Thanksgiving Highlights

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."- Psalm 107:1

This was our year to be in Nashville for Thanksgiving, and we got into town late Tuesday night. Wednesday I went and visited some old friends where I used to work, All Fired Up. That night, my mom and dad took Randy and I to Blue Coast Burrito...yummy fish tacos!

Thursday I helped (well a little bit) cook. The Tuckers took two turkeys, two casseroles, two pies, and fruit salad! And that was about 1/5 or less of the total amount of food we had! Randy and I got sent home with a honey baked ham so I'm not complaining!

Jack and I ready to cook. Yes, that is a turkey apron!

The family (minus Jodi and Matthew) :(

Happy Thanksgiving! Hard to believe Randy and I got engaged almost exactly two years from this date! Always will be an extra special holiday for that reason.

My parents looking good in brown.

My cousins have taken this picture ever since the youngest was like 3 years old. Oh, memories!

The following day, Randy and I did BLACK FRIDAY shopping. We have now for every year that we have been engaged/married. After waking up at 4:10, I dropped Randy off at WalMart and drove myself to Target. After being successful and getting two lattes from Starbucks, I realized I didn't have my cell phone...and was about to enter only the single worst place to find someone...WalMart! As I walked in with two grande Starbucks cups, prepared to have Randy called on the intercom, he is the first face I see! Phew! We went on to Cool Springs and did a lot more shopping before getting grumpy and going home...luckily we had a nice warm breakfast waiting for us when we got there!

At 2 o'clock that day was a Hartman celebration. Luke had his 1st birthday party in Hendersonville! He actually turned 1 on Nov. 11th, but his party was when everyone could be together. He was as happy as could be and loooving the attention! Happy Birthday, Luke!

Luke at his birthday party!

Grayden at the birthday party with balloons tied to his right leg.

Luke eating his dairy-free cake with Grayden staring from afar.

Birthday boy in green--all over! His daddy got the memo and wore green, too!

Luke opening his gift from Uncle Randy and Aunt Lynsi--LEGOS! (What else could a boy possibly want?)

Aside from LEGOS, every boy needs a snazzy red car.

Hartman Sisters.

Hartman brothers...Danny, Robby, Randy

Us with our precious nephews...aren't they handsome?!

Grayden eating his 2nd cupcake...notice the green icing on his shirt from the 1st.

3 generations of Hartman right there.

That night we had a chili supper with the Tuckers and Wileys and then went to see The Blind Side as a family. Definitely enjoyed the movie, especially since it is based on a kid out of Memphis. Saturday was spent in Cookeville visiting all the grandparents, Mac and Lulu both being in the nursing home but had a great visit nonetheless. We brought a smile to my Lulu's face which makes the whole trip worth it! After picking up my Pa and checking out the renovations on his house, we went up the mountains to Rocky Point Tree Farm and picked out a Christmas tree. It is a sentimental tradition for me to be my daddy's little helper with the Christmas tree, so it made both of us very happy to saw down a tree together. We were also the SUV with the tree on top making everyone on the interstate get into the Christmas spirit!

Today we left and came home to Memphis, although the cats became the best of buds and Jack showed no hurry to get back to his bachelor-style living in Memphis. They were like crazed cousins soaking up every minute together!

Oh yeah, did I mention we watched LOTS of football?

During the holidays and always, there is so much to be thankful for!

"It's 3 AM.."

On Sunday night, well really Monday morning at 3 a.m., Randy's parents, D & P came to visit us! Now, being the breadwinner and the one who slaves away for my student of a husband (haha, I love saying that because I know I don't have too much longer to use it against him!) I had to teach the next two days. Fortunately, Randy was off and got to be the host. As his dad said, "You know your youngest son is all grown up when he stays up to let you in and cooks you breakfast when you wake up!" Randy cooked banana nut pancakes the first day and biscuits, eggs and sausage the next day. What did I eat? Cereal and cookies!! Poor, pitiful, me! I got some visiting time in with them, but the most important thing is that Randy got the most time with his parents, and they finally got to see our apartment and meet their furry grandson, Jack. One of the big reasons for their visit was to see their dear friend and former preacher, David, who has recently received a liver transplant and is recovering in Memphis. They were so happy to see him and offer both him and his wife some encouragement from the Southgate home. Monday night we took them to, where else?, Central BBQ, where I used a coupon from my besties website, Where the Locals Eat. After satisfying our tummies, we drove by Graceland because the Hartmans heard the Christmas lights were up. As we pulled up to Elvis' home on Elvis Presley Boulevard, the whole car was doing our best Elvis impressions.

