Thanksgiving Fun

Thank goodness all our terrible house drama happened around Thanksgiving because it helped me refocus on the good and I got to avoid thinking about the bad.  It was hard one day though because one of the squirrels must have died several days ago and a terrible rotting smell filled our room for a few days.  Paul found it but couldn't reach it and the squirrel removal company we are working with couldn't come out until Monday.  It was pretty disgusting, but at least we are now 2 squirrels down and hopefully just a few more to go! 

Thankfully our guest room smelled fine.  We were so lucky to have my cousin Becca and her husband Ben join us for Thanksgiving this year.  We went out to their house last year and they made an even longer drive to be with us this year.  I started cooking on Wednesday and made: pecan squares, cheesecake, grape salad, and attempted a pumpkin pie but needed Becca's expertise to finish up the job (for some reason, even with her help my flour, oven, or who knows what, was not helping out our pie crust at all).  That night we made my grandma's amazing rolls as well. 

 Hayden had so much fun helping me measure, stir and cook (I can never get her to look at the camera)

This was our 1st Thanksgiving at our own home and thus our 1st ever turkey.  So that night we also started by applying the brine to our turkey.  I got a recipe out of The Food Network Magazine and it worked great.  I was so impressed with Paul and his ability to deal with the rawness of the turkey.

 Becca also got in on the action and tried to help Paul pull out the necessary things.  Even so, we found the giblets still inside the next day after cooking :(

Thanksgiving morning we made some quick breakfast burritos and then got cooking the rest of the food.  Our menu included: green bean casserole, carrot souffle, mashed potatoes, wild rice with almonds, stuffing and the turkey of course.  

This is a table cloth Paul brought back from his mission from Paraguay and the fist time we have used it.  Also I finally found a reason to pull out my china and stemware!

Paul had had enough of the turkey, so Ben cut the rest of the meat up for us after dinner.

That night we headed out for my 1st year of black Friday shopping.  I think I am hooked, I got way to many good deals.  Wish I had some pictures of the fun night out.  We shopped a bit more Friday morning and took it easy the rest of the day.  We played our favorite game with Ben and Becca, Speed Scrabble.  I am definitely the worste at this game but I still always have fun.  

Saturday we went out to the city and went to Little 5 points and the Olympic Park.  Hayden had some melt downs, but was in heaven once we got to the park.  Ben and Becca were kind enough to take pictures of Hayden while she played.  They are amazing photographers so I'll post some of our favorites sometime soon.  Hayden was pretty obsessed with Becca for most of their trip and loved petting Ben's arms for some reason.  She even called Ben Becca most of the time. 

After our fun times Saturday we picked my college roommate up at the airport.  Ben and Becca headed Sunday morning and Jenny Willis got to stay with us until late Monday night.  I had such an amazing time catching up with her.  The last time we saw each other was when I was pregnant!  For most of the time we simply talked.  But we did manage to go to an awsome spin class and she treated Hayden and I to lunch at Panera as well. 

I think for as long as I can remember we have done a close up picture each time we visit one another.  Jenny is the only person who will ever understand my Occidental College experiences and for that we are definitely bonded for life!

Squirrel Nests

Sorry, but this post will make some renters NEVER want to buy their own home.  But don't worry, I just have terrible luck, you will be fine!  When we first moved into our house, some mornings I could hear something running above me.  Our bed is really close to the roof, so I assumed it was the squirrels in our backyard running on the roof top.  Then in the summer I didn't really hear anything so I didn't give it much thought.  Then in the late summer our neighbor asked, "have you gotten the squirrel problem in your attic under control?"  I was kind of confused about that until this fall when I have been hearing all kinds of craziness in our attic.  We tried to handle it ourselves and Paul even shot one with a BB gun.  But to no avail I decided it was time to call in the professionals.  We did a lot of research and feel confident that we have a fair and honest company now.  But guess how much?  $1,625 and that is just to have them trapped and relocated and then have our house squirrel (or any other animal) proofed.  I guess the housing codes in Georgia are not very strict and you can have up to a 4 inch gap between your gutter and roof.  Ours is about an inch which is apparently plenty of room for squirrels to get in. 

