It's my Daddy's Birthday!

To My Dad (Papa Ronnie);

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!! I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!

I enjoyed spending the evening with you and Mammaw !!

Go Deacs!! But in the cold rain it means I wanna Go HOME Deacs!

You know sometimes...when you get free tickets....there is a reason. Big Daddy came home w/ a handful of free WFU vs Vandy football tickets. The weather had been predicted all week to be bad Saturday night in Winston but that didn't keep us from being excited about going to BB&T Field to watch the Demon Deacs take to the gridiron. My guess is that the person that gave Big Daddy these tickets knew all to well what to expect. Keep in mind we are all still damp from the cold Christmas tree excursion but we all file into the stadium that was sparse with fans. BUT before we go sit down...2Shaye has to stop out front of the entrance for a photo op with the new bronze statue of the Demon Deacon.

Everyone is lining up to get their picture made when I realized that Sam is sporting his NC State shirt underneath his jacket. Could that be because NC State has its way with Wake a few weeks ago? My guess is 'most definitely'. Oh well... he should be proud of being part of 'the pack' .... but surely with all the Wake t-shirts I KNOW he owns he could have found ONE to wear that day! :)

Wormie, the Xbox Junkie, 2Shaye and Sam all head over to 'the hill' ... as that was where these free 'seats' were located....it's all coming together now. Raining and sitting on the ground at the bottom of the hill...not exactly ideal. But the stands were empty enough that they could have found seating other than the cold, wet ground. But they had rain gear, tarps and cold weather garb so off to 'the Hill' they went refusing to come off as wimpy. Big Daddy and I were sitting nicely in the stands but I can promise you that we were not any warmer or dryer than the kids sitting on 'the hill'. Eventually wimp set in and the kids drew straws to see who had to come tell us they were desperately ready to leave. 2Shaye lost so she made the track to our seats. Actually we were cold and ready to jet as well but we were going to stay as long as they wanted. So at half time... and being true fair weather fans that night... we left.

Not sure what Wormie sees in this picture but it cant be good! :)

We decided to go out to eat instead....and Wormie wanted to go to Poncho Villa's. Its a great Mexican Restaurant in Winston but for some reason at 8:45 pm that Saturday night the parking lot was literally empty. Big Daddy would not even THINK about going in there when there wasn't even ONE customer to be found. Could it be ...that years ago an employee working at the steak restaurant that used to be there was murdered AND no restaurant has stayed in business for more than a year since the murder AND Big Daddy swears it must be haunted AND he was just too skeert to color outside the lines to even take a chance? You betcha and he's not afraid to admit it.....so he turned the car around and we left as fast as we got there.

We ended up at Mi Pueblo...another Mexican eatery. It was decent but I must say that the dance recital that Big Daddy and 2Shaye gave us that night was better than the grubbage. That along with Wormie getting pelted by ice pellets from a straw after she returned from the restroom by The Xbox Junkie (He was having DTs from a full day without Call of Duty...obviously!) So finally..... after a day of tree hunting in the sleet, Christmas music continuously in the car, the cold, rainy WFU game, the haunted restaurant, the dance recital and spit ball war... we headed to Shoals. What an awesome day.

"Going to get the biggest Christmas tree in the forest"

