The City Parade

We recently checked out a book at the library about Christmas trees. It showcases many different types of Christmas trees, most of which are unconventional and not your traditional green and needley trees. One part of the story talks about a tree in a city parade and shows a large balloon, just like the ones in the Macy Thanksgiving Day parade. Since we started reading this book, Adair has wanted to go to a city parade and see an over sized "pa-bloon" as she affectionately calls balloons. She has talked about it non-stop and was thrilled when we told her we were going to Homewood's Christmas parade. Now, as you know, there are no over sized balloons in Homewood's parade, but she loved it just the same. She does still talk about seeing a big "pa-bloon" to which Hank and I respond, "you just tell your Nona and Joe-pa that you want to go to New York City to see the big pa-bloons". Hopefully someday we will make it to NYC for the ultimate Christmas parade, but until then, we will cherish the lights, band and Santa in our little Homewood Christmas parade.

Picking the Perfect Christmas Tree

A couple of years ago we discovered a sweet little tree farm in Tarrant (thanks Jerry and Melanie). It has become a Powers' family tradition to make a trip to the tree farm to select the perfect tree. I have very fond memories of visiting the tree farm when I was a child and the gift of family traditions is something that I really want to give to Adair.

Of course, this is the first year that she really wanted to get involved in the tree selection. I thought we were in trouble when she started to insist we take home a small "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree. Fortunately, we were able to convince her that a larger tree would be more fun to strap on top of our car, unload at home, and decorate with lights and ornaments and we headed home with our perfect tree...a lovely 7 1/2 foot tall Leyland Cypress.

We had a wonderful time decorating it and recalling memory after memory from our ornament box. We also had alot of help with the bottom from our best little helper.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we have so much for which to be thankful. Above all, I am thankful for God's saving grace and am reminded of the verse we all memorized as small children, "For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only son that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life." What a special, undeserved and freely given gift. To me, Thanksgiving is such a wonderful way to enter into the season in which we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

I am also incredibly thankful for a wonderful husband who is an incredible father, amazing parents who are wonderful grandparents, and my precious, sweet spirited daughter. Adair, you are truly a perfect gift from God and I hope you always know how thankful I am to be your mommy!

We spent Thanksgiving Day with my family. We enjoyed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (my favorite Thanksgiving tradition and one I introduced to Adair this year), great family time, a wonderful meal of fried turkey, dressing and all of the Southern "fixins", and of course, too many deserts. Adair was the youngest in attendance and totally stole the show as she passed out necklaces for everyone...including the men...and insisted everyone wear them.

It was a wonderful day. I hope we can make every day more like Thanksgiving and recall all year what we have to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

So High to the Sky

We started potty training Adair in July (at just 24 months old). After several months of ups and downs, we promised her a swing when she kept her panties dry for a week. This really stuck with her and we consistently reminded her of the reward that was waiting for her. Earlier this month it finally clicked! She became very reliable and consistent in telling us when she needed to go to the potty. We were so proud of her, so we took her to pick out her swing and enlisted Daddy and Joe-pa to hang it. The anticipation was almost too much, as it took several hours to get the swings into the tree in our front yard, but she loved watching Daddy and Joe-pa climb the tree. By the time it got dark, Adair was soaring "so high to the sky" and squeeling with glee!

Weagle, Weagle

Today was such a fun day! We took Adair to Auburn for the Homecoming game and she couldn't have loved it more. Every Saturday, she "watches" football with Daddy, so all week long, she talked about going to the football game on Saturday...she was so excited. So excited, in fact, that the two hour drive to Auburn was torture for her. If she asked, "are we at the football game yet" once, she asked 1,000 times! She couldn't contain herself, she couldn't wait to get there.

She was so worked up about the game, that I was a little bit afraid she would be let down when we actually got there. Oh, no! She was thrilled. She LOVED it, all of it! She really got into the cheering, the "waaaaarrrr eagle, hey" during kickoff and the wave. And she LOVED the band, much to Daddy's dismay, she loved it more than the football game. She paid such close attention to them that she had to know where their hats were when they were sitting in the stands. And even more than the band, she LOVED seeing Aubie live and in person. I think if we could have gotten close enough to hug him, her day would have been made perfect. Obsessed might be a good way to put it..."Mommy, where is Aubie?"..."Aubie (yelling) come over here!"

