November and December Happenings

I am not very good at blogging. I constantly find myself looking at least a months happenings and feeling overwhelmed by the fact that I have blogged nothing. It is feast or famine with me. Anyways, Madison and I are taking off for Happy Valley tomorrow and this is my last chance to get caught up so here we go!

Meet Thomas the Turkey! It is a tradition in our house that at the beginning of the month of November we make a turkey and than spend the month feeding him with our grateful thoughts. We stuff him with little papers filled with gratitude and than on Thanksgiving we carve him and read all the wonderful thoughts. This is one great tradition for which I give thanks to my fantastic mother-in-law Gaylene.

This is the pathetic little pile of leaves that our one tree gave us this year. Maddie has been waiting with high anticipation for them to fall off the tree so she could do this.........

and

this!

This is Madison's sweet, fantastic, and very lovely preschool teacher Ms. Karlene. This was taken at the preschools' wonderful Thanksgiving dinner where we all stuffed ourselves with some Southern Thanksgiving food.

So I have always had a bit of a fascination for Gone With the Wind(I was Scarlett for Halloween when I was sixteen-hoop skirt and all). Although my Mother will probably deny it I do believe that is where the inspiration for my name Tara Shannon came from. While Dan's parents were visiting we went to the Margaret Mitchell Museum in Atlanta and learned more about her life and writings.

Cute Smith Family

This year we decided to shake things up a bit and make a Gingerbread Train.

It was a big hit (although a tad bit more complicated to keep together)!

Ta-Da

We also put up our tree a couple of days before Thanksgiving (interject gasp of horror). Maddie really wanted to have Grandparents there when we did it and we were going to be in Alabama for Thanksgiving-hence the tree.

Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain GA

Madison was not feeling the camera.

I love this picture. We sure are going to miss you guys while you are serving your mission.

Really cool bird show with owls, vultures, and hawks that flew over your head quite close.

I loved this poinsettia tree that Callaway Gardens had on display

The gardens puts on a Light show that is without a doubt the most incredible thing I have ever seen. An hour trolley ride filled with caroling and narration through their insanely large gardens. The lights are amazing and filled with all sorts of stories and moving light displays.

Their Nativity was beautiful and very touching. If you can ever go to this you should-it was a perfect way to bring in the Christmas Season.

Playing dress-up at her cousins house in Alabama.

Still in Love

Painting Ms. Karlene's Christmas present

Puddle Jumping

Singing in her Preschools' Christmas Musical and Nativity.

Which Creeps You Out More?

I have lived in the South for the last six years. There are a few things that are true about the South. First, the Confederate Flag does still fly. Second, if it came down to chocolate or crisco-crisco would win hands down. Thirdly, roaches and spiders are a part of life.

In our last place of residence the roaches were the big winners. In fact I still feel like passing out when I remember the time I woke up 7 1/2 months pregnant with a huge cockroach inside my ear. No amount of cleanliness can save you from those dirty little devils. I hate them-I know they have a purpose here on Earth-but I swear the purpose it to make me a little insane.

When we moved I was so excited to escape from the creepy little suckers. In our new place it is spiders. No big deal right? I was more than happy to trade one for the other-until tonight. I opened up the (VERY CLEAN) cupboard under my sink to see the biggest spider I have ever seen outside of a zoo. We are talking huge and creepy and ....you get the picture. Luckily, Dan was home and he could tell by my white face and the way I was slowly walking backwards brandishing a knife that something was wrong. The body of the nasty thing was the size of a golf ball-now add some legs and it was a mutant monster.

So, I ask all of you out there in blogland- which creeps you out more? YUCK!

P.S. I think I am feeling a little biased right now and will make a final decision at a later date.

Spiritual Conversation

I needed to record this cute conversation that Maddie and I had during scripture study tonight.

M- Momma is Heavenly Father like a person ( she is confused about him being our Father when she already has one)?

Me- Yes, He is a person and He is the Father of our Spirits.

(Maddie gives me blank look)

Me- We have our bodies on the outside and inside of us is our spirit.......

M-(Gives me a look like boy aren't you stupid) Momma, we have bones in our bodies and their is a skeleton inside us too.

Me- Your right there is a skeleton of bones inside us.

At this point she folds her arms and begins to pray. Small steps....

Trick or Treating!

It was so fun to get to attend our old ward's trunk or treat. It was great to see so many people that we love and have missed.

They are ready to go get some candy!

Cute Cook Cowboys

Lumpy and her peanuts

The Fab Four

My BFF's-I miss you ladies so much I can hardly stand it!

Goofing off

The munchkins all spent out after trick or treating .

The Halloween Party

I love Halloween! It is without a doubt one of my favorite holidays. In Houston we always had so many parties and events that the week was crazy, exciting , and fun! My favorite event was the Halloween party that my friend Susannah and I put on every year. The thought of missing it this year was tragic. So, when an opportunity to go to Houston with Dan while he finished some stuff up at Rice University came up we planned it for the week of Halloween.

Summer the (good) witch

Madsion as Lumpy

Princess Rebekah

Kate and Sawyer as Snow White and Dopey

Leia trying to escape from the clutches of Darth Vader

Brookie and Isaac

Ring around the Mummies

Craft Time

It was fantastic and I am so glad that I got to be there!