Going to get a Christmas tree has always proven to be an experience of conflict in tastes and ideas of what makes the perfect Christmas Tree. To me...there is no such thing as an ugly Christmas tree. Some have more 'Character' than others but after the lights go on...something magical happens. When Wormie was little she would always to say... "Daddy I want the biggest tree in the forest!!"....and he has always been a good sport and tried to satisfy all of our wishes as far as the tree goes and still get what his Wormie would consider 'the biggest tree in the forest'. Of course if he had his way we'd have a cedar tree cut from a field nearby and to him... it would be just as grand as the one Wormie has always insisted on bringing home. One day after the kids are gone...I am sure Big Daddy will get his cedar tree and I am sure that once lights adorn it- it will be beautiful...well maybe. :) I will say that Wormie and I have similar likes in trees.....very tall and slender. 2Shaye on the other hand... has somewhat of a different idea of the perfect tree. She likes tall but rather ROUND and FAT trees at the bottom. One that would take up the whole living room. The Xbox Junkie prefers the first tree in the patch regardless of the size or shape. The Xbos Junkie always gets the honors of cutting down the chosen tree.... but usually gives up the saw before it had fallen...mainly due to lack of interest. This year Wormie climbed under the tree and finished his sloppy attempt at lumberjacking. We went to a place in Virginia called Big Reed Island Christmas Tree Farm. We love it there. They have trees of every size and shape. This year it sleeted on us most of the time we were searching but that just got us in the spirit of cold weather and ready for the Wake Forest football game we would be going to later that day ( my next blog attempt). 2Shaye took Sam with us this year.....his first excursion on the hunt for the perfect tree. This trip might have warped Sam to a degree but if he was thinking harsh thoughts he kept them to himself. Our tree is almost finished...only lacks 2Shaye's angel adorning the top.

These are a few pictures..... I will post one of later of the decorated tree.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving time is all about family, over-eating and trying to make everyones schedule happen. Not always easy. We started out the day by taking pictures of Wormie, 2Shaye and the Xbox junkie....for 2 reasons. "The Wall of Smiles" (which I will go into more details later) and for family Christmas presents. I insisted the kids go outside for some candid shots. The 1st conflict of the day begins.... Wormie needs to be taking the pictures instead of me since she has a good eye behind the lens..... but she can't since she has to be in the pictures and the Xbox Junkie is not happy at all about the whole picture situation. We are about done with the photo shoot when 2Shaye's boyfriend (we lovingly call him Sam) arrives. We continue to take a few more pictures before we split off to go in different directions. 2Shaye and Sam go to his family's gathering for early lunch while me and the rest of my gang head to my parents to help prepare the feast for a later lunch.


Upon arriving at Mammaw and Papa Ronnie's house we find that they have been busy and have nearly everything prepared. We decided to hang out in the kitchen and catch up on some long lost conversation and wait for my brothers and their families arrive.

Finally we are all together.....Mammaw and Papa, Teeter's gang plus Sam; Big Mark and his gang, Big Phil and his gang. After gorging ourselves on the Big Bird and all the trimmings (Its funny... no matter what is fixed or who fixes it....nothing ever compares to my mom's Thanksgiving lunch) we decided to take ALL the grandkids to Papa Ronnie's bottoms for MORE PHOTOS...again....Christmas presents are in the making and it's an important task. Everyone was in good spirits for pictures at the river and on the big rock...except the Xbox Junkie. He was ready to get back to his 'Call of Duty'....however after a few rounds of strong arming and bribery he obliged.


Later that evening....still feeling queezy from the massive bird intake at lunch we head to Big Daddy's side of the family. We are all in tow but have to stop by my our house to run in and grab the deviled eggs that I was asked to bring. Since Sam is a huge fan of deviled eggs (trying to be polite and hold back the gagging reflex was hard but he managed. His good manners was being displayed in the highest form) we let him carry the eggs in the car and into Mema and Papa Ted's house. We all gather with Mema and Papa Ted, Big Daddy's gang plus Sam, and Big Simm's (Big Daddy's brother) gang. Its funny how when having to gorge on 2 huge meals (3 for 2Shaye and Sam) you learn the hard way to only eat the most favorite food choices at either place to keep yourself from OD-ing on Thanksgiving Day.

Finally several hundred thousand calories later and being purely miserable ... it was time to go home and crawl onto the couch. It is times like these you only WISH could purge and restore your body to the pre-gorging early morning feeling. Black Friday shopping is on the horizon.

A Blog is born......

Hello world,

My name is Teeter and I have been encouraged by my youngest daughter, 2Shaye, to start a blog so my parents (Papa Ronnie and Mammaw) can follow the crazy lives we live. We never get to see them enough so we figured we'd start blogging so they can keep up with us and we will encourage them to start their own blog. Hopefully we can turn this into a family affair and bring in my brothers (Vig and Big Phil) as well.

The first several posts will be catch-up time after these first several post...we'll try to stay on track for the new year.