Thanksgiving ..and the weekend

Well this visit here in Virginia is not meeting anyone's expectations! While we have accomplished some great things in her new house (even replaced a fluorescent light in the kitchen with a track light!)- we have not been able to get out and explore the city. First the girls .. and now it's my cold hanging on making life miserable! Started with laryngitis - and now I believe it's bronchitis of sort. So I cant carry on much of a conversation, nor do I feel like doing much of anything.. I'm a prize! Note to self - explore supplements since this is the 3rd time I've had bronchitis this year! For now... these girls are missing their daddy!

Thanksgiving Day came & went.. leaving Bettie and I both wondering, did that just happen? We chatted about it and felt similar that sometimes the holidays just dont "feel right" because we often times think back to the days of our big intermediate family together at mom/dad's. What was there... well over 20 adults/kids?! Oh the cayous! lol Nonetheless, there was something about everyone being together .. it's created a precious, lasting memory within us both. We cooked a delicious turkey with a dry rub along with mashed potatoes, broccoli/cauliflower casserole, and rolls. We kept it pretty simple .. except for dessert of course! Since none of us are big on the old fashion pumpkin pie (mom always served homemade apple.. ohh yumm at the thought!) - I made Lucious Pumpkin Cake! Looks pretty enticing huh? or maybe it's just Bettie's skills at photography!
To all family reading this ... know that you are loved and missed very much! We all wish visiting was more convenient - try not to take the family you have close for granted... ok? :}

Friday afternoon I got cabin fever, so we ventured out for a couple of hours to go to the Bluebird Gap Farm. It was so fun to watch the girls interact with the animals! Caroline took the cake with the ducks - she was screaming with excitement and thus the ducks started making a"SHHHH" with her finger at her lips and yelled "BE QUIET" - a kodak moment to say the least! check out the video below :)
Click HERE to see all the photos that Bettie snapped. It was good to get a little fresh air and see the kids have some fun.

Day 5 in Virginia

Yesterday was quite a day ...it took the entire afternoon to get Bettie's plasma tv hung on the wall! Building the bracing in the Lcove for a regular deep tv was the biggest job - one that I wouldve happily assigned to my hubby if he was here! After 24+ pre-drills, bolts, screws and running to the store 3x for parts & pieces - job was finished around 730pm! Whewwieeee! It was a job! But thanks to several fone calls to my hubby, we made it through. We need to adjust the angle, other than that - Looks awesome, dontcha think?!

Today is the 5th day and we are yet to get out to see the sights of Virginia! First Caroline being ill ... and now for the last 2+ days everyone has a coughing cold - including me! It's quite a "bark", so I hate to go out and expose others to this crud. So another day of rest on the couch... but, we'll prolly hang some of her curtains/drapes, and install the new track light in the kitchen. Oh, we'll have to find some to make pasties out of the 8lbs of dough in the frig that we made last night, and make the Lucsious Pumpkin Cake for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Rest? haha... not likely!

Dacula, Georgia .. our future home.

Thought I'd go ahead and make a record of blogs for the day (and hey, btw - the system sends automatic notices to our family.. so if you'd like to have that removed and just visit our blog at www.sisumom.blogspot.com on your own time without the reminder - just drop me a note!). Lots of other cool stuff on my site too!

The big news of the month is we are one step closer to our future custom home! Earlier this month we closed the deal on 6 acres of property located in Dacula, Georgia. (Picture at right was taken on closing day) Its 20 minutes from where we live .. further up 316 towards Athens. Click HERE for the google map! While it is in a bit in the country, "Waterford Estates Subdivision" was developed into 9 parcels with covenants, so hopefully we'll have a good foundation to keep up the value in our property. The property is 250' wide x 1100' deep. (2nd picture is taken from the back - view towards the road. We were VERY pleased with our realitor Mignon Hooper, and old neighbor of John & Judy Ahlers - she found this property in foreclosure and thus made this all possible.. bring us one step closer to our dream! If you are in search of a realitor that will exceed your expectations.. call her, you will not be disappointed!
The plan ...seriously dependent on the economy/market... is to build a custom home with 3-5 years. While that is a way off, we are already playing with floor plans and discussing ideas so we can save save save UNTIL then! :) Stay tuned! For now.. we need to find a way to 'bush hog' this piece of land - anyone have a tractor nearby ?! :)

Am I cool now?!

So with some extra time on my hands I'm learning, exploring and having fun with new programs available on the internet. I think I might be cool now that I am up to speed, or maybe at least ignorantly knowledgable, with FACEBOOK, Twitter and now Blogger!
FACEBOOK is still rather confusing and I really havent had the time to spend hours to figure out all the applications, forums and entertainment sources available. If you have it and would like to look me up, just search my full name - Becky Sue Becker.
Twitter seems pretty cool, but it's no fun until I get more family/friends involved. It's really a text messaging system of sort, but it can be set up to be sent/received directly on your mobile phone (or just viewed on the web). It's very easy.... how about checking it out and join me?! www.twitter.com/sisumom is my site!
Blogger... well here we are now. I am going to make an attempt to share news, big and small with family - I hope you enjoy hearing/reading about our lives!

Day 3 in Viginia

The days here at Bettie's home are flying by so quickly. With 6 kids buzzing around, there is very little down time! Yesterday was a day of organizing and unpacking a few leftover boxes from her move. We then took off with Caroline & Rebekah to fetchsome groceries to make RUNSAS and PASTIES (family recipe) this weekend. At Sam's Club they both fit in the front seat - surprising they made it thru the store w/o fighting! Guess cuz they didnt have any toys to call MINE! We are also on the hunt for several items to get her plasma tv hung.. only to find out we could not get a replacement charger for her cordless drill. So our plans to hang curtains and other small projects are on hold until we find that. She has most everything unpacked - so decorating is the task at hand while I am here. Their house is a beautiful big house finally her family has some elbow room! Last night was not so fun. Caroline became ill .. literally. Out of no where she started throwing up around 7pm. I cuddled with her and got her down to bed .. not before throwing up one more time. I laid out comforters and towels beside my bed for her to sleep - luckily since she was up 4x during the night. She begged for water.. and that kept her from sleeping in the end. I think around 3:30am was the last little spit. The poor girl .. she was so scared, she simply didn't know what was happening. Today she does seem better, but her appetite is pretty much non-existence. So today ... is a lay low kind of day. Hoping this passes and tomorrow we can hit the road between naps to see some of the sights here in Virginia. I hear Williamsburg is a must see! We're hoping by days end that Scott/daddy gets SKYPE up and running so he can chat with the girls with video.

Bettie here we come!

Tomorrow is going to be such a big day (11/21/08). I shall travel with Caroline and Sophie (alone!) to Virginia to visit my sister Bettie and her 4 children! We will be flying, but Sophie will be my lap rider :) Hoping for easy travels with the 1hr45min flight! It should be a breeze in comparison to flying to Michigan and jumping planes and all. Since we will be gone for 12 days, my DH will be staying behind to bring home the bacon :) We will miss him dearly this Thanksgiving!
Her husband, Oscar, is in Iraq - so I am hoping to spend some quality time with my sister and nieces and nephews. Additionally I hope to help organize her life to relieve the stress she is under from just moving into a big ole house! *first time home buyers - woohoo*
It's the afternoon before and I am yet to pull out suitcases... so I best get busy!

Ready or not... here we come!

If you can't beat them.. join them!

Here goes - my first official day to start a family blog! I see lots of time to get this off the ground - I hope to find time to do so soon!