Gobble, Gobble...

This poor blog. I have meant to get updates out here for weeks, and I'm now averaging one a month. Someday when time isn't consumed by so many other things that keep Amy & I so busy, we'll do a better job at documenting what's going on with us. Plus, so many people are on Facebook now -- including Amy but excluding me -- that longer posts on blogs are going the way of the typewriter.

Personally, I'm happy being a blog dinosaur. I refuse to go on Facebook so I don't have to turn away some friend request from a person I barely knew in high school or so I don't have to know that my neighbor's status is "looking forward to the weekend!!!!!" Of course, I was a cellphone holdout too for a long time, and now I can't live without it. So it's just a matter of time before I'm eating my words.

On to the post.....

Amy & I took the kids back to Kentucky for Thanksgiving as we had not been to Glasgow in almost a year and a half. The ride there -- despite the detour around the rock slide on I-40 -- was a piece of cake. The kids were great travelers, and we made it from North Carolina to Virginia to Tennessee to Kentucky in two stops. The drive back on the Sunday after turkey day was longer, but that's not surprising given that it's the busiest travel day of the year.

We got to spend quality time with GJ and Pappy and spend Thanksgiving day with my 95-year old grandmother, now "GG" (Great-Grandmother) to the kids. Billy & Elaine came over to spend Friday and Saturday with us which was a nice treat. And C.E. and I drove up to Lexington on Saturday to watch Tennessee rip the heart out of Kentucky in football yet again for what is now a 25-year tradition useless futility. But we had fun tailgating in the process!

Tremendous visit. Tremendous turkey. Tremendous company.

Cheers!

This is what passes at a posed picture at our house these days. Tess has quite the role models to look up to.

Owen got his revenge by getting the wishbone after losing out on it when we cooked a chicken the week before.

The boys marveled at the hot tub as they swam around with Pappy in the cold night air.

Some things change, and thankfully some things stay the same.


A trip to Glasgow wouldn't be complete without a trip to see the horses at cousin Spencer's farm. Our attempt to get a quality family photo against the rolling hill backdrop of rural Barren County ended up with more faces like the ones shown above. So our Christmas card picture will likely be Amy & I holding the boys down forcing a smile while Tess looks on in horror.

There's always time for snuggling when grandchildren are around.


"See here Owen, this is the great state of Tennessee. Your dad is going to make that foolish trek to sit in the cold for 3 hours to see if Kentucky can beat them. But it's not going to make a difference. Be smart kid."

Another highlight for Owen, Gus & Tess was the chiminea. (Bonus points for Owen as it involves fire.) Throw in their four grandparents and there are some happy grandchildren.



Finally, Owen is absolutely obsessed with people smoking. When we stop at a gas station he will loudly proclaim, "Look! Dad! Someone's smoking!!" regardless of the proximity of my child to the offender. If there are cigarette butts on the ground, he is the first to call attention to it and to the evils of smoking.

So while in Kentucky I went over to talk to a neighbor that I had known in high school. Travis happened to be smoking a cigarette while we were catching up. When the conversation was over, you would have thought I was talking to an axe murderer according to my son. Owen could not understand how Dad could be talking to anyone that smoked.

So all the adults tried endlessly to explain to Owen that while smoking is a bad habit that the people themselves who smoked were not necessarily bad people. It's an easy distinction for us as adults, but not to a four year-old.

Nevertheless, when the boys helped decorate their grandparents' house for Christmas on Saturday, GJ had some 'splainin' to do. (Note Santa's mouth)

Gobble Gobble

Amy borrowed an idea from our friend and fellow blogger Amanda Moore, co-author with husband Jason of the wonderfully witty Vance/Moore family blog, for a turkey made out of cantaloupe, pear, cheese & grapes for a Thanksgiving treat. We crafted this with the boys so they could take it to their preschool class on Monday, where it was a tremendous hit with the kids, teachers and parents.

Owen & Gus beamed as they showed off their creation to their cohorts. Later that night at home, the boys talked about how they were thankful for Mom, Dad, their friends and teachers at school, and their pajamas.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving -- from our turkey range to yours.

