December Is Here! Holy...Cow!

I cannot believe it! December is really here...that means Christmas! And Happy Birthday Jesus! And Christmas trees! And lights! And decorations! And cookies! And hot chocolate! And PRISES!

Pie and I were fortunate to be in FL long enough to help Mommer with her Christmas decorations. For those of you who know my mom, she wastes no time when it comes to decorating. She expects all the halls to be decked in less than 24 hours. She will not rest until it's done. Good thing she had me, Pie & Geoffrey!

When Pie and I finally made it back to Carolina, it was decorating round two. Judd made it home on Saturday and the festivities began...well actually I couldn't stand it and jumped the gun by decorating the entire inside of the house (less the tree) on Friday!

Ready for lights outside! Brr, it's freezing!

Love my sweet, girl!

Showing Papa how it's done

Trimming the tree...someone, I won't name names, is very particular about her tree

Placing the angel on top

Ta-da! Less ornaments!

Sunday morning - let the decorating begin

My safety 1st motto goes out the door when it comes to being "too short"

Our elf, Alvin, made his arrival on Sunday!

Seriously?! What is she doing?!

Me and the circus...glad I can be a pillow for all

Nana has every singing/moving Christmas thing known to man

These two look like trouble!

Gobble Til You Wobble - Part 2

Well we made it through week one of our vacation with only minor incident...Nana decided our lives weren't exciting enough and ended up in the hospital due to a Chron's blockage. However, she caught it soon enough that she was in an out in a matter of days. She was home just in time to make the grocery list, do the shopping and start preparing Turkey Dinner :)

Juddy & Geoffrey graced us with their presence and we even had all of the Hitchcock's over on Turkey Dinner Eve. What a great visit!

Katy hosted Turkey Dinner this year and she rocked it! Her table was beautiful! The food was delicious - everyone brought the sides and desserts they were famous for. Unfortunately I'm paying for all of that deliciousness now :(

Lunch was followed by dinner at my mom's - yes, I HAD to eat twice! Ha! It was so good! I was certainly wobbling as the night came to an end (actually, I think I still am).

The day after, Geoffrey, Juddy, Reese & I braved the afternoon showers and hit up Hollywood Studios. We watched shows, a parade and even rode a few rides! Pie was a trooper! All she wanted was to see Woody & Buzz from Toy Story. She and I braved a line with a wait of 110 minutes to ride the Toy Story ride. I can't believe she made it! The entire time we waited she politely asked if I would buy her a Buzz that "lights up and talks to me". We completed the ride, bought Buzz and within 3 minutes she was asleep on my shoulder. Sweet, sweet girl...

Fishing with Uncle Geoffy

Stomping the poppers!

Mommer put us all to work...even little pie!

Well I certainly didn't get the height in the family!

All of the great grandkids - less Avonlea

Reese loves "baby Avonlea"

The parade @ Hollywood Studios

Pie refusing to smile during Fantasma

So tired but not giving up during her Toy Story ride!

Gobble Til You Wobble - Part 1

I really think I need to do a better job keeping up with this blog! So many fun things have gone on since I last posted, I'm not sure I can remember them all. Bear with me...

Reese and I headed to FL with the circus the second week of November to hang out with Nana and Poppy and to get a good does of the Florida sunshine. Nana had an entire week off and I've hit my slow season - what a treat for me & Pie! We had Nana all to ourselves except for her multitude of appointments. She managed to work us in her schedule and we shopped, played, explored, took long walks, visited, nuggled & watched movies. It was pretty great!

We had a visit from my hear friend Addy and her daughter Kate. We had a blast watching the girls play so well together. Their creativity and imagination never ceases to amaze me. Then it was a weekend with the twins - wowsa does Pie love her "boys"! We had only two days to recuperate before the Thanksgiving guests began to arrive...

Reese & Kate having a picnic

What will these two think of next?!

The birds! I forgot to mention we were attacked by - I mean we fed - the birds!

A Picnic in the driveway...

Pie loves picnics and for some reason she always asks for one after church. As we were leaving early service this morning she told me she wanted a picnic. Although sunny today, it's also pretty chilly and windy. I decided a trip to the beach was out of the question so I was able to negotiate a picnic in the driveway. We stopped at Fresh Market, picked out our goodies and headed home to enjoy the spread.

We had a blast! We snacked, ran, chased, rode a bike, laid in the sun, snuggled, laughed and chased some more. What a perfect Sunday!

Showing off her "go, go gators; fight, fight, fight!"

Happy Birthday Baby!

Dear Reese,

Today is your 3^rd birthday! Oh happy day, sweet pie!

I must say 3 never looked so cute J

This year has been full of changes for you. Your

vocabulary has exploded. You can carry on a conversation better

than some adults. It’s amazing to watch you learn the meaning of

a word & then use it in context in your own way. You very much

like to do things on your own & have become quite capable of doing

them.

You are a social butterfly! You greet each of your friends

& family by name and immediately tell them “it’s nice to see you”

or “welcome”. You sure do know how to make people feel special

and that you care about them. I treasure your sweet spirit.

You know for certain that God lives in your heart and that

warms my soul. You sing the blessing at meal times and say night

time prayers. What a love you are.

My favorite thing at this moment is when you say, on your

wwn accord, “I love you to the moon & back”. I’ve told you that ever

since you were born and it’s wonderful to hear you say it in return.

I continue to pray for your safety, that you will be a wise &

kind young lady, that you will know Jesus as your savior, that I will

be the example of a mother who loves, cherishes and teaches you all

kinds of wonderful things.

I love you to the moon & back, Pie. You’re my “favor” in the

whole world!

Love, Mommy

A kitchen! Oh boy!

Ironing - wait until she realizes it really isn't fun!

At Monkey Joe's - bounce house heaven

Birthday Bash Part 2 & Halloween

Here we go, finally, with more birthday pictures! I'm probably going to have to do two posts so they will all fit.

Needless to say, Reese takes after her mom with a week long birthday celebration. I didn't think the cake and prises were ever going to end! What a fun time we've had!

"Patiently" waiting to open 'prises

An umbrella & rain coat from Gramma - umbrella was the hit of the year!

Round two of gift opening

Hanging with Gigi

"Mommy this is just like your wine glass" - she's never been given a stemmed glass before!

Arnold family - Larry is NEVER in pics so I had to get him in!

Pie & Papa on the docks - Downtown Wilmington

A fairy princess - a grumpy one at that!

Loving on Dude - aka Uncle Jarrod

Look @ all this Halloween loot!