Chef Amelia's Valentine's Treat!

Amelia has made you a little Valentine's snack. Feel free to drop by for a taste!

She insists on doing things by herself these days. "I do! I do!" I made her a PB&J sandwich for lunch today, but she wouldn't have anything to do with it. Instead, she yelled "I do butter! I do butter!" I ended up eating the sandwich I made. For Amelia, out came a little bowl of peanut butter, one of jelly, a slice a bread, and the coveted holiday butter knife.

We made the mistake the other day of letting her try to butter some bread. We were out to eat and it was a desperate attempt to keep her from crawling on the table. Now everything that requires a knife to spread is "butter."

That's another thing, knives. She's hooked! What to do when you're 23 month old wants a knife?! Luckily, Gina gave me the great idea of letting her use butter knives. Thank goodness we have an odd collection of little dull knives.

Meal time involves much less eating these days -- it's all about the preparation.

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Happy Valentine's Day!

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Mama, look!

This is what happens when you turn your head for one minute... the artist's canvas shifts from paper to skin! Yikes!

I thought I was so smart stripping her down. Experience has taught me that shirts are much easier to clean when you don't have to deal with ink. I've gone through enough aerosol hairspray to make Al Gore shudder.

Looks like an extra long bath tonight is in order for tonight. Bring out the apricot scrub.

I hope this doesn't mean that Amelia will have a future as a tattoo artist... uh-oh!

Winter has finally arrived

Guess what greeted Lee this morning as he took Gus for his walk... snow! You'd think it was a blizzard because schools are closed, businesses are delaying their openings, and every tv network has preempted national news for round-the-clock "storm" coverage. All for about 1" of the white stuff.

Luckily, it doesn't look like it will impact Lee's travel this afternoon to Aspen for the X Games. It's supposed to warm up quickly and there's no forecast for more precipitation. This is good news for Amelia and me, as we are to fly West tomorrow. We do NOT want a double-take on our miserable Christmas travel (that post to come later)!

I thought we were special here in Chapel Hill, until I checked the LA news this morning... it snowed in Malibu yesterday! Crazy!!!! Fist time since 1962. Maybe Al Gore is right...

60 years and still counting!

Lee's grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this summer. We had a ball celebrating with them and the rest of the Brinson family. Their love story was recently featured in their local newspaper... thought I'd share it here.
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Burt and Eva Belle Brinson enjoy a moment in the backyard of their Grantsboro home. It is next door to the house where Burt was born in 1923. The Brinsons celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this year.
(Charlie Hall/Sun Journal )


Keepers: High school sweethearts for life
December 27, 2006
CHARLIE HALL NEW BERN SUN JOURNAL STAFF

Growing up in hard times prepared couple to handle commitment

GRANTSBORO — If imitation is the finest form of flattery, following the lead of the Brinsons — Burt and Eva Belle — is not a bad idea for a successful life together.

But, it was not an easy road, although they might disagree.

They were born in the pre-Depression years, had their high school romance interrupted by war, then married and raised three children while following a solid work ethic with a commitment that family comes first.

Today, married for more than 60 years, they look back at what some of today’s youngsters might consider a hard life.

They see it differently — viewing what they call a hectic, modernized, complicated society as the tougher road.

“I wouldn’t want to go through what people do now,” said Eva Brinson, who is 81, and Burt’s bride of 60 1/2 years.

“You didn’t think about it the way they do today — get married today and next week they decide they want a divorce,” she said. “We just didn’t think about things like that. We are compatible. We had three children, and it was a struggle really. We had to sacrifice. It was assumed we were together for life.”

They firmly believe many failed couples don’t have a strong foundation and don’t take a relationship and commitment seriously enough.

“My gosh, the divorce rate is over 50 percent. Now, you figure it out. Do the math,” Burt Brinson said.

“We didn’t have all these fancy things,” she recalled. “When we first got married, I went outside and washed clothes out of tubs and the scrub boards, and put them in the wash pot to boil and clean them.

“But, we didn’t think anything about it. Everybody else was in the same boat.”

No time to argue

They were born in the 1920s, just in time to enjoy childhoods amid the 1930s Great Depression.

Each graduated from Alliance High School without benefit of having electricity or indoor toilets at home.

Their courtship started with Sunday evening drives in Burt’s 1934 Ford convertible, which was missing the top. It was interrupted in 1943 when he entered the Army and went to Europe for three years.

They exchanged some letters through 1946.

“And when he came back, we got married,” she said.

In the post-war year, it was full steam ahead raising a family and making ends meet.
“We were too busy,” said Eva. “We didn’t have time to argue and fuss.”

He went to work at Cherry Point, where he remained until his retirement in 1976. She stopped working in the New Bern railroad office to raise three children, returning to public life in 1961 as postmaster in Grantsboro, a job she held for five years. Then she joined her husband at Cherry Point and also retired in 1976.

Strong relationships permeate their family trees.

His father and mother, Henry and Emily Elizabeth, were married from 1912 until Henry’s death in 1949.

Eva’s parents, James and Eva Carmady, celebrated more than 50 years of marriage.

The Brinsons’ values — hard work and family first — were handed down to their children.
Although both had good jobs at Cherry Point, the family still had to be frugal with the idea of sending the children to college. All three offspring attained degrees and the two sons have doctorates.

“And when they graduated, they didn’t owe anybody a dime,” Eva said.

“And we didn’t either,” added Burt.

Solid foundation

A hard, early life on the farm set a solid foundation for both of them and their relationship, he said.

