A little family fun...

My mom gave Emma & Evan some fireworks in their stockings for Christmas.  It is so unique to us because that is what my grandparents always had in our stockings along with fruit and candy and we loved it so my mom is carrying that tradition on with E&E.  I knew Emma probably wouldn't be a fan but we decided to see if Evan would hold a sparkler.  Much to my surprise he did and loved it.  I think he likes fire a little too much.  He's daddy is proud!  So, we went through a whole box in sparklers within probably 5 minutes.  He just kept wanting us to light another one.  Here are a couple pictures:

  

 

 

I was right about Emma.  She wanted no part.  As part of our Christmas from Justin's mom...she gave us passes to the Zoo that are good until sometime in 2015.  So, since we hadn't seen the lights and we had passes to get in free, we decided last minute to head to Columbia Friday night.  When I say last minute...we talked about it at about 4:00 and were in the car leaving by 4:30!  We ate supper in Columbia and headed over to the Zoo.  I don't have too many good pictures because I just took my phone and it didn't take good pictures with the flash.  Most of the animals were up for the night but E&E enjoyed the lights.  While in the "barn" part of the zoo...Emma dropped her paci in the cage with the turkey and I wasn't about to retrieve it...so she was a little upset the rest of the night. She kept crying pulling us back toward where the turkey was.  Needless to say on the way home we stopped for a new paci.  Here are the couple pictures I was able to take...

  

  

 

  

 

  

 

It was a fun little trip.  We had already planned to take a trip to Atlanta this spring to the Aquarium and to the Atlanta Zoo.  I think these passes will get us discounts there as well.  So, that should be a fun little weekend!  Well, one of my cuties is up from her nap...so blog time is over!!  Happy Saturday!!

 

 

Merry Christmas!

This has been a very busy last few days!  We celebrated Christmas with Justin's family over the weekend.  Emma & Evan got scooters from Jason & Ashley and they love them.  It amazed me that as soon as Justin put them together Emma & Evan jumped on them and took off.  I didn't know they had ever seen anyone ride a scooter but I guess maybe it comes naturally!  Then, we went to the Leopard gathering on Sunday.  Evan got pj's and Emma got a mermaid toy that you get to dress up.  She was pretty excited.  Tuesday...we spent the day getting ready for our annual Christmas Eve gathering.  Evan & Daddy went to town to finish up some last minute things.   Emma stayed home to help me cook Santa's sugar cookies.  I noticed she wasn't beside me anymore and this is what I found...

She had scooted her chair over to the junk food cabinet, pulled out the chips, dumped some on the counter, and was digging in.  She wasn't much help...but the cookies were delicious!!  After naptime, we dressed and headed to church to the Christmas Eve service. 

This has always been a special part of Christmas for us.  Emma didn't make it long in the service.  As soon as we started singing...she started crying for the car.  I am not really sure why she hates anything the least little bit loud!  Evan was super.  He sat there the whole time.  Daddy & Emma did get to come back in right at the end.  Then, we headed home for a meal!  I decided to actually cook this year since I had Tuesday off work and I even pulled out the Christmas china.

It's funny because Katie's comment to me was...Oh, I just figured we would have soup!"  I guess she doesn't think I can cook...but I proved her wrong!  We had pan seared steak, truffle mashed potatoes, salad, bread, and homemade sugar cookies.  It was pretty good if I must say so myself!  Just ask my dad!! :)  Alison & Nick don't get to come because Nick's family gathering is Christmas Eve night.  After that we put on our Christmas pj's and set out Santa's cookies and milk. 

Emma & Evan were ready for Santa!!

 

It didn't take long and they were out for the night so Mr. & Mrs. Claus got to work.  We set everything out and headed to bed ourselves.  Since we have been sick for over a week now and our nights were pretty much sleepless during this past week...we are all catching up!  About 7:30 Emma & Evan woke up.  We brought them in our room and opened our first gift...Baby Jesus!  I want them to remember this is the reason we celebrate in the first place.  So, we opened our gift and Daddy read us the Christmas story.

 

This year I have really been aware of the true meaning of Christmas.  I have seen LOTS of post on Facebook about people spending thousands of dollars on gifts that kids won't even play with in a few weeks and they never seem to even tell their children that the importance of season isn't gifts...it's Jesus!  So, we like to start out with this before they get their gifts!!  Then, we headed into the den to see our gifts!  Santa brought Evan a tractor, clothes, a play-dough toy, movies, and snacks.  He brought Emma a dune racer, clothes, a play-dough toy, a movie, and snacks.  They were pretty excited to see their gifts! 

MaMa and PaPa came over to see what Santa brought Emma & Evan.  Then, Mrs. Brown & DeeDee came over to give E&E a gift and Grammy & Pop stopped by to see what Santa brought too.  After lunch we headed to MaMa & PaPa's to have Christmas with my family.  Aunt Katie was anxious to see Emma & Evan's toys from Santa.  Since we had MaMa's rocking chair we could only fit the tractor in the back of Justin's truck so that was all we took.  Evan would get on the tractor but he wouldn't push the pedal to make it go.  So Aunt Katie rode it around the yard trying to encourage him.  It didn't work...but Emma jumped in the trailer and went for a ride.  I am sure this toy wasn't made for a 30 year old adult...but it held it's own!!