Cheers!

Leftovers

Thanksgiving weekend was a great one at our house. On Thursday we were treated to a feast of home cooking from Nana. The house was filled with smells of food all day long. Owen ate pretty well as he took a particular liking to the turkey, ham and sweet potato casserole, or "cake" as he called it. Gus decided he would be picky and didn't really eat much of the Thanksgiving meal. But that's the way it goes sometimes with two year-olds -- they eat what they want when they are hungry.

Aside from all the good eating, we were productive without overdoing ourselves for the rest of the weekend. Gus helped me put together the new dresser in the boys' room. He proudly assumed the job of handing me screws to put on the drawer handles and offered the occasional plastic tool for the task. Amy, Nana and I moved furniture around and set up a crib, transforming our junk room into a nursery for the baby girl's arrival in February.

There was also a plethora of football and basketball on the tube this weekend. Saturday was another bitter disappointing loss in the hearts of Kentucky fans as Tennessee outlasted the Cats in 4 OT's, 52-50. I was so disgusted at halftime that I uncharacteristically abandoned the game to go outside & blow leaves in the yard. Curiosity finally got the best of me as I returned to find Kentucky had closed a big halftime deficit to 3 points. I was then glued to the TV for the duration from that point. Kentucky fans want so badly to end the losing streak to the Vols, which now stands at 23 consecutive years. The Cats just missed so many opportunities to win the game, namely a 1st and goal from the 2 yard line at the end of regulation and having a very makeable field goal blocked in the second overtime.

After a loss like that, I guess the only thing you can do is reflect on the good that the team accomplished this year. Kentucky will go to back-to-back bowl games which means the team will get an extra month of practice in December, a must for a team that has to replace several key players that will graduate. Nope, even the thoughts of a bowl bid don't take the sting away. Plain and simple, that loss hurts. At least I got the leaves out of my yard.

This week the boys get back into their routine of school. Amy goes to the doctor to get checked out to make sure everything is progressing with the pregnancy. We are hoping to close out the final phase of our backyard with some plants & mulch so we can close the books on that project. And the thoughts turn to basketball now as Kentucky faces off against the mighty Tar Heels on Saturday.

Have a good week. Cheers!

Turkey Tidbits

Thanksgiving week is finally here. The holiday is one of my favorites because you get to spend it with family, eat until you are completely stuffed, watch football, nap, and eat some more. The Rutledge crew is excited for it, and we get to spend the holiday with Nana who is visiting us in North Carolina for a few weeks.

Some tidbits from our lives...

The boys are doing well after their bout with pneumonia. Owen still has a head cold, but that just comes with the territory this time of year. The boys' "big boy" beds arrived yesterday so I get to put those together over the next few days. (Over/Under on the number of days it takes me is currently at 11 days) :-) The arrival couldn't come at a better time because Gus now insists that he sleep in the floor rather than in his current bed. Rather than fight it Amy & I have just let it go knowing that he would be excited to sleep in his new bed once it got here.

Amy continues to hang in there with the pregnancy. She will be 28 weeks on Turkey Day. Her doctor keeps a close eye on her with an ultrasound every two weeks to make sure the contractions aren't changing anything for the bad. So far, so good. I am hoping that with Nana's cooking Amy can put on some more pounds like the doctor wants.

We are just about done with our backyard project. It has come quite a long way since we bought our house a year ago when you couldn't walk through the yard because of the thick brush & ticks everywhere. The boys love playing in the rocks, dirt and mulch for the time being. Amy & I were even able to have an adult conversation while we watched them from the house. Hopefully it was a harbinger of what it to come -- for the boys (and eventually a girl) a place in their own yard to play and be a kid; for the parents a little freedom and independence.

Finally on the sports front the big Kentucky/Tennessee game is this Saturday -- big if you're a Kentucky fan anyway and your school has lost 22 straight to the big orange from down below. I was going to drive up to Lexington to meet C.E. to watch the game. But given that CBS has picked the game up as its national telecast and I can save myself 20 hours of driving time, I decided to watch the game from my couch. Nevertheless, the TV will be tuned in to the game in the hopes that this will be the year for Big Blue.

