Christmas

We had a very nice Christmas! It was a beautiful day outside, so we were able to play with everything and enjoy time with our neighbors. We spent Christmas Eve with Liz & Ernie at their house (next door). Then Christmas day was mostly spent outside visiting our few neighbors...oh, and the men and boys had a field goal kicking contest...I'm sure a few of the men felt it the next day!

The boys were a little overwhelmed with all the gifts...we are used to having Christmas spread out over about a week with our friends and families. Presents from Santa, us, four grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends and neighbors all at once is something to see. Thank you to all off you for the wonderful gifts and well wishes!

Predators Hockey

The boys enjoyed a night out at a Predators hockey game. Craig and Cindy and their family were at our house for the night, so I sent Craig to the game with the boys. Now, just because I have more pictures of Caden on this blog than I do of Kyler, does not mean I love Kyler any less. It means that Caden is a big ham, and jumps in front of any camera he sees. That being said, enjoy this picture of Caden (which I'm sure he made someone take of him). Had I been there, there would have been pictures of everyone except me...I am the only one who takes pictures in this family, so, I am never seen!

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a safe and happy new year!

More Visitors!

Our very good friend Jason (aka...Money) and his girlfriend January came to visit on Thanksgiving weekend. We had a great visit! Money spoiled the kids, as usual, and also received a new, more respectful, nickname from my kids...Mr. Money! Thanks for the fun Wii games and for a wonderful visit, Money! And, by the way, we LOVE January!

Snow Day!!!

We were told by our lovely meteorologists that we would have a possibility of a rain/snow mix for just a short time...As you can see, they were wrong! It started at 4:00pm yesterday and ended at around 7:30pm. This beautiful snow caused many traffic problems...it took Terry

2 1/2 hours to drive home from work ( about a 10 mile trip).

We did have a wonderful "snow day" that our whole neighborhood (of 5 families) enjoyed!

Our Latest Neighborhood Pets

Just wanted to show you are new friends!

Caden's Critter

Caden had a visit from a tick last night. We can't figure out how he got a tick on his neck in 30 degree weather! We could not get it out, so our neighbor, Chris, who is a nurse came and took it out for him! It had to happen eventually!

Grinch ICE

The boys and I went to experience something very cool today...Grinch Ice! It is part of Opryland's A Country Christmas. We went with our friend Kim and her kids Sarah and Sam. It is the story of the Grinch completely made out of ice. Freezing!!!! They keep the temp between 6 and 9 degrees! Expensive, short, but very cool! (no pun intended) There is also an ice slide to go down. The boys really enjoyed it!

Caden's Turkey Tale

Caden had to write a Thanksgiving story from a turkey's point of view for school. This is what he came up with...


A Perfect Way to Celebrate Thanksgiving
By Caden Shakeshaft

Hello, my name is Camouflage Gobble. Today I am setting up for Thanksgiving. I have to go hunt for our dinner, set up rocks to make tables, decorate, and get ready for our favorite Thanksgiving game.

Our dinner is roasted cow, grass seed, and creek water. We sit at the rock tables and eat. We talk about how we hunted for the cows. I am the best hunter, because I am camouflage. The cows can’t see me.

For decorations I carve pictures of pilgrims, Indians, and teepees on rocks with my beak. I take colorful leaves from the trees and make beautiful pictures with them.

Out favorite Thanksgiving game is called “Run From the Hunters.” We have to run from real hunters that are trying to make us their dinner. We run until dark, then we stop and tell each other how thankful we are that we did not get caught. Then we eat leftover jack-o-lanterns from the dump for dessert.

Happy Halloween!

We went trick or treating with our neighbors (Ernie and Liz) in their old neighborhood. They have a neighborhood weenie roast every year. We had a blast. Their neighborhood is known as the Desperate Housewives neighborhood because a few years ago a lady and her husband were having marital problems so they went on vacation to try to work things out. The husband ended up coming home while the wife stayed a few more days. In this time she met a man and he came home with her. She hid him in her closet, where he slept. They were plotting to kill the husband. Well, the husband found the man because he heard him snoring in his wife's closet one day. I don't know exactly what happened other than he did kill the husband, ran to a nearby house under construction, a neighbor saw him going into this house, unaware that he had just committed a murder, called the cops to let them know there was a trespasser, the cops arrested him found out about the plot, arrested the wife, and now the house is occupied by a cop who got a really good deal on the house. WOW! I must say, one arson in our neighborhood doesn't sound like much now!

Creepy!