Tuesday, they picked me up after a day spent at the apartment eating whatever was in the fridge (it paiiiins me that I couldn't have been there to whip them up something...instead, Randy got rid of what would go bad over the holidays). Phyllis rode with me while Randy rode with D and after stopping to eat at Steak and Shake and drawing on the placemats, we both went our seperate ways.

Luckily, we get to see them again on Friday for our nephews 1st BIRTHDAY party!

Now.....on to Turkey!

Oh, I almost forgot the best part. Being in a one bedroom apartment, the in-laws had to sleep on a blow-up mattress. I did my best making it look like a real, comfy bed and even put miniature candy bars on their pillows. Well, apparently it lost some air during the night and when D got up, he made P fall off....what's even funnier is when he got back ON, he sent her flying in the air. When she woke up? The bed had filled up around her and she had to cry for help from the boys. I wasn't there...but them telling the story is pretty priceless!

The Perfect Weekend

Although the point of a weekend is to rest from a hard week's worth, a weekend usually gets packed full of things you "havvvve" to do...things that might be absolutely worth the work but leave you wondering where your weekend went. Luckily, I have had the (almost) perfect weekend. Nothing is completely perfect, right?

Friday night Randy took me to Bhan Thai, one of our favorite restaurants here in Memphis that is locally owned and inside of an old Bungalow home that still has so much of the charm left in it, both inside and out. The best thing about the night was that he suggested it on Wednesday without me saying I wanted to go...or even needed a date for that matter. After the (delicious) dinner we went to Davis Kidd and browsed books and caught up on magazine reading. On the way home? The limited time only dark chocolate java chiller from Sonic. See! I told you- the perfect weekend! We started a movie too...but of course I fell asleep.

Saturday was spent on the couch...maybe a little cleaning here and there, but mostly on the couch watching the Ohio State/Michigan game in which the Buckeyes won and became the Big 10 Champs! Oh, and I made homemade bread for us to munch on. That plus the chocolate covered almonds I bought at school made for two very guilty pleasures. We also went to Sam's on Saturday which was, no joke--Holiday Sampler Day! Dinner that night was tortellini and what made it the icing on the cake was that we had too much and began tossing it up high in the air, one tortellini at a time, to see who could catch it in their mouth first. I succeeded first, but only because Randy had a better throw. Because Jack sits with us at each meal, we wondered what he would do if he got his own chance. I threw the tortellini in the air and as it came down and Jack looked up, it hit him square on the nose and bounced off onto the table! We laughed til we cried!

Today was church and now cleaning all day. I know this part is going to nearly give my mother a stroke, but cleaning is probably my favorite way to spend a Sunday! Hopefully there are many more relaxing weekends like this one in my future!

Outside of Bhan Thai- they already have their Christmas lights up!

The boys watching the game. Go Buckeyes!

Welcomed Guests

This past weekend, the Hartman abode at Mud Island was more like the Hartman Hotel. My wonderful, amazing, artistic, best-in-the world dad (can you tell I'm trying to suck up because he did me such a favor?) came to my school to do demonstrations on the potters wheel all morning. He got in town Thursday night and we (yes, WE...Randy helps with the mexican meals) cooked him our homemade tortillas which we are quickly making famous! ha! After a big mexican feast and some brownies, we all sat down on the couch for the best TV night of the week: the Office and Flashforward.

Friday morning we drove out to Arlington for our big DAY of CLAY. It started out with CLICK (Christ Living in Christian Kids) where we got to eat some donuts and the students were able to watch my dad create a vase from a ball of clay, talking about how He is the potter and we are the clay and to make something beautiful out of our lives, God must first have complete control and our lives must be centered and our hearts opened up. I was so glad the students were able to hear such a memorable and powerful message.

Next were the three classes he did the same clay demo for (except he was supposed to leave out the whole message part and stick with art....by the last class he started getting into Jesus talk and as much as I know the kids needed to hear it, I had to remind him that too much of that would get me fired at a public school). Below are the pictures of him on the wheel in front of about 60-70 middle schoolers.

Hard at work making mugs and handles.

Not a great picture, but this shows the cool video image of what was going on. Technology never ceases to amaze me!

TA-DA! One of the finished products.