The food was yummy as always and E&E got more gifts.  Emma got snacks, fireworks, Princess Lego's, a baby crib, a high chair, a stroller, the Cinderella movie, tickets to the circus, savings bonds, & money.  Evan got snacks, fireworks, more building blocks, a leap frog game, 101 Dalmatians movie, circus Lego's, circus tickets, savings bonds, and money.  These kiddos truly had a good Christmas.  Me & Daddy had a pretty good Christmas too!  I bought myself a monogram machine with some of my bonus money and it arrived right in time for Christmas!  Merry Christmas to me!

 Everyone else gave me money so a shopping trip is in my near future!!  Justin got clothes, money, a Clemson jacket, a Clemson belt, snacks...and a surprise.  I am not sure if this is for Christmas or it might be an early anniversary present.  We got my dad and uncle tickets to the Richard Petty ride along at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.  So, we decided to get all the guys tickets too.  They get to ride along with a professional race car driver.  They aren't doing this until March.  So, we are making a weekend of it.  So, that is why I am not sure if it will be a early Anniversary gift or if it will just be part of Christmas.  Anyways...we ended our night with a bath and put on our new pj's!  Then, we settled in to watch 101 Dalmatians.  They made it through about 3/4 of the movie before they were knocked out!  I was very impressed they sat that long and watched the movie.  We might can make a trip to the movies before too long! :)  Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!

No time for sickness...

I am sitting here blogging instead of being at work because both of my sweeties aren't feeling too good.  Yesterday when I got home from work, I picked Evan up and could tell he had a fever!  So, that along with the cough he has, we headed to the doctor.  They tested him for the flu but that came back negative.  Thank Goodness!!  The doctor told me Evan's ears were red and prescribed an antibiotic but I am not sure if that meant they were infected or not.  So, we are loaded down with medicine!  Over in the night I got up to give Evan medicine and he was burning up!  About 45 minutes after I gave him the medicine he was still burning up.  So, we took his temp and it was 103.6 with medicine.  High fevers make me nervous!  Thanksfully this morning...it doesn't seem to be as high and he is playing like he feels fine.  Emma still doesn't act like she feels good either.  So, hoping this is all gone before Christmas.  We were sick last Christmas and that is no fun!!  Today, I was supposed to help with E&E's Christmas party at school.  So Justin in on duty with that.  Luckily the only things I had to bring were going to be bought today right before the party anyway.  But I did get their little ornaments ready for their classmates.  Remember we found these in the ocean back in the summer. 

 

I think they turned out cute!!

The cute little gift I ordered for my co-workers and Mrs. Melissa...E&E's teacher aren't getting here until Friday.  I ordered them back in the beginning  of December so when they hadn't shipped, I contacted the seller.  She said her whole family had had the flu so it delayed my gifts getting shipped.  So, Mrs. Melissa will just have to enjoy her gift next Christmas.  Anyway...we are just hanging around waiting to feel better.  Hope you guys are having a good Wednesday!!

Bake Baby Bake...

Welcome to the weekend!   Here's what we've done this weekend! Friday night was our annual D&F Christmas party at Stephen & Lori's house.  I look forward to this every year!  I just LOVE their house!  It is so normal to be so BIG!!!  Drinks were at 7:00 & supper was served at 8:00...so we left about 7:15 to head to Greenwood.  Momma was keeping E&E for us!  As soon as we finished with supper I happened to check my phone and see I had 2 missed calls from momma.  I knew something was wrong!  I picked up my phone to call her back and Justin's phone started ringing.  She was calling to tell us Emma was sick.  She was throwing up and Emma doesn't handle that well.  I think it scares her and she doesn't know what to do and that makes her being sick 10 worse than it would be normally!  So immediately we left and headed home.  We did take one picture of us though! 



Once we got home, I just held her for a while and she fell asleep.  So, she just slept with me & Justin for the night.  Thankfully she didn't get sick anymore once we got home.  We think she just ate too much Friday night.  So, we are hoping that was all it was.  Saturday morning we had planned to baked some goodies to take to a couple of people!  Since Emma seemed to be better...we went ahead with our plans.  Here are a couple pictures of us with our aprons on ready to cook!!

 

   

 

 And my sweet boy went with his daddy to the woods to check the trail cameras! I had him bundled up good!  This jacket was so puffy that it made his arms stand out!  Haha...but he didn't get cold!!

 

And here are our supplies.  We made pretzels dipped in chocolate, Ritz crackers dipped in chocolate, hay stacks, and peanutty white chocolate snack mix.  The pretzels were supposed to be decorated with icing...but since I couldn't get it to work right...we just skipped that part!! :) 

  

Momma came to help us with our baking!  And once Daddy and Evan got back home from the woods...Evan joined in on the fun!  

 

One more picture of my sweet boy!!

