Applebee's Addiction

If you remember, Nathan used to have a strong liking for Chili's. He's since gotten over that and has replaced Chili's with Applebee's. In Rapid City I wouldn't ever take him to Applebee's because it was the worst restaurant on the planet, which I used to tell him. Anyways, we have an Applebee's close to our house here and Nathan has been telling me that this Applebee's is a good one and that I'll like it. One night I gave in and decided to take him and Kathryn to Applebee's to give Steve a break from us, so that he could get some reading done for school. Nathan was so excited and that was all he could think about. So naturally, I had to up my enthusiasm for Applebee's, as well. The three of us went one evening (When I say evening I actually mean 4 p.m. That is considered evening in my world now.) and ever since then, Nathan has been wanting to go back to Applebee's. It works out nicely though. I use Applebee's as a reward and bargaining tool. We let Daddy in on the excitement a couple of days ago. As you can see, though, Nathan refuses to sit with Steve and Steve refuses to sit with Kathryn. Lucky me.
Kathryn enjoys saltines and water while we wait for our food to arrive.

The first time we went to Applebee's here, Nathan was dead set on ordering some apples. Unfortunately, they don't offer apples and they don't have any apples in the kitchen to slice up in place of fries. Bunch of lazy liars. I cut him up an apple to satisfy his craving after we got home. Anyways, now Nathan makes it a point to tell me that Applebee's doesn't have any apples, they just have an apple on the sign.

Applebee's Addiction

If you remember, Nathan used to have a strong liking for Chili's. He's since gotten over that and has replaced Chili's with Applebee's. In Rapid City I wouldn't ever take him to Applebee's because it was the worst restaurant on the planet, which I used to tell him. Anyways, we have an Applebee's close to our house here and Nathan has been telling me that this Applebee's is a good one and that I'll like it. One night I gave in and decided to take him and Kathryn to Applebee's to give Steve a break from us, so that he could get some reading done for school. Nathan was so excited and that was all he could think about. So naturally, I had to up my enthusiasm for Applebee's, as well. The three of us went one evening (When I say evening I actually mean 4 p.m. That is considered evening in my world now.) and ever since then, Nathan has been wanting to go back to Applebee's. It works out nicely though. I use Applebee's as a reward and bargaining tool. We let Daddy in on the excitement a couple of days ago. As you can see, though, Nathan refuses to sit with Steve and Steve refuses to sit with Kathryn. Lucky me.
Kathryn enjoys saltines and water while we wait for our food to arrive.

The first time we went to Applebee's here, Nathan was dead set on ordering some apples. Unfortunately, they don't offer apples and they don't have any apples in the kitchen to slice up in place of fries. Bunch of lazy liars. I cut him up an apple to satisfy his craving after we got home. Anyways, now Nathan makes it a point to tell me that Applebee's doesn't have any apples, they just have an apple on the sign.

Raising the Bar

It seems like the fun and excitement never ends around here. Every Sunday we get together with friends for an extensive food bar that has become all the rage. We just spend the day hanging out and stuffing our faces off and on for hours. I wonder how much weight I'm going to gain by the time we move away. Last week Joe spent the night with us after Kathryn's party just so that he could be around to take part in the bar the next day.
He just so happened to be passing through our little town on his way home from Memphis this afternoon. He stopped in to enjoy the baked potato bar. He and Kathryn are stuffing their faces.
Paw-Paw and Lady finally got a chance to try out our food bar.

This is the reason Joe found himself in my neck of the woods. He picked up his Mustang this morning in Memphis so he passed through Montgomery on his way back to Pensacola.

Then he locked his keys in the car as he was showing off his new ride. Luckily Steve has tools and gadgets in every shape and size so they got it open after a family effort. And when I say family effort I mean Paw-Paw and Lady and Steve working on it as Joe stands there fuming and as I take pictures.

Lady brought Nathan Uncle Joe's old thermos from when he was a little kid. That was quite possibly the greatest gift anyone could have given him.... (until Christmas, they've got a good one in store). He's looking forward to taking it to school for lunch. Uncle Joe saw an opportunity to pick on Nathan with the thermos. Uncle Joe was telling him he wanted the thermos back, so Nathan opened the back door and took off running across the backyard. He was full of panic and yelling, "No! It's not yours. Lady gave it to me!"

Raising the Bar

It seems like the fun and excitement never ends around here. Every Sunday we get together with friends for an extensive food bar that has become all the rage. We just spend the day hanging out and stuffing our faces off and on for hours. I wonder how much weight I'm going to gain by the time we move away. Last week Joe spent the night with us after Kathryn's party just so that he could be around to take part in the bar the next day.
He just so happened to be passing through our little town on his way home from Memphis this afternoon. He stopped in to enjoy the baked potato bar. He and Kathryn are stuffing their faces.
Paw-Paw and Lady finally got a chance to try out our food bar.

