Christmas journeys - Part Two

I know I'm a little late on part two but I finally made it.....
So Christmas Eve we were ready to celebrate.

 Our journey took us to Aunt Cynthia's. And Mimi got some well needed cuddle time with her Gammie.

The traditional playing of cards was a fun time by all...except me. My time was coming though. I was able to play Christmas night.











Christmas Morning!!!! Santa left Mimi a rather large sized horse....this was definitely her favorite.

 Lauren got something to work on her drawing skills. She does so well with her drawing and loves all the how to books.













Next Christmas breakfast at Gamma and Papa's house....

Grapes are always on his menu!

Fun Felicity/American Girl stuff for our fun lover.

A few trucks for our truck lover.

A rabbit hutch for our animal lover.

Next stop....the Wilson Family lunch....

This year was cousin Jessie's turn to host.

Neat story about these ladies. They wore dresses that belonged to Jonathan's great grandmother's mom and her sister. They were beautiful!

Another antique dress.

My favorite part of the day. The kids were belting out hymns and Thomas sang his little heart out!

Christmas journeys - Part One

 So our annual Christmas adventure began this year with an early visit from one of Santa's helpers. The girls had asked for kittens for Christmas and these two cuties were sent to them a week before. Apparently they just couldn't wait until Christmas.

 The girls have been such good mommies to them. The white one is Pearl and the tan one is Peter Pan. We've been listening to Peter Pan in the car so of course Lauren jumped at the chance to use Peter's name. One of our close friends, Jamie,  has a cat named Pearl...and Emily is just in love with her Mrs. Jamie so .....Pearl it is!

 Mrs. Jamie and Mr. Steve also stopped by one day bringing Christmas gifts of books!! Thomas just loves the books they pick out for him.

 Our next stop was Saysa and Uncle Jim's house. Here the kids received their ornaments from Papa Mac and Mrs. Jacque. Every Christmas year the kids are excited to put up their keepsake ornaments from them.

You can see Emily has already attacked the cookies and cake.

 This year they also received water bottles with their names. They've been using them most days around the house.

 Thomas was excited about his ornament too!

 The girls oogled the cash for their new purses. I think Lauren was more focused on George Washington's picture.

 And of course, Thomas got some more vehicles for his collection. That boy and his obsession.

 It was a fun night with family and the kids had a great time.

 But the big finale was in the garage!!

 Bicycles for everyone!.. Well, I didn't get one...and Jonathan didn't either but all the little people did. And oh the love! The girls really needed replacements and these have been just perfect.

We did have a little trouble getting Thomas off of his. He sat on it for a good 20 minutes before finally coming inside.

It was a good time. I think about Dad a lot this time of year. He would have been so fun with them....more like obsessed with them. One day we'll be together again.

Our adventures continue...on to Christmas Eve!

oh Santa

Tonight the girls are having a sleep over with their Saysa and Uncle Jim. They have been taking them to Darwin Wright Park to see Santa at Christmas time. I need inside info on what Santa is going to bring so there are no duplicates ;)

Ballet..ballet...ballet..

My little ballarinas had their performance last night and they were just brilliant!!

Emily and her buddy Emma.

The girls were so excited about their performance and Emily was feeling a little 80's with the way she wanted to wear her head band. She is so funny. She worked so hard but every time she looked at me she got a little distracted. She was too busy smiling...such a happy little girl.

They were so cute dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Lauren was intense as always. She was busy watching the older girls practice and trying to remember her steps. She was so concerned with messing up.

In the end she was happy with her performance. She did remember her mistakes of course but wasn't too hard on herself this time. She performed the Chinese dance from the Nutcracker.

Thomas thoroughly enjoys the dancing. He always wants to walk in the middle of them and help out. We made sure he had his buddies with him...Mr. Skidsteer and Mr. Tractor.

We ended the night with Gamma, Papa, Papa Mac and Granny Mac at Joe's Restaurant for ice cream, of course!

Exploring our new backyard

We took a break from moving/unpacking and went exploring around our new home. We found several large rocks that the kids could pose on.

The woods on our property are just beautiful. There is a particular tree that Jonathan and I have named our favorite. It is a huge Beech tree. As with many things in nature it's size is difficult to capture in a picture. I'm looking forward to more attempts but for now..

There were so many beautiful things to see this time of year. Fall is definitely my favorite. It was a great time for the kids to find trees they wanted to identify as well as other neat finds.

I enjoy every morning I wake up here even though I'm exhausted from our move. Hopefully the move part of things will be over very soon. Until then I can still take a walk and see this.

Our week of fun

 I absolutely love Edisto Island. I remember coming here when I was little and exploring. Jonathan came here most years with his family. It's where we were engaged on one such family trip. And it's a place that I hope we can always go to for years to come.

This year was the first time that my little guy could fully embrace the beach experience. He is so cute in beach mode!

The girls equally enjoyed their beach bumming time. We even ventured off the island to Beaufort. It was a longer trip than expected but we had fun once we got there.

During high tide the girls brushed up on their checkers skills.













It is such a beautiful and unique place.

The Mystery Tree

My favorite thing at the beach to do is to watch the sun fall into the horizon over and over again.

The island has a really neat Serpentarium that added to our educational experience. It was so informative and the girls had a blast and were so brave.

My favorite picture from our trip.

Our last destination was one that I'd hoped would be one of our first. Botany Bay Plantation is an enchanting place. The beach is a half mile walk and has been left untouched. The shells that are there cannot be taken home so they are everywhere. And they are HUGE!! The kids enjoyed listening to the ocean in everyone they found.

 

It was a perfect ending to a fun week.