After the game (okay, really after half-time...it was Homecoming, after all), we walked over to Toomer's Corner for her to witness the long standing tradition of rolling the trees with toilet paper when Auburn wins the game. She was in awe and thought that toilet paper in the trees was so awesome.

On the way home, Hank taught Adair the bodda getta cheer. Which she thought was a hilarious combination of words. Needless to say, we laughed the whole way home as she tried to pronounce the cheer.

Bodda getta, bodda getta, bodda getta, bah
Rah, rah, rah; Siss, boom, bah
Weagle, weagle, waaaarrr eagle
Kick in the shin big blue

(Note: words have been changed to those appropriate for a two-year-old.)

It was a perfect day! A little on the chilly side, weather wise, but all-in-all a perfect day in one of our favorite places. I hope you enjoy a few pictures from our road trip to Daddy's alma mater.

WAR EAGLE!

Trick-or-Treat

This was Adair's first year to trick-or-treat. We started talking about it on Saturday and by Sunday night, she was so excited about trick-or-treating. I would say, "Adair, what are you going to do tonight?" and she would say, "Ring the door bell, say 'trick-or-treat' (singing it), get candy and say 'thank you' (singing it too)". When the time came, she was ready and she knew just what to do. We even practiced at our door. And you can tell by one of the picture below, how serious she was about the candy.

Our friends, Meg, Basheer, and Britton; Blair, Phillips and Jack; and Ashley, Alex and Braxton, came over for pizza and trick-or-treating. We had a great time with our little cuties. Adair was Dorothy and Jack was the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz, Britton was Thomas the Train, and Braxton was a dragon.

What a fun Halloween! Thankfully, with all of the candy, it only comes once a year. now on to Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Carving

On Halloween afternoon we carved our pumpkin that we brought home from the pumpkin patch. Adair loved helping scoop out the "guts" of the pumpkin. She also made a special request for circle eyes, a triangle nose and a circle mouth. (Can you tell she has just learning her shapes?) As you can see, Mommy accomplished two of the three okay. The circle mouth turned into a "smiling oval", but we still had fun and proudly displayed our jack-o-latern on Halloween night.

Visiting the Pumpkin Patch

On Friday, Adair and I went to the Pumpkin Patch with our friends Meg and Britton. We had such a great time picking out our pumpkins together. Adair loved playing with the animals, riding the wagon to the pumpkin patch and swinging. Here are a few pictures from our fun day.

War Eagle Girl

Football season is so much fun with a two-year-old. Adair loves wearing her cheerleading outfit and being lifted to the ceiling. She loves to shake her pom-poms and yell "WAAAARRRRR EAGLE, HEY". She can also sing a majority of the Auburn fight song. Hank is hopeful that she will be a bigger football fan than her mommy...and she is well on her way. Anytime she sees a football game on, even just flipping channels, she yells "football game...WAR EAGLE, HEY". We definitely have a little Auburn fan on our hands, which is just what her daddy wanted.

 

Back to Our Roots

For those of you who don't know, I grew up in a small town South of Birmingham called Centreville. My parents both grew up there, too. Today Hank, Adair and I went to Centreville to the Mill Pond (my grandparents' homestead) for the Lightsey family reunion. We had a great time gathering with my dad's extended family and visiting with everyone.

Adair loved looking at the water, feeding the duck, watching for turtles and fish, and seeing a snake and tiny frog, but when I asked her what her favorite part of the day was, she answered, "The music, Mommy.". There was a pickin' band (small town in the country, remember?) and Adair clapped, danced and sang with them until her little heart was content. She was truly the life the party. Any of you who are around her much know that she isn't really shy, but I was shocked when she took the microphone and sang "Jesus Loves Me" with them in front of at least 30 people who were standing around. Her next request was the "ABC's". I know you won't be surprised that they couldn't "pick" that, but they sang it with her (without their instruments) anyway. She was swaying and tapping her foot, just like a little musician. Who knows? Perhaps she is a prodigy in the making. I don't really wish for that, but I do want her to love music and play an instrument. I would say, we are on the right track.

It was truly a great day and I managed to snap a few pictures of her debut. You can see the progression of slight shyness to right in the middle of the action.