Heffridge Trumpler Bumpridge the III (Lumpy)

After much pleading I gave in and made Maddie the costume she wanted for Halloween. I would just like to say that this was the most insane piece of sewing madness that I have ever undertaken. However, it was so worth it when I saw her face light up when she got to put it on!

Preschool Pumpkin Patch

Madison goes to a wonderful preschool. I am constantly impressed with her sweet teacher and the fun activities that they get to do. The preschool put together a pumpkin patch right on the school grounds. We got to come and pick a free pumpkin with her and the rest of her class.

Her favorite pumpkin.

Maddie and Callie

Her preschool class

Their pumpkin picks!

My sweet little pumpkin!

Happy 30th Birthday!

The trip we took was what Dan wanted for his 30th birthday. However, I couldn't let the actual day pass without some fanfare.

He opened his package to find the best present in the world-The Hannah Montana Movie. There has to be some kind of gag gift for the big 30. After assurances that we would be returning the "movie" his smile found a way back to the table.

He loved the peanut M & M's and the Wii points, with which he promptly bought Zelda 3.

My favorite part was watching them read the cards Maddie and I had made. Madison was really proud of the birthday picture she had drawn and she even wrote out the words Happy Birthday.

Love you a million zillion babe!

Days 6-7 Genealogy Scramble

I will forewarn you that this post is more for family and journaling purposes. Since we were going to be in the area where my maternal grandparents were born and raised, we thought it would be fun to do a little exploring of cemeteries. I know it sounds boring, but we did have quite a few crazy moments (and I am serious about the crazy part) in our Family History Adventure.

This is the house where my great great Grandmother Margaret May Mitch lived (Columbus, Ohio). This is also the house where my Grandpa and Grandma Fish first came to live after they got married. It is part of a historical district where all the houses have been kept up in the styles of the time. They still have the cobblestone streets and charm of the early 1920's.

My great grandfather Joseph Pierce

My great great great grandfather Henry Stith

My great great grandmother Margaret May Mitch

This was an unexpected find. Edward Thurman Pierce is my great great grandfather's (Pierce) cousin.

Middleport Ohio Cemetery

This place was one crazy adventure. First of all just to get here we had to try to find a series of unmarked roads and 4 X4 in our Honda. It was in the middle of the wilderness on a road that really could not be called a road-just a series of huge ruts and holes in some dirt and mud uphill. We were a little nervous to say the least.
This is the hill we hiked to get to the cemetery. It is bigger and steeper than it looks here -trust me! We get to the top and the cemetery is completely overgrown. We are talking weeds the size of trees, brambles(I can know personally attest to the difficulty and pain of thick thorny brambles), thorns, briars, snakes, mosquitos. I would have given any amount of money for a machete. We made our way through the craziness without finding anything. We were a little disappointed considering we had spent over an hour trying to make our way through the forest of scariness. Dan has Maddie on his shoulders for most of the time and he noticed something at the back of the cemetery in the distance. The cemetery didn't end where we thought it would. The first forest was just a teaser and back in the darkness there were more headstones. I was already pretty banged up, stung by a bee, blood running down my legs from various cuts, (yes I was wearing a skirt and sandals) and had run from a slithering snake-what else could possibly happen? We set off and I searched with no results until I heard Dan yell from the deepest, dankest part of the forest that he had found the headstones.
He had seen the Summerfield family plot. It was at this point that Dan put Maddie down and swishing her "sword" (a feather) she looked around and yelled, "I need a real prince to save me." She was done with crazy parents dragging her around crazy places and had realized that Daddy was not a real prince after all. Surely, Prince Charming would save her as he had saved Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.

We pulled and tugged out a lot of the overgrowth and found six different headstones.

My great great aunt Ruth G Summerfield (great grandma Shirley's sister)

My great great aunt Maymie Barker Summerfield (great grandma Shirley's sister)

There was also two headstones that simply said mother and father within the Summerfield plot next to the ladies. We think than that those are the headstones for my great great grandparents Lewis Henry Summerfield and Cynthia Jane Collins.

It was an amazing adventure that morning and it made me feel so very close to my ancestors. I loved getting to know more about their lives and the places where they lived and died.

The last place that we went to visit was Dunlap Chapel in the wilds of West Virginia. It was another crazy trek through twisty mountain passes, gravel and dirt roads, unnamed roads, and back country. This time however we encountered a very small and well kept cemetery. It only had about 30 headstones and half of them belonged to my Fish family ancestors.

This is the headstone of William and Mary Fish. They are my great great great grandparents.

This is Thomas D. Fish, who is the brother of Clarence Fish my great grandfather. He died before reaching his first birthday and he was great great Uncle John's twin.

This is Mabel Fish. She was born second right after my great grandfather Clarence and also lived less than a year before she died.

We think this was an older relative as well but don't have any real documentation yet.

This is John Clemard Fish. He is My great great grandfather and was married to Addie Henson. I am very grateful to my wonderful husband who inspired this trip and did all the work and research. I thought he was a little crazy for putting all this effort in for my family line but as usual he was right. I still get emotional when I think of the knowledge and connections I now feel for these people that I could have cared less about before. I feel blessed to know more about their lives and to have had this wonderful adventure.