touchy subject. If he doesn't show up at work Monday, it's because he is missing a knee cap. I am SO irritated.. I'm tired and I don't know if I can recreate everything, but here's the jist of our really AWESOME day!

Yesterday was my daddy's birthday so we thought a trip to Athens was in order! Daddy is a UGA Ag grad and so we knew he'd enjoy taking the grands to the UGA Ag Alumni Tailgate at Legion Field.

We found a shortcut over the river and through the woods and finally arrived at the tailgate...

 Addie remembered the herpetology exhibit from last year and made a bee line for the snakes this year...

 Addie does love a reptile. I have a no animals in the house policy. I also have a no snakes on my road policy. I'm only kidding. I know the benefits of having snakes around. I just don't feel the need to hold them or wrap them around my neck. Addie loves it! She really wasn't interested in anything else there. She wanted to stay with the snakes.

 Ali Grace liked the turtles... the snakes not so much!

 I got to see a few former professors and classmates. I hardly recognized Dr. Flanders when he was talking  to Daddy.

 The kiddos loved getting their faces painted..

Addie has never met a critter she didn't like..even this tarantula named Rosie.

 They had a good time playing around at the Home Depot exhibit..

After playing around at the tailgate for awhile, we made our way over to Tate for the DAWG WALK.. Since setting the science lab on fire with a bang last week at school, I got nervous when I saw the bomb squad. My co-conspirator Beth was at the game too.. I think the bomb squad ran back and forth between us! Beth thinks we may be on the no fly list after that incident!  

BY FAR, our favorite part of the day was the DAWG WALK!

We found a great spot to wait on the busses carrying the team.

My Mama and Daddy (UGA Classes of 1971 and 1972) Thanks for raising me to be a Georgia Bulldog!

 Hairy Dawg came through and high fived all of the Cooper Grands!

 The cheerleaders cheered while we waited...

 And FINALLY the Dawgs arrived!!

 We got a few handshakes and high fives from Isaiah Crowell and Malcom Mitchell! The kiddos were sooooo excited!

After the Dawg Walk, we went back to the tailgate and had Fresh Air Barbecue. It's not Zeb's but it was pretty good! The kids played in the woods for awhile and had a great time together.

 It was a GREAT day! The Cooper Grands had a fabulous time! Going back to Athens always gives me chills.

 I am so very glad that my girls want to go to UGA when they get out of high school. I love UGA...

 and I hope one day my girls will love UGA as much as I do.. It is GREAT to be a GEORGIA Bulldog!

It's GREAT to BE a Georgia BULLDOG!