Of course I say that every year.

Gobble, gobble.

Cheers!

Turkey Week Hangover

Random thoughts after a holiday week....

The Thanksgiving break was a good reprieve from work for me, and Amy & I got to spend quality time with the boys, all four of us. Of course we didn't take enough time to relax, spending the boys' naptime and bedtime painting, putting up blinds, fixing up the house etc. Alas the move-in continues and probably will for a while, but we are really starting to put our imprint on the house making it our home. Rome wasn't built in a day, right?

One of my favorite things about the holidays is how they break up the normal routine. And while routine is good and saves us as parents, it can also be a trap in that we don't break away from the same things often enough. Last week gave us a chance to do some of things out of the ordinary, regardless of how small they were -- all four of us going to the park on a random morning, playing with the boys and the dog outside in the middle of the day, etc. Taking a break from the day-in, day-out routine is a good thing sometimes.

On the sports front my beloved Wildcats came up short against their nemesis Tennessee on Saturday. It was one of those games where I thought Kentucky outplayed the Vols and had the game in hand with the ball inside the 10-yard line in the waning minutes. Yet an ill-timed penalty and the lack of ability to finish off a team once again doomed Kentucky. Winning is the only thing that changes that mentality -- the ability to know you are going to come out on top in these close games. Coach Rich Brooks made a lot of strides with this team this year, and hopefully he will build on that next year so they can win these games, especially against the Big Orange. Still I'm hopeful for a bowl bid to either Nashville or Memphis so I can see the Cats play for the first time in a couple years.

Folks in our neighborhood started decorating for Christmas this weekend. We have everything from nice, quaint lights & wreaths to Santa, reindeer, & snowmen elbowing each other for position on lawns -- the Clark Griswold-style lawns. Although our preference is more on the subtle decorating side sometimes walking through the neighborhood to see the "busier" houses is fun. The boys love reindeer after all -- Gus & Owen neigh in unison like horse swhen they see them. Amy & I may dive into some Christmas decorations this weekend -- we'll see.

Finally we are excited about visitors coming through the Tar Heel state in the coming weeks. GJ is coming this weekend to spend some time here with us and the boys -- hopefully this visit will be easier than the last time she & Pappy were here when we were moving. (We won't put you to work quite that hard this time Mom, I promise.) ;-) The boys will be anxious to show off their "dactors" and "tucks" -- they are both on a major tractor and truck kick right now as little boys are known to do. After that visit the Poseys and both sets of grandparents will be coming to town around Christmas. We'll have all the boxes out of the way by then.

Aunt Mel only has six more weeks to go before she & Roman get an addition to their household. Could be a holiday surprise....

It's getting to be Vince Guaraldi time -- cheers!

Gobble Gobble

Amy & I are preparing for our first Thanksgiving in our new abode with the boys this week. We got a small turkey yesterday and some fixins. We are going to teach the boys the joys of eating until you can't move and making an imprint in the couch while you sit and watch football. Ah, Thanksgiving -- I love it!

This year will will be a different Thanksgiving as we won't be spending it with any of our extended families. Billy and Elaine are going to Knoxville to watch the Tennessee/Kentucky game (watch out Billy -- this could be the year!) ;-) C.E. and Jane are trekking down to Charleston to spend the weekend with Aunt Mel and Uncle Dude. But Amy & I are really looking forward to a few days where we can relax and continue to get settled into our house (we still have painting to do and boxes to sort through). We'll make sure we eat enough for everyone else. Have a great Thanksgiving -- cheers!


Owen & Gus check out Dad's workshop where the wind chimes are at the perfect height.


"Scatter brother! Quick, before they make us help them rake all these leaves!"


"I would help rake leaves, honestly I would. But there are just so many things to ponder when you think of all the leaves that have fallen. I think I'd rather just sit and think of them."


"Here you go Dad, two handfuls of help from me."