Shana's Birthday 2025

I made her a tortoise cake in honor of Mossy and got her a sunwheel!

Mamma & Her Favorite Place on Earth : The Blue Ridge Parkway

First Trip to Skytop / Last Trip to Skytop

                 2008                             2025

The Year of Lasts : The Last Autumn Trip to Skytop Orchard

Yes, this was a bit later, but I'm still including it here because we visited Skytop a few times this year. We've taken this picture every year since 2008.

Skytop heaven: cider doughnuts, cider slushie, apple pie fudge & apple cider!

Just to compare now ... below is a picture of the FIRST trip to Skytop!

Mamma & Dixie

Annie at Work (Internship at Exela Pharmaceuticals)

Annie sports her safety goggles and lanyard that she wears in the microbiology Department of Exela pharmaceuticals where she makes $25 at her internship!

The Year of Lasts : The Last Family Day at the Mountain State Fair

Even though I couldn't convince Annie to enter any of her Pottery or stained glass this year, it was still fun to have family day! Daddy got his fries, I got my gyro, and we laughed at the size of the "giant" pumpkins this year. 81 pounds?!? Ttthhhppttt! The giant was only as big as the regular one! I also was impressed with one of the costumes that reminded me of leia, and then we also found the stained glass winner who was always in competition with annie.

Annie & Corey : Double Jeep Date

In another amazing comparison between Annie and corey, Annie and I went out to eat dinner in Dixie while Corey and his dad went out to eat in Rosco! Corey asked for some pictures, so Annie sent them! And he sent some as well! I was so excited about all of us having a jeep, that I took out a blue Jeep duck to match their Jeep and wrote a message on the bottom saying "I love Rosco, love Dixie.' And he gave the doc to Corey and his dad the next time she visited.

Happy Birthday Harvest

For Harvest's birthday this year we gave him tickets to a Carolina Panthers game!

My Beautiful Annie, Back from the Fair

The Year of Lasts : The Last Friend Day at the Mountain State Fair

Marissa, Annie, Maddie & Luz: Forever Friends

I went with Shana for a friend day as well!

The Assassination of Charlie Kirk (& It's Repercussions)

                                                    -- Charlie Kirk

If he knew the future, would he still have said this?

When someone told me that Charlie Kirk had been assassinated today, my first comment was "Who is Charlie kirk?" Although I always keep up with the news of the day, I am was not familiar with this far right political commentator. Although he never went to college himself, he was quite a debater, and founded Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college, and university campuses. It was founded in 2012. I am including this here because I thought someday both Leia and Annie might like to look back on this event and what it encouraged. This happened in the middle of a gathering in Utah where Charlie Kirk was encouraging students to ask questions. He had just finished talking about gun violence when a shot rang out,. Pierced his carotid artery, and killed him almost instantly. I was amazed that the FBI wasn't able to apprehend someone for days. But what it took was a clear picture of the shooter and it turned out to be the father who ended up turning him in. I have a lot of respect for this father who also gave up his law enforcement job because he didn't think it would be appropriate anymore. Further, I have respect for Charlie Kirk's wife who, at the memorial service said she forgave the killer. She is Roman Catholic and I appreciate that show of Christ like love! However, I am looking closely to see whether Erica Kirk will Advocate against the death penalty for this young man. The final few pictures in this post are screenshots of a text conversation between Leia and harvest and Brian and i. There were repercussions of the shooting on the UNC Wilmington campus. It's specifically was in regards to a rock called the spirit rock, or someone put a memorial to Charlie Kirk and it was immediately painted over. There was also people with guns supposedly roaming the campus bookstore. Thank goodness everyone was safe! Unfortunately, our country is incredibly polarized between conservative and liberal. This polarization is beginning to lead to violence more and more.

"Name All My Awards" = Parental Anxiety

I just had to include this post of a text conversation today because, even though it makes me laugh, made me have a small panic attack as a parent. It was one of those things that you knew might happen someday, but it takes a lifetime of keeping an easy to find document at your fingertips of every single award. I did my best and keeping the blog and used it for this very thing! But it didn't stop me from feeling like I missed something. The line that makes me laugh the hardest here is "please stop sending pictures."