So my dad was supposed to leave at lunch to go meet a friend, but since he couldn't get a hold of his buddy, he decided he'd stay and watch me teach. Talk about pressure! My dad was watching me do what he has done for 28 years. It ended up going well and was such an honor to have him with me all day. Some embarrassing little moments of the day: my 7th grade students walked in and asked if he was my husband. My response? My husband has much more hair than this! Also, after 28 years in a private school setting, it definitely shows! His cell phone rang during class not once, but twice, and after a sigh of relief from all my students realizing it wasn't their own cell phone and they were not about to get written up, my dad would answer and at one time even shouted "SQUIBBY!" (apparently a nickname for his college buddy). At the end of the day, I was so glad my students were able to see me in my element with my pops, and the immediate effect he had on some of those boys was priceless.

Our next visitor was one of my besties from 4th grade, Michelle. I was so excited for Michelle to visit, and also exhausted from the long couple of days I had just had! When she arrived, the three of us (3 was kinda the magic number for the weekend considering Randy tagged along for a lot of it, and Michelle didn't seem to mind) went to our favorite little deli, Young Avenue, and then just vegged out on the couch. Saturday we went on a walk (a newfound tradition with any guests that visit) along the river and then shopping and sightseeing Memphis. That night we cooked some yummy dinner, almost burnt down the apartment making bruschetta, had some red wine, and baked (and ate!) delicious gooey chocolate pie cups. Then, Michelle and Randy played tennis while I was ball girl...haha.

Sunday....rest.

Have I mentioned how blessed I am with an amazing family and group of friends? :)

Little Tidbits

Over a week has gone by since my last post, and a lot has happened. Trying to keep a somewhat short post, I'll highlight the important tidbits from the last several days...

Halloween:

Halloween weekend was a big study weekend for Randy, so I carpooled with two of my Memphis friends, Julie (who was headed to Chattanooga) and Kayla (who was headed to Kingston). I got dropped off in Nashville on Friday night, which also happened to be my mom's bIrThDaY!! I missed out on the steaks but made it for the best part....cake! We gave my mom her presents and spent some time just hanging out with each other. The next morning I went to Puffy Muffin with some of my besties, and then got to go see the adorable nephews, Grayden and Luke, at Rob and Jen's house. Grayden was a pirate (argggg) and Luke was a turtle. They didn't seem too into their costumes or playing with each other a lot, but boy were they cute! I also got to see my two sister-in-laws and we always have fun together...especially when the boys aren't around! Randy and I wish so badly that we could see them all more, but hopefully we can all spend more time together in the future.

Fights:

One of the schools I teach at (which will remain nameless) had four, yes four, fights on Tuesday. The school was in a lockdown and the cops had to come and take away two of the students off to juvenile jail. The students recapping the event is quite dramatic and scary. Luckily, I was at the other school that day and missed out on all the action.

Jack:

No redbox dvd yet, but I did realize that Jack stole a piece of pizza from the top of the stove. Who knows what all we'll find when we move out of this apartment!

Hunting:

Randy...a hunter? It's true! Randy and his friend Josh (who has hunted for most of his life) went hunting on Saturday which was the first open day. He woke up at 4:30 am, dressed in camo from head to toe with a bright orange hat, and spent the entire morning at Shelby Forrest. When I asked how it was, he said "We saw a buck". That doesn't sound like a lot of success to me, but apparently it is (Josh hadn't seen a buck all of last year). If it wasn't muzzle loading we might have lots of venison to dish out, but no such luck. They said they didn't hear a single shot all morning. Those crazy boys are going back on Monday, so we'll see if we ever get our meat!

Girls Night:

I bet nobody else spent their Saturday night at a bonfire playing games and singing swahili songs with eight Burundi girls, all of whom are sisters. The girls from our house church got together for a cookout and had burgers, chips, and made yummy smores in a friends backyard. One other girl and I were trying to keep the fire burning when the Burundis walked up and took over....in about 2 minutes they had a blazing fire going, then proceeded to tell us how its done in Africa and fired some corn on the cob straight from the fire. Later in the night we played goofy games like a jello slurping relay race, an over-under relay, and Ships in the Ocean. Then the girls taught us an African game called meat and rice, which didn't make too much sense but was fun nonetheless. We then sat around the fire singing songs and then walked all eight girls home while they were still hyped up on leftover Halloween candy. It was a night filled with silly but fun games and great bonds formed between two cultures.

They sang my favorite Swahili song, and I got some of it on camera to share, but I stayed on the fire so they wouldn't know I was taping them and get embarrassed.