The professional found 2 "nests" (how gross does that sound) and he believes that I most likely only heard things occasionally in the beginning of the year because it was just the mom, then she had 4-6 babies, and now the babies are big enough that I hear them running around like a normal toddler would.  The worst part is that they mess up all the insulation and that is the big cost.  To remove and blow in new insulation he said it is about $4,000 for the square footage in our attic.  He also said that this has been going on for way longer than we have lived here, thanks home inspector!  And of course this also is not covered by our insurance (wish we had Allstate, have you seen the raccoon one?) Not to mention that we haven't even fixed the foundation crack yet.  I was so depressed yesterday that I just slept all afternoon.  I guess I am suppose to learn that you don't need anything fun in life but the bare essentials.

Three positives:  1)  We found a good company (you should have heard the other quotes) who offer a 2 year warranty and if any animal gets in they cover the total cost.  We can also pay $95 and extend the warranty another 2 years. 2)  Usually the squirrels chew on the electrical wiring which is very costly to repair and can cause fires but our sweet squirrels spared us that misery and 3)  Apparently "roof rats" are a big problem in Georgia too, so thank goodness we don't have those!  They carry lots of diseases and their bodies can be 4-6 inches and their tails can be 6-10 inches.  The professional said they can climb up anything but glass because of their enormous claws.  They are also much more destructing.  Just writing that makes me shiver!  

So with all that said, we never would have bought this house with the foundational and squirrel problems.  We moved in thinking that all it needed was some new paint and carpet.  We looked over our home inspection and the professional we talked to said a good one is 20-40 pages or something like that and ours was 24 pages, so I just don't know how we were suppose to know whether he did a thorough inspection.

Ouch

Hayden has been saying this word a lot lately.  She is getting her 2 year molars in and is not doing it gracefully.  She has had a fever, diarrhea, and it seems like her whole mouth hurts.  On top of that, she was playing around Sunday night and slammed her mouth into the end table.  She cut the part of the mouth that connects the top lip to the gums and it bled forever.  We finally got it under control and then she woke up the next morning with more blood plastered to her face.  It kept bleeding every time she tried to eat or drink something Monday, but today it seems to have finally stopped.  I hope this girl isn't accident prone like her momma!

 This picture of Hayden sitting on the potty matching colors and shapes does not do her lip justice.  It was so swollen after the unfortunate accident occurred.  

The next morning.  She would not let me wipe the blood off!

Amicalola Falls

Saturday the Pratt Family had a great day spent outdoors.  We went with our friends to Mendenhalls to Amicalola Falls to do a little hike and enjoy a picnic outside.  It was a bit chilly, but once we started moving we all warmed right up.  Hayden is just like her Great Grandma Joye.  She REFUSES to wear jackets.  She'll humor me for a few minutes and then she is ripping it off because she says she is hot.  She was even rolling up her sleeves at one point which is when it hit me that she must have Grandma Joye genes!  The cold doesn't seem to affect her at all. 

Anyway, Hayden walked a bit, but spent most of her time on dad's shoulders.  She has really started becoming a Daddy's girl lately which I love!  It makes Paul feel great and I get a break :)

The last part of the hike was all up stairs.  Over 400 each way to be precise. My calves were hurting the next day just a bit!

 Our little family at the waterfall 

After we finished all the stairs

 Hayden loved finding little rocks to make into seats

 Boston

 Kimball, Porter, Boston & Hayden

After the hike we drove a bit longer to Ellijay, GA which is where all the apple orchards are.  We missed picking season this year, but that didn't stop us from enjoying apple fritters, apple donuts and apple cider.  It was delicious!

