Day to day in the Livable Forest

Ah, the Livable Forest, one of my favorite places to be.  When I hear the phrase "Everything's bigger in Texas" I think of the massive trees in every yard in my parents neighborhood that far surpass the height of the palm trees in my yard. On the flip side, yards have a ridiculous amount of leaves to be raked....don't miss that considering our old house somehow collected leaves from every yard on the block ; ) We could have thrown out our rake upon arrival to the Sunshine State!  Anyway, with the beautiful surroundings, chilly days mixed with mild days, we spent LOTS of time outside. We enjoyed a small portion of the miles of paved trails through the woods by stroller, scooter & good ol' fashioned feet for walkin'. The boys weren't sure what hit them when the first cold day arrived! Thanks to Aunt Jenny & Uncle Steve, O & A kept their heads warm with some stylish caps. Also, thanks to Gaga's quilting skills back in the early 80's they had a Noah's Ark quilt that was mine when I was a baby to keep their leggies nice & cozy.  : )

We walked to the nearby pool that Charlotte had gone swimming in last summer. They were hopeful that we could squeeze a swim in while we were in town...haha! Definite Florida babies ; )

We spent a few days short of two weeks at Gaga & Paw Paws' house & it was delightful! I assumed my brothers would stay over Christmas Eve & night then spend the rest of the nights at their respective homes about 30 minutes from Kingwood. They surprised me big time with packing up to spend the ENTIRE time with us! It was a houseful of people & we had fun day & night! My mom saved quite a few toys from when we were young & my four loved trying them all out. This was the biggest hit & most used....

The next sequence of events have provided MUCH laughter for weeks on end.  On Monday evening just after dinner my Dad decided it would be a great time to set up the train around the Christmas Tree.  They moved all the gifts, Dad & the girls were in front of the tree & Uncle Kyle got roped into going behind the tree  to help put that portion of the tracks together. My dad said "Kyle, don't knock the tree over" & in about a half a second the tree fell down on top of my dad & the girls!  Somehow one leg of the base broke & sent the tree to the ground.....it was hilarious. According to the girls, ornaments went everywhere. I couldn't stop laughing & I'm pretty sure Kyle was not amused ; )

Being the mechanical engineer he is with some made woodworking skills, he headed to the garage  & built a new sturdy stand for the tree!

 In the meantime we put all the ornaments on the table...

laughed at Char when she said "Do you like my hat?"

 snuggled up... 

  kept our tootsies warm...

 updated social media...

& sent a video to Grammy.

Charlotte had purchased an ornament for Gaga when we went shopping at Bass Pro in November. She saw it & could not stop talking about how beautiful it was & how Gaga would LOVE it. So we bought it for her & she carried it around in her backpack wherever she went, held while she watched TV, put it on her dresser when she went to bed & told everyone she talked to about her special gift for about a month straight. It was precious. She could not wait to give it to Gaga & did so the second she arrived at GGran's house when we were in Dallas. Gaga loved it of course & Charlotte was delighted with her response : )

Gaga had Char write on the back... 

Back to that ol tree. Kyle saved the day with a new stand & the boys quickly put the ribbon back on. What happened next made my mom the happiest woman of the year.  Our family decorated the tree together just like we used to when we all lived at home. It has been years since we have done that & it was just wonderful with the Christmas music on while we sorted through all our old ornaments as we hung them up.

Even Kyle was smiling again ; )  

 What got the biggest laugh was the angel when one of my brothers put her back atop the tree. It looked like her legs had been broken when she fell off the tree & miraculously did not actually break. We had to reposition her so her lovely satin gown covered her lameness.

That was a fun night that we will remember for many years : ) Thanks Kyle! We joke that my mom paid him to knock it over so we could all decorate the tree together.

Onto more things in the everyday life of a family in the Livable Forest.

SHIPLEY'S DONUTS, goodness gracious I am thankful this place was not down the street from me when I was pregnant with Eloise.  I would have increased my total donut intake by one hundred percent....and it was quite high to begin with.  These are our favorite donuts & kolaches especially for Rob because they have jalepeno cheese kolaches.

While we are on the hunger category, we ate a whole lot of Chicken Salad & sandwiches from none other than Chelsea Deli, my first place of employment at age 16. The same sweet couple still owns it & was happy to meet the boys the 15 times we came in ; )

I got to see my Lisa Marie that lived next door to me starting at age 8. She is getting married (WAHOO!) on the 1st of March giving us the excuse to make the trek back to the homeland so I can stand up with her as a bridesmaid & sing a little song if we can find a guitarist. Anyway, she was just as beautiful & happy as she could be as she approaches making the jump to being a wife to Euan who we actually have not met yet but do believe is real since he always snatches Lisa's phone when I call her & answers with his lovely Scottish accent. I could not be happier for her & look forward to seeing her dressed in her wedding gown saying "I do" to Mr. Shiach!

 As I said before, we spent a lot of time in the backyard on the swing set or riding in the cul de sac on the scooters. Being outside is a cure all for this family....there is rarely any crying when we are outside : )

We celebrated the birthday of this incredible woman who took excellent care of us while we were in her home. We did lots of reminiscing about this time last year when Gaga made the move to Florida & spent the first four months taking care of our growing family. We are grateful for this woman & loved celebrating her on her special day.

 Remember the purchase of the Big Green Egg & how we cooked every meal on it for two weeks? The birthday was no exception & the decision was made to cook gourmet pizzas courtesy of Scott the chef. He created a prosciutto & caramelized onions while Robby created a greek pizza. Both were amazingly delicious & every bite was eaten!

The next picture of Scott looks like he is toasting the birthday girl when in fact he is actually singing "Happy Birthday" in German. Ha! He had me laughing on more than one occasion as I overheard him practicing on his phone app. Gaga loved his rendition & the accent he has been perfecting ; )

Dinner was followed by a Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream cake that was delish even with the chilly temperature outside.  

On New Years Eve, Robby, Kyle & I took Charlotte to see Frozen & loved it so much that we convinced Gaga & Paw Paw to take Char & Elo back the following day for another viewing. They both did great at the theater & we could not have enjoyed the movie any more than we did! I am constantly singing the songs these days & haven't even bought the soundtrack yet ; )

I am realizing there are NO pictures of my husband on here. Maybe it was an unintentional late belated Christmas gift to not follow him around with a camera ; ) If there were pictures of him they would include some books, cigars, laughing with my brothers, pushing some kiddos in a swing, sighting in the newest rifle he built, playing cards & maybe a nap.  He enjoyed his time in the Livable Forest too. 

Even though a minor cold went through the entire family one by one, we greatly enjoyed resting & playing in the land of a million trees. We can't wait to get back in five weeks!