Thanksgiving at the Stullken's House

We were all about due for a traditional thanksgiving this year. Especially dad! Last year, a couple days before thanksgiving, he had to have part of his inards removed...intestines of all things. a cruel joke right before the holiday when you are supposed to eat yourself silly. SO, mom and dad really did it up this year. Here they are getting things ready on Thanksgiving Day morning.

Mom really knows how to get a table looking good. Here's a few pictures (from every angle possible) to prove it.

Jeff and Donna and Joanna (and abe and lita) relaxed upstairs and watched the history of chocolate making.

Abe.

Donna loves Lita Ford. Who is about to start alerting us that Roxanne and Jimmy are here.

Me and Joanna warming our backs by the fire.

Here's the feast!

Donna wonders what to dig into first....

Here we all are! (except photographer jeff)

Ah, the happy couple.

Me and Roxanne, my fairy godmother.

Roxanne and Jimmy!

getting prepped for cards. don't we look excited?

anyone for a game of 3-13?

what to do next?

Donna and Jeff were in cahoots, i think.

Dad snuggles with Abe on the living room sofa. How Abe worked out a deal with mom to be able to get on the LIVING ROOM SOFA, i have no idea. He also has a special relationship with my grandma reed and her sofa. maybe he just has a way with women.

Lita Beeta being lazy.

zzzzzz......

mom has a way with whatever she can find in her yard and in the produce section of the grocery store. this day it was artichokes, tiny orange peppers and fresh cranberries.

the end!

80's workout instructor

she'd just gotten home from running up and down stone mountain four times. i guess she can look like whatever she wants.

313 and Pie

On Saturday night some people came over to eat dinner and play cards. Here are a few pictures. Allie and Jeremy, Kate and Michael, Katie and Clay and Rachel (+ me and Jeff) were all there. Oh, and the pie is a chocolate peanut butter pie that i made and it turned out sooo great. If anyone needs a good recipe...let me know, i'll email it to you.

Snugglers.

I know, i know. more dog pictures. I can't help it really. They've just taken to sharing a bed, especially when there is a heater nearby. This is fairly remarkable because when i first got abe, he'd growl and snap when another warm body got near his sleeping space. Now, i think he welcomes it. He's getting more tolerant in his old age...and maybe realizes the value of warmth a little more.

Chicken and Dumplings

Turned out great! But these pics are also to show folks that i'm really getting some good use out of the wedding presents! I LOVE my braiser! it works great for soups, stir fry, and even roasting chickens in the oven.

A Mess....

That's what this dog is.

More Pics from our Orlando Trip last month

I shave jeff's head every now and then.

Here's the family at Panera.

Vote for Clay!

Hi Everyone! My friend Clay Chapman's houses are being considered for publishing by Architectural Digest and he needs your vote! Click on the below link:
http://www.architecturaldigest.com/architects/polls/week_1/openaudition
to vote for him. You can vote more than once and we are up against some pretty dedicated voters with the other two builders that are listed with Clay. After you vote, you can see the percentage of votes on the screen that pops up. It's kind of addicting!

Zoo

staughty and katie invited me to go to the atlanta zoo with them today. we had fun! flamingos and elephants and strange birds and monkeys galore. i took some videos of the gorillas. but i'll have to figure out which one is the best. will post a good one soon. they were really active.

check out this feathered friend. can't remember what it is.

Eichelbergers!

Here's Bryce and Beth and Eli! They are our friends from Nashville, used to live in Atlanta. We know them from Berry. We just like them all so much.

Creek House: Morning time

We pretty much kept a fire going the whole time we were there. it was almost nicer to have it in the mornings than at night!

The Creek House: Eichelbergers and Adams come!

We sat aroudn the fire that and sang songs and told stories. really, does it get any better?

here's a couple videos for you.

Bryce and Beth cooked dinner on Friday night. It was good to eat with so many good friends at the big table.

Creek House: Five Day, maybe?

time for chesst.

jeff and clay had fun singing together.

here is the video of their little concert if you want to see an amazing performance. hehe. we all had this song going thru our heads for the rest of the week. i still do.

Creek House: Day Four and Five-ish

Katie and Clay and Staughty came and joined us on Wednesday night at the creekhouse. this is me snapping beans for dinner. we had a crockpot concoction for the night they came. chicken, artichokes, red peppers, garlic, with quinoi. yum.

Katie and Staughty.

clay and jeff watching Dexter upstairs.

jeff got some fly fishing in. unfortunately, they weren't biting that week.

Creek House: Day Three and Four

doesn't this fire look cozy? we spent a lot of our time here reading and snoozing.

The next night we had pork tenderloin on the grill with fig sauce, roasted red pepper with garlic on wilted spinach and creamy herby noodles. jeff says we have more pictures of our food than ourselves. i'll try not to get too carried away with food pic postings!

there is a Yellow Bellied Sapsucker in this picture in the middle of the thickest pine tree on the left of the shot. the bird is on the right of the tree. not a very close shot but i was excited about this sighting.

The Creek House: Day One and Two

Jeff and i were given as a wedding present one whole week at this wonderful creekhouse by some folks that i know from Breakthru House. We went from last Sunday to yesterday and it was wonderfully relaxing. The Waits also gave us a gift certificate to Whole Foods and so did Donna so i got all of our food for the trip there and at YDFM. so, we ate really well and felt so spoiled :)

It was like our honeymoon all over again because we packed up two coolers of food and i made a delicious meal each night with the best ingredients i could find. We got there on Sunday night and had shrimp parmesan, on Monday we took a long walk and just relaxed all day. dinner...and then we played scrabble...Jeff won!

filet minon (sp?) dinner. with baked pears in a cranberry, whisky and maple sauce.

Tonight at the house

tonight while i made pesto...donna worked at the kitchen table and jeff read his magazine in the office. and lita took up residence in her chair and kept tabs on both donna and jeff. time for bed.

Whole Foods and Farmers Market

this is what happens to our refrigerator when donna and i go grocery shopping together.

PESTO!

tonight i made a big batch of pesto to try to use up some of the basil that is quickly getting ready to be pulled up. what a nice color. so, i read that it freezes well and actually keeps it's vivid color because of the olive oil in the mix. we'll see.