Christmas at AG's school

I had a wonderful time at AG's Christmas party at school on Friday. The children sung us a few sweet songs. You could tell they had practiced and worked so hard on them. They started with "Go Tell it on the mountain", then they sung a cute snow man song...complete with a real carrot nose. They ended the show with "We wish you a merry Christmas". It was simple and so sweet.

The day before the party AG and I made a birthday cake for Jesus to take to the party. AG pausing to smile and then mix the ingredients together.


Pouring in the oil.


Sneaking a taste of the batter...the best part!


The birthday cake! AG enjoyed decorating it with icing and lots of sprinkles after it came out of the oven. Here is the completed cake. She was proud of it and ready to take it to school!


All of the kids waiting for the next song to start. They were so cute and precious to watch.


Singing about the snow man with the carrot nose. They all have their carrot noses on.


Time to eat!!


AG and Maddie eating together


Time to open presents from friends!


I am glad I was able to go to the Christmas party. It was a special treat and a highlight of my day!

Cutting down the tree...

Where do people in Florence go to cut down their Christmas tree?? They go to Conway of course!

Last Saturday we had a wonderful "family" day. Sage, Wes, Wyatt, and Walker joined our family on a trip to a Christmas tree farm in Conway to cut down a live tree. We had a wonderful day together.

When we first got to the farm, this is what we saw...
Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus....I loved it.


Riding on a hay ride to find our tree!


AG and Wyatt enjoyed sitting on the floor of the hay ride.


Which tree should we pick?
AG and Wyatt had the best time running around and chasing each other thru the trees. We had a great time watching them.
Christmas is so much fun thru the eyes of a child.


We found our tree!! AG is standing in front of the tree before Thomas and the driver cut it down.


Thomas and the driver cut down our tree.


Wes and Wyatt found a tree.


Timber!


Loaded up with Christmas trees and ready to head back.


One of the favorite parts of our day? There was a pecan tree and nuts had fallen all over the ground. AG and I enjoyed cracking the pecans and eating them.

What a fun day! We enjoyed a nice lunch at a local deli in Conway. We had a fun time.
Thomas and Wes rode together in the truck. Here is a picture of them headed home with the Christmas trees in tow. Sage and I rode with the kids in her car.


and then...we got the tree home. We finally got it in the house and found a spot for it to reside for Christmas.

Thomas stringing up the lights...


The tree is slowly getting decorated....lights and a few ribbons


Thomas taking a break....


Ta Da! I wish the picture weren't blurry. The tree did turn out nice.


Christmas is almost here....12 days and counting....Merry Christmas!

Cousin Eddie

Well, our Sunday School class had our annual Christmas party last Friday night. We had a great time laughing, eating, and hanging out with some great friends. We always bring a gift for the white elephant gift exchange and our favorite appetizer/sweet to share. Before the party our friend Katie asked Thomas and me if we would do something funny this year - like wear something funny and be completely serious about it. Well, we thought that sounded like a great idea, so Thomas dressed up like cousin Eddie from "Christmas Vacation". I found a black turtleneck at Wal Mart. We cut it into a dickie. Then I found a white (ladies) dress sweater at Wal Mart. It looked perfect with the black dickie underneath. Thomas looked great and he was such a good sport! We had a great time "fooling" our friends. You should have seen some of their faces when we walked in the door. They would start to laugh or ask what was up with the outfit. Thomas would reply, "What? You don't like my Christmas sweater?"

It was great!

What's so funny, Marsha? This is my real Christmas outfit.


Sandy checking out Ray's white elephant gift.


Everyone laughing at some of the gag gifts.


Thomas and Kyle


Katie, me, Sandy and Trena by the stairs


Beth laughing....at her gift!!
It was the hit of the party!


What a great night!! It is always fun to get together with friends and have fun!
What a great Sunday School class we have!! We are blessed!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. It was so nice to be in Greenville surrounded by friends and family who love us. It is always fun to be around the people who know us best. We were able to spend a few nights with Thomas' parents. His entire family (on his dad's side) came over to eat Thanksgiving dinner with us. It was great to see everyone and spend time with them. Then we headed to the lake house with my parents. We celebrated Thanksgiving again with them. Sage, Wes and the boys joined us. It was nice to get away, relax and spend some much needed quality time with family.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of Thomas' family. However, I did get a few pictures of my family.