Here is another critter we caught...or should I say I caught CRAWLING ON MY NECK!!! I was sitting in bed watching tv and felt my hair tickling my neck so I flicked it back and this thing flew off onto my leg. It is a centipede and yes they are venomous!!! I screamed and all three cowardly boys in my house came running and told me to catch it and throw it outside. Once they saw it was a centipede Kyler said ,"they're poisonous" and little freaked out Susan was left to catch it. At least my kids asked if it bit me, Terry just said, "oh you're fine...get rid of it", as he walked (I'd say ran, but he'd deny it) out of the room. We think it came in with Caden's "forest bag" that he had outside for a few days. This bag has everything from hand shovels, to paintbrushes, to rope and Ziploc bags. And for any of you who know Caden...lots of bandaids! And he's not even a boyscout! Anyway, he had brought the bag into my room to get something out of it, and I'm sure this thing crawled out of it.

The Smoky Mountains

We took a little trip to the Smokies this past weekend for Fall Break! The boys were out of school and Darryl and Anita came for a visit, so we rented a cabin for 3 nights just outside of Gatlinburg. We were just in time to see the leaves changing...along with the other 20 million or so people! We found out that this weekend is the busiest weekend of the year in this particular area. It was extremely crowded, but worth all the traffic.

We hiked about 4 miles one day into the woods along a creek, and then went for a drive to an area called Cade's Cove. We saw around 65 deer, maybe 10 fish, some crawdads, and about 50 stupid people who jumped out of their cars to chase the two bears that we DID NOT get to see. Caden was threatening to call 911 on all of them if they did it again!

The next day, we drove to the top of a mountain on the North Carolina side of the park, where we froze our little behinds off. But, if you could stand the cold (which Anita, Terry and myself could not) the view was spectacular.

Oh, yes! And, we saw many ladybugs...red, orange, yellow, dead. A few years ago the forest service brought thousands of ladybugs into the Smokies to help control an insect that was killing all of the pines. Well, the ladybugs were not aware that they were supposed to stay within the boundaries of the park, so they have worked their way into the surrounding woods, AND cabins. There were dead and alive ladybugs in every room of the cabin. There were also signs in the cabin saying that they are a harmless creature just wanting to come in for warmth and shelter and the best thing to do is use the broom and vacuum on them. Well, they were harmless, but you definitely watched your step!

Our visit with Darryl and Anita was very nice, but also very short. One week is just not long enough. The boys tried their best to tire poor Grandpa by dragging him to the creek, walking up steep hills, running on the hiking trails, playing pool, and just talking his ear off. Anita and I were able to get creative in a "not so well" stocked kitchen in the woods. And, Terry held down the couch while nursing a sore throat and cold.

Yesterday we went to The Hermitage, which is the home of Andrew Jackson. It was a great tour of the house and grounds.

So, today Darryl and Anita left, the boys went back to school, Terry went back to work, and I thought about cleaning and doing laundry, but never really got to it. Maybe tomorrow!

The Leaves Are Changing!

I know this might not look like much, but all of the ivy growing up the trees has turned a crimson red. It is so beautiful. I'm sure it is just the beginning of a very colorful Fall!

So, Nashville has been quite the hot spot lately...Saturday, ESPN Gameday was broadcast from Vanderbilt University, and tonight we have the Presidential Debate from Belmont University. Also, on this past Saturday, Cricket (Terry's company) sponsored a viewing of the original Declaration of Independence at a museum here in Nashville. It is part of a traveling exhibit. And, we opted to stay home for all of these things...not so sure they would let OUR kids past security for any of them!

For those of you who have met our neighbors (Ernie, Elizabeth and Lauren) and keep asking...no, Ernie has not heard back from Jeopardy yet. They told him it could be months before he does hear anything. But, there is so much useless knowledge in that man's head, how could they not invite him? (Ernie, I mean that in a good way!) Plus, once he told them about his mustard collection...need I say more?! He's exactly what they are looking for. His family is exactly what we were hoping for in neighbors, also. We couldn't be happier with them.

I almost forgot, Kyler has a new pet...an African Dwarf Frog. It's about 1 1/2 inches long and just swims around the tank. It was a science project from school that we adopted. I'm taking bets on how long it will live...any takers?

I'm Still Not Used To Boy Things!

Here is what has happened in the last week...
The boys have been working hard on remodeling their bunker into a hideout/underground house. They only cut down about 5 trees to cover the top! But they did a really good job. In their spare time, they have been jr. archaeologists, as you can see by the pictures of the bones. The picture only shows a few of the bones, but believe me, they have EVERY bone from this animal's body...ribs, teeth, spine, claws, etc... We think it is the wild cat that has (or had) been living in the woods. So sad and so disgusting at the same time!