And here are our finished products.  I added some hot chocolate and a Christmas card and they were ready for delivery.  Since it was so late when E&E got up from their naps...they both slept over 4 hours...that we were only able to deliver one tonight. The other two will be delivered tomorrow.  After that we headed to O'Charleys for supper and to ride around and look at lights.  Every time we would pass a house lit up Evan would say..."Look at the lights right there!".  He was excited!  So, that was our weekend!  Tomorrow we have our Sunday school party and Emma & Evan have their Sunday school party.  They have to wear their pj's to church tomorrow night.  Thank goodness MaMa gave them new Christmas pjs to wear!! :)  Good night!!!

Hollywild...

Well, I promised an update on the Hollywild trip.  It wasn't near as much fun as I thought it would be.  Don't get me wrong...we had a great time...Evan was just terrified of the animals and that was a disappointment.  Evan LOVES animals especially cows.  Actually we bribe him with the cows at my parents house all the time.  So, I just knew this would be something he loved.  I also knew this wouldn't be something Emma liked but I wouldn't dare leave her at home.  So, here is how the night went.  We left Greenwood about 5:15.  We stopped at Zaxby's for supper and headed on to Hollywild.  We all piled in the back of the truck.  I left Emma in the front with Justin because like I said before...I knew she wouldn't be a fan of the animals coming up to her.  We started down the lighted path and everything was going good.   Here is a picture of all of us loaded up in the back.  Even baby Adrian was back there. 

 

And a picture of me with my sweet boy!!

 

Evan was fine until he saw the first cow and he panicked!  Granted this was the largest cow EVER!!!  What do you think??

         
So, I put him up front with Justin as well.  Bennett did great with the animals and wasn't scared at all.  After a while a zebra came over to us and I got a picture of him.

Then, I realized I should probably go up front with the rest of my family!  This is what I saw when I got up front.  Emma refused to get out of her car seat.  She was hiding her face saying "NO".

Evan was much more relaxed up there but he still didn't want the animals coming up to him.  I guess he only likes animals at a distance.  Or maybe he felt safer with his Daddy!  I will admit...his momma wasn't a fan of the animals either.  Especially when they are that big!

 

     

Emma even lightened up and got out of her car seat toward the end of the trip.  After we left the field, we went to walk around the area with more animals.  Evan still wouldn't have much to do with the animals.  So, see it wasn't the trip I had expected but we had a good night hanging with friends and their sweet babies!! 

 

In other news...we went to the fabric place in Williamston today and it was definitely worth the drive.  I have all the stuff I need for Emma's room now.  We have fabric for curtains and pillows, new sheets, new wall hangings, and ribbon for her initials.

  I can't wait to get it all up. I have painted her initials and tied them up with the ribbon and hung the wall hanging.  And of course I took a picture of the initials...because I LOVE them!! 

I will be sure to post more pictures after my mom gets the curtains made.  I also was very crafty Friday afternoon and made me a Christmas wreath!  This is WAY unnormal for me!! I don't do things like this.  I normally just get Katie to do it for me.  It really turned out good though!  Don't you think???

It looks way better in person though!!  Anyways...that was our weekend!  Hope you guys have had a good weekend!!

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday to me!!!

So, yesterday me & Katie had a milestone birthday!  Yep...we are now 30 years old!  Wow...it seems like we were just turning 21!  Time has to be going faster than it was when I was younger.  So, how did I celebrate my day??  Well, this is what I got when I went to work first thing Tuesday morning. 

Apparently my co-workers think 30 is old!  I thought 30 was the new 20!!  Then, as I walked down the halls...this is what I see...

    

 

  

 

 

My mom gave them pictures of me and they made these cute little posters and hung them on every door in the building.  I wasn't expecting it this year.  It is normally only done when people turn 40 but since most of my co-workers won't be there when I turn 40...I guess they thought they had to get me this year.  It was all in good fun though.  It is crazy how many of them thought now think Evan looks like me!  Especially after seeing the first picture!  Then, at cake time...they proceeded to light 30 candles on my cake!  I surprised them all when I blew them all out on my first try!  That wish is coming true!!  Then, when I got back to my desk...I had this cute picture from Mrs. Melissa at school saying Happy Birthday Mommy!  

 

Then, last night we went over to my parents for a little family celebration.  We had a low country boil and it was yummy as always!  It was just our family. George, Justin's mom and step-dad, and Matt's mom and dad.  Katie took some pictures on her camera of the night since I left mine and my cell phone at home but she hasn't sent them to me yet.  They won't make my blog anyway...since I looked horrible in them.  My make-up was totally gone and I was not a fan of my outfit...so those pictures can just stay unseen as far as I am concerned!  It was overall a good day!!  So a lot of plans for the next few weekends have gotten changed.  We are now going fabric shopping Saturday morning because my mom's Sunday school party is Friday night and she has to help decorate.  We are still planning on going to Hollywild Friday night.  Our progressive supper that was scheduled for Saturday night got moved to closer to Valentine's day.  Our weekend trip to the mountains with KG that was supposed to be next weekend got moved to either sometime in January or February.  So, it looks like we won't be as busy as we had planned...and I like that!! :)  Be sure to check back for a blog post about the Hollywild trip!!  Happy Wednesday!!