My mom bought Wyatt and AG a "Little People" MayFlower, pilgrim and indian set to play with. She also bought them the "Little People" nativity to play with. They had a ball playing with both sets. Their favorite?? The MayFlower of course!


Relaxing after a filling meal.
Dad, Thomas (reading the paper), Sage and Wes


Anna Grace is telling Big Pop a story!
My grandmother and aunt Henrietta wait for us to start our family tradition of telling what we are thankful for.


One of the best parts of our trip for the girls??
Mom, Sage and I went shopping in Commerce at the outlets!
We had a wonderful time and got a lot of shopping done.

When we got back my mom wanted to take a few family photo shots for her Christmas card. Here is a sample of what she got.
The Whole Crew -
Wes, Wyatt, Sage and Walker, Grandma(mom's mom), me, Thomas
Dad, AG, Mom


One of the highlights for the guys??
Going to the Clemson/Carolina game. The girls stayed behind (in the warm house), while the guys braved the weather and headed to the Clemson game...

The best part for ALL of us?!? CLEMSON WON!!!!!! WOOO HOOOO!!!!

After the game, Wyatt and AG enjoyed a bath together...a nice, hot BUBBLE BATH!


Grandma enjoyed holding baby Walker


We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
AG enjoyed a trip to see Disney Princess on ice with Gram and Gramps before we headed back to Florence. She enjoyed it so much!!

The worst part of the trip?!?
The traffic on the way home. What should have been a three hour trip turned into almost 6 hours in the car. The traffic was bumper to bumper from 385 to 26 to Columbia. It was start and stop the whole way to Columbia and was miserably slooow.
Let's just say we finally pulled into the driveway around 9:30pm that night (when we should have been home at 7pm) and Thomas and I were hardly speaking and AG threw up....it wasn't the perfect ending to our trip, but we had a wonderful weekend with everyone!

Wyatt is 3!

November 20, 2005


Today

My nephew Wyatt is 3! I can't believe he is 3 already.
I still remember when Sage called to tell me she was in labor. We were living in Sumter, but had already bought our house in Florence and were moving in 2 weeks! We couldn't wait to be closer to Sage, Wes and Wyatt so that our children could grow up together. It seems like just yesterday and it is hard to believe it has already been 3 years. Wow!

The new family picture on November 20, 2005


Sage, Wyatt and Wes today
(Walker left with my parents)


A few more pictures from the day Wyatt was born....
Aunt Kayne holding Wyatt for the first time.


Anna Grace meeting Wyatt for the first time.
So sweet. AG couldn't wait to hold the baby!


My dad (Big Pop) holding Baby Walker at Wyatt's birthday party today at the park.


The cake Sage made - a caterpillar


Everyone eating hot dogs and cake


Ethan and AG crossing over troll bridge


Sage with the boys under the tree


Aunt Sage and AG


AG, Krista, Wyatt and Micah play with their new horses in the sand.


After the party we spent the day at Wyatt's house. We enjoyed watching him open his presents and then everyone went down for a nap or went shopping. Mom and I went shopping and when we came back to Sage's house, Thomas was asleep on the couch, Sage and Wes were out shopping and Wyatt was still asleep. We found Big Pop and AG having a special tea party in the kitchen. Big Pop made hot chocolate for them to share with AG's favorite food - oranges. What a special moment.


We had a wonderful day celebrating the birth of Wyatt! What a special boy he is and is becoming.
Wyatt, we are so happy God brought us to Florence and allowed us to be a part of your life. It has been amazing getting to know you these past three years. You are such an amazing young man and I love hearing what your mommy and daddy are teaching you. I also love to hear about your love for God and Jesus. I love your sweet conversations you have with your parents, us and Anna Grace. I love watching you and Anna Grace together. You have such a sweet, special love for each other. We enjoyed spending your special day with you and look forward to many more birthdays in the future!!