“Our children have told us many a times that if they had to grow up like we did, they couldn’t do it,” Burt said. “No indoor plumbing, no hot water, no running water, no lights. And, you might say, no roads.”

His parents told him N.C. 55 was paved from New Bern to Oriental in 1923, the year he was born, and N.C. 306 from Grantsboro to Arapahoe got a blacktop in 1934.

Along with no indoor utilities, both were raised without the luxury of a family automobile.

“People could not live today like we grew up,” she said. “We were poor, but we didn’t know it.”

Burt chimed in, “Everybody was poor, but we lived just as good as anybody else. We didn’t have any money, but we had food and clothes, and we stayed warm and we stayed dry.”

There was another ingredient, according to Eva.

“We had love.”

http://www.newbernsunjournal.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=31804&Section=Local

Brunching with the Butlers

Amelia and I recently attended the Butler Family's wonderful holiday brunch. We had a grand time! Lee, unfortunately, was winging his way to Aspen for meetings, so he missed all the fun.

The Butler's new home is so lovely and is perfect for entertaining. Many of our Tuesday playgroup friends joined in the festivities. Amelia had a ball playing with them - McCoy has a great assortment of fun toys.

Karlye prepared a number of delicious dishes, including a sinful baked French toast for which I just got the recipe. Yum! I just might have to make it for Christmas morning.

It was time to go when Amelia's pony tail hit the unruly stage. Actually, it was just nap time and Amelia's bed was calling her name.

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Before we left, McCoy, ever the gentleman, gave Amelia a special Christmas treat. She was so excited to have a present.

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We're looking forward to next year's Butler Brunch - this year's was a delight!

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For a few more photos, click on the thumbnail below...

Butler's Holiday Brunch... the kids!

Chapel Hill Christmas Parade

A couple weekends ago, we were thoroughly entertained by the Chapel Hill Christmas Parade. Thanks to Tanya Freedman, who reminded us of the parade, we didn't miss out.

















We met the Freedman's at their house and walked up town to get a spot on the route. It was a beautiful day, although we were dressed for 25 degrees - the starting temp for the day. As the parade went on, we peeled off the layers.



Amelia and Shelby had a grand time! With all the candy thrown at us, the girls were a bit confused as to which holiday we were celebrating - Christmas or Halloween.

They cheered for the girl scouts, boy scouts, PTA thrift shop, local high school bands, and all sorts of other floats that came by. The highlight, of course, came at the end when Santa's float arrived. Squeals of "Santa, Santa, Santa!" filled the air.



All in all, it was a great way to start our Saturday. We've already reserved a spot for next year's parade!

Click the thumbnail below for more pictures of our parade adventure...

Chapel Hill Christmas Parade

Climbing out... nah, climbing in!

Whoever heard of a kid who wants to climb into their crib?! I went looking for Amelia the other morning and heard a little voice giggling from her room. I was greeted with the best "Hi Mama!" ever.

There she was, climbing up on her crib... trying to get in. It wasn't hard to figure out why - "banket, banket, banket!" She wanted her favorite blanket, the one hand-knit by Grandma Carolyn. She doesn't go too far without her banket.

Bears, lemurs, sheep... oh, my!

It was beautiful the other day, unseasonably warm for winter. We took full advantage of the great day and went to the Science museum - our new favorite place! Because it was so nice out, we hardly spent any time inside. Instead we explored the animals outside.
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Our first stop was the Black Bear exhibit, which Lee had never seen. It's familar terriority for Amelia who made growling noises as she lead the way. We try hard not to laugh as she tries to be ferocious..

After the bears, we visited the wolves, lemurs, and farm animals. Amelia is a big fan of the sheep - she thinks she can speak their language. Baaaa!

We ended our day at the bug and butterfly exhibit. The bugs give me the heebee-geebees... the strangest, biggest, creepiest collection of insects you've ever seen.

It's the stuff nightmares are made of!

The butterfly house is always a hit. We learned that each day at 300p they release the newly born butterflies. What a wonderful experience.

All the kids gather and get to "hold" a butterfly. Amelia gave it a tentative try and was pretty excited when a butterfly landed on her hand for a short visit.

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What a great way to spend our afternoon. We'll go back for sure!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, hosted by Lee's Grandparents. The entire Brinson family - all 15 of us - gathered in Grantsboro, NC, to give thanks... and we had much for which to be thankful. Top of the list, Scott being home from the Middle East safe and sound. Even better, he's not going back anytime soon!
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We had a delicious meal at a local resturant we took over. Turkey and all the trimmings! Amelia had the best deal... eating off everyone's plate, including dessert. Not sure which she like best - pumpkin or pecan pie or the whipped cream.


After lunch, we bid adieu to everyone and caravaned down to South Carolina with Lee's Mom and Dad and Scott. On our way, we passed by Camp Lejeune Marine Base where my dad was stationed many years ago.
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You can't tell from this picture, but if we turned left at the light, we'd hit the main entrance for the base... it's the closest I've ever been to my actual start!

The rest of the weekend was spent having fun at the beach. If you can believe it, we didn't even take part in the annual Thanksgiving shopping sales. Instead, we enjoyed playing with GG, Granddad, and Uncle Scott. Sadly, we said goodbye to everyone Sunday morning and started for home. The ride to Chapel Hill was spent giving thanks for a wonderful life.

An evening with Amelia

Here's a little glimpse into our evening activities... it includes a little bit of dancing, a little bit of hammering...