Merry Christmas!

It hasn't really felt much like Christmas around here this year, with all of the moving in and out of hotels and now the house. But Monday that changed.  We loaded up and drove to Lexington to hang out with the Fraylicks on Christmas Eve.

Kate and Mason really cleaned up at Nan and Pop's. Seriously, we could have just stopped there.

This was our first year without Gramma, and consequently, not packed into a small house/apartment. Gramma really loved the holidays, especially Christmas. And we were always together on Christmas eve. Differences aside, she knew that the holiday was all about family, and she loved us all so dearly.  This year we celebrated at Cheryl and Kerry's. Most of us were able to make it.  We're still a pretty cool crowd.  The cousins are all grown up:

But there are a few new faces ready to bring some excitement to our gathering:

I think they enjoyed themselves.

Then we drove back to Greenville for the night, where Don created some wonderful memories of assembling an art desk at midnight. Here we are - all done and ready to head off to bed. 
 

 Kate was a little slow to wake up the next morning.

But was creating art masterpieces in no time.

The new art desk gives her plenty of space to make a mess work.

Mason? He just wanted to play with Kate's art supplies (markers). So the tables were turned. Last year she wanted all of his toys. This year he wanted all of hers. He had colored his hands orange and blue and added a beauty mark to the side of his face before we left for Hartsville.

Finally at the (other) Meredith's. Or would that be at the original Meredith's? He found a toy to love. It made truck noises and had a tool box. That's really hard to beat.

Unless, of course, there are markers.

It had been too long since we'd seen Don's parents, so it was nice to catch up.

I even got a halfway decent picture of the kids together.

 I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas and were able to spend it with the people you love, and love you, the most.

 

The Birthday Post

This post is dedicated to the little princess and her birthday fun. I will be sure to update soon with all of the other goings on of our family. Now that we are out of extended stay and have internet in the house, it makes posting a little more feasible.

What a wonderful day for our birthday girl. Wearing her princess dress, of course.

Kate's very best friend, Brynn came all the way from Lexington to celebrate. How sweet is that!?

And the Cake? Nothing but the most expensive princess cake we could find for her royal highness.  I could have gotten her a more reasonably priced cake, but she had been talking about this particular Publix cake since her last birthday and would have been heartbroken with anything else.  It was fabulous, and not nearly as gaudy as I expected.  Those cakes they have on the wall don't look nearly as good as the fresh ones. Who would have guessed?!

Mason. Sitting at the big table. Waiting patiently for cake.

Why play with Loopsies when you can be a Loopsy?

Thanks Brynnie!

 

And, what birthday would be complete without the Minnie Mouse Bow-tique.  The toy she had been asking, begging, and talking about for months.

I took a lot of pictures of Minnie Mouse that night. Still am, actually. Glad Santa is bringing her a present that will get me off the hook for picture taking.

Mason was happy to have a boy to play with. Or just anyone to play with probably. Will is Brynn's brother and loved pushing Mason on Thomas the Train.

What a great day for this happy girl!

And of course Nan and Pop came. You know, to their house. :)

And so... full steam ahead into Christmas!

The Princess is FOUR!

It's been a great year for our little princess. Here's hoping her 5th year is even better!

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Still Here

Yes, in case you wondered what had happened to us, we're still around. Life's been a little nutty. Probably not nutty enough to excuse no blog posts for a few weeks. So, maybe this lazy little post will be just what I need to jumpstart my blogging again. Don't hold your breath, though.

So, what have we been up to that has taken so much time away from the blog?

We went to Art's house and jumped on the trampoline with Laurie. I'm just sorry he wasn't there to enjoy it.  He would have loved