Play-Dohs

First off, Hayden's latest thing it to make EVERYTHING plural.  So Play-Doh is really "Play-Dohs."  She calls The Wizard of Oz "doggies" because of Toto, water is "waters."  It's pretty funny.  But anyway, she is completely obsessed with Play-Doh right now.  It started off in nursery because they let all the kids play with it at the beginning of nursery.  Then she got some when she went trick-or-treating and ever since then her whole day revolves around it!  She loves to sit in her booster seat with the tray on, watch one of her favorite shows and play with the Play-Doh.  The first thing she asks for in the morning is Play-Doh.  She wants it out all day long and thus dries them out rather quickly!

She likes making "snakies" "cookies" "witches" and "pretties" which are bracelets and rings.  She pretends to feed her baby dolls the cookies and I even saw her holding one of the "snakies" to her chest and saying, "shsh, it's ok, shsh" and patting the snake. 

 When she gets a new color she has a hard time mashing it.  She likes to keep it in the original shape!

 Notice the bracelet on one wrist and snake in the other hand

and we can't forget the ring! 

I bought her a big Play-Doh set for Christmas with scissors and letters you can press into the doh, so I hope she enjoys it that much by Christmas and I can hold off giving it to her!

Private Practice

I now have 6 clients which is a pretty good amount for me at this stage of my life.  So for each session I pay myself a percentage and put the rest in a business account to pay for business expenses.  It seems like there wouldn't be very many business expenses when all I am offering is therapy, but it really does add up.  I have my LLC fees, liability insurance, MFT license renewal and continuing education each year, office supplies, taxes, etc.  Well I finally saved enough money up to buy a couch.  It looks so much nicer than the futon that I was previously using.  Next is some cute pillows and someday a new bookshelf as this one is falling apart after 3 military moves!

 New couch

 Found this Pier 1 chair on Craigs List awhile back!

Little Stinker

Well Hayden's costume fit her perfectly this year, she was quite the "little stinker" on Halloween.  First off, Hayden had a big melt down at the grocery store and refused to sit in the cart or walk.  Usually food is a good enough bribe for her to sit, but it didn't work and we had to abandon the cart after the produce aisle.  Next she decides she is going to play during nap time.  So by Trick or Treating time she was exhausted!  It seems to be the pattern that she skips about one nap per week and then takes really great naps on subsequent afternoons because she is so tired by the afternoon.

We had planned on going to the pumpkin patch this year, but due to family pictures and 2 business trips for Paul that never happened.  So I picked up one of the last pumpkins at the grocery store, only to have Paul drop it and split open!  So our pumpkin carving was a bit lame this year.

Hayden loved scooping out the goo with her scooping tools and did not like getting her hands gooey.  She also inadvertently tapped the metal bowl with her tool and thereafter double tapped it after dumping each load!   She was so into it that she wouldn't even look up to take pictures!

Hayden whispered "Trick or Treat, thank you, and bye" at each house and was pretty excited to get candy.  We took her to a few houses in the neighborhood.

This is Hayden being a stinker again!  She had had it with her costume and wanted it OFF!

Hayden also got fun Halloween packages from both Grandma's this year.  Grandma Anne gave her a book that sang "The Monster Mash."  This is Hayden's new favorite book and song to sing along with.

Trunk or Treat & Chili Cook Off

This was Hayden's 3rd Halloween, how crazy is that.  While Pebbles was so cute, it was a bit too chilly to put her in that so she went as a skunk!  She REFUSED to put on her costume until she got to the church and saw all of her friends in their costumes.  Here are the pictures from the night:

 This was my candy bag as a child.  Paul says it's much to small, but it was perfect for Hayden.

 Hayden is so attached to all her friends.  From left to right:  Autumn, Hayden, Macey & Maddie

 Boston, Kimball, Maddie & Hayden

Handing out candy in the cutest candy bowl :)  I had been looking for one forever and found this one at TJ Maxx 2 years ago.