The last picture illustrates why I'm concerned about my children joining the armed forces. Here is my thought when I look at this picture..."Kyler, do you want me to light a match so you can see better?"

Hey Charlene, notice the hat Caden is wearing? It's Kelly's Army hat that he gave to him. He thought it would be appropriate to wear it to the battleground we were visiting.

Caden is very excited about the new neighbors we have moving in in December. He is a retired Army Captain from Ft. Campbell. He was a helecopter pilot. I'm excited about them moving in too, because I will finally have someone else home during the day in our neighborhood. The construction workers might be glad, too. They are probably tired of me watching them lay bricks and hang doors. But, I am so amazed at the way they toss bricks to each other without looking...and no one gets hurt! Is it wrong that I would like to, just once, see one of them get nailed with a brick?

So, not much more going on. Terry and I are just a boring married couple, so nothing to say about us!

Save the Crayfish!

When we first got here the boys would go to the creek across the street and come home with tadpoles and crawfish. They would put them in their little tank at home, and we would check on them later that day to find none of them would ever survive. Well, I just read an article yesterday about the "endangered crayfish of Mill Creek." Yes, Mill Creek would be our creek!

Now, in the boys defense, we were never told there was anything endangered within reach! And, who would ever think that a crawfish/crayfish would ever be on the endangered list!?

Luckily for us, and the crayfish, mating season is about to begin for these poor little creatures, and we are ready to play love songs, light candles, or anything to help them get more of these little creatures in our creek. The mating season runs from Oct.-May...wow they have some energy! I am hopeful that we at least took equal amounts of male and female crayfish, as to not leave someone without a mate! I'll keep you informed!

If you have time and are interested...
here is the article I was reading...this construction is on our road...
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080820/COUNTY0903/808200349/1181

here is an article about the Mill Creek crayfish...
http://www.fws.gov/cookeville/docs/endspec/ncfishsa.html

The Hideout!

When Terry was looking for a house over here he made sure there was a safe room (tornado room) so we would have shelter in the event of a severe storm. One thing he overlooked at this house was a bunker! You never know when the next Civil War might happen in this area again. Thanks to Kyler and Caden, we are prepared! They built this in our neighbors yard...which was very smart on their part...the sneak attack will never reach our house this way...the boys will stop the enemy in their tracks! The only problem, the neighbors dog hasn't quite learned to duck down and hide...he tends to give away the hiding place.

Fake 1st day of school pictures

So, I forgot to take pictures on the first day of school, at their new school, in their new state! So, I took them one month into the school year! They were not into it like they would have been on the first day, so the pictures are not the greatest. But, here they are anyway...

Hey everyone! We really haven't had much going on. The boys are in their 5th week of school and they really like it. Caden started speech classes today. Kyler gets to bring his recorder home Thursday...I can't wait to hear "Hot Cross Buns" fifty times a day! Terry has been a "hurricane chaser" lately...if any of these hurricanes hits one of his coastal markets, he'll have to scramble to get things up and running again. As for me, I am still trying to get the house put together.

We haven't had any new creatures or any more visitors. We closed the critter hotel...we are now using the "catch and release" method. Don't worry if you are planning a visit, we are still allowing human visits...but we may require you to sign a waiver if you plan on going up the stairs. Three broken bones in one month is too many...keep in mind two of the broken bones were on one person! Hope you are doing well mom and Aunt Betty!

Here you go Kevin!

Hey, Kevin! Sorry, but I didn't have a picture of you from your visit. This is the best one I could find...hope it makes up for it! We love you!

The Shakeshaft Inn

Here are some of the creatures the boys have caught. We were letting them keep some of the lizards and frogs until we found about 5 dead lizards at the bottom of the cage. That is when we started the Shakeshaft Inn (not to be confused with the Shakshaft Cemetery that we have now started). Visitors are allowed to stay for one night only. The snake was only around long enough to take pictures...too creepy!

Visitors

We have had so many visitors since we've been here. We moved in on June 15th, and I think we have have someone here just about every week! Here is the list so far: my dad, Terry's brother Kevin, Uncle Banks and Aunt Betty, my mom and Roger, Linda and Malea, Cindy, Craig and Seth, Randy, Paula and Karly. I think I mentioned everyone!

We can't wait to have more of you come and visit. I will write more later this week! Bye!