This is the reason Joe found himself in my neck of the woods. He picked up his Mustang this morning in Memphis so he passed through Montgomery on his way back to Pensacola.

Then he locked his keys in the car as he was showing off his new ride. Luckily Steve has tools and gadgets in every shape and size so they got it open after a family effort. And when I say family effort I mean Paw-Paw and Lady and Steve working on it as Joe stands there fuming and as I take pictures.

Lady brought Nathan Uncle Joe's old thermos from when he was a little kid. That was quite possibly the greatest gift anyone could have given him.... (until Christmas, they've got a good one in store). He's looking forward to taking it to school for lunch. Uncle Joe saw an opportunity to pick on Nathan with the thermos. Uncle Joe was telling him he wanted the thermos back, so Nathan opened the back door and took off running across the backyard. He was full of panic and yelling, "No! It's not yours. Lady gave it to me!"

Christmas Cheer

I cashed in on the extra help on hand and took Nathan and Kathryn to get Christmas pictures made. Taking both kids to get pictures taken is probably one of the most difficult tasks in my life. We can never seem to get both kids cooperating at the same time. Kathryn keeps crawling off and Nathan keeps making ridiculous faces at the camera. He'll be looking normal then right before the flash goes off he winks or makes a mean face. So when you get your card in the mail, just know that the creation of the card was no walk in the park!
A post isn't complete without a picture of Nathan making this face.
Proud papa with his little beauty queen.
The morning before she got all fancy for her Christmas portraits.
Little diva. And Kathryn too. Just kidding.
One word. Handsome.
All dressed up in a suit and he still doesn't slow down.
Paw-Paw is teaching Nathan some computer skills. Nathan is learning how to navigate through YouTube videos.

Christmas Cheer

I cashed in on the extra help on hand and took Nathan and Kathryn to get Christmas pictures made. Taking both kids to get pictures taken is probably one of the most difficult tasks in my life. We can never seem to get both kids cooperating at the same time. Kathryn keeps crawling off and Nathan keeps making ridiculous faces at the camera. He'll be looking normal then right before the flash goes off he winks or makes a mean face. So when you get your card in the mail, just know that the creation of the card was no walk in the park!
A post isn't complete without a picture of Nathan making this face.
Proud papa with his little beauty queen.
The morning before she got all fancy for her Christmas portraits.
Little diva. And Kathryn too. Just kidding.
One word. Handsome.
All dressed up in a suit and he still doesn't slow down.
Paw-Paw is teaching Nathan some computer skills. Nathan is learning how to navigate through YouTube videos.

November to Remember

We celebrated Kathryn's birthday then we turned around and got to celebrate Thanksgiving a few days later. We invited Paw-Paw and Lady and Mace to our house for Thanksgiving. Nathan was thrilled Thanksgiving morning when he realized that Paw-Paw and Lady were going to be at his house that day. Each morning of the week leading up to Thanksgiving he asked, "Is it Thanksgiving yet?" because he knew Paw-Paw and Lady would be at his house that day.

They left early Thanksgiving morning to get to our house, but along the way they stopped and had breakfast at Waffle House. While there, they got hats for Nathan and Kathryn.

Kathryn wasn't as impressed with hers and Nathan was with his.
My little Thanksgiving turkey.
Kathryn went out for a Thanksgiving Day motorcycle ride.

This is what I call perfect Thanksgiving weather.

Paw-Paw and Lady burned every calorie they ate and more hanging out with my wild children.

Mace liked it too.
Then we ate our big Thanksgiving meal and looked at states.
As much as this little girl likes to eat, Thanksgiving is just her style.

Kathryn stuffed her face with turkey and green bean casserole. Or as Nathan calls it, "green bean castle."

Nathan finished eating before Kathryn, so he went around to her side so he could pick on her while she finished eating.
Kathryn stands at the door and yells if she sees anyone outside playing.
Then Nathan had to rub it in that he was outside and she wasn't.

We debated over whether or not to eat outside on the patio, but decided against it because it was too warm.

Kathryn yelled enough that she got her way and got to play outside.
We took a walk to burn those extra Thanksgiving calories. Nathan is a big boy now so he held Mace's leash.

The next day, Paw-Paw and Lady took Nathan to his first movie at a theater. The only thing showing for him was Tangled. Nathan loved the experience and looks forward to going to more movies in the future.The best part of the movie was the giant tub of popcorn and Coke.

Steve asked Nathan if he thanked Paw-Paw and Lady for taking him to the movie, but Nathan said he didn't need to because Paw-Paw and Lady are already proud of him.

Thanks Paw-Paw and Lady for making Thanksgiving so much fun for us all...including our friends you also babysit for while we go out!

One more thing. Nathan got in the festive Thanksgiving spirit with his Indian headdress he made at school.And this picture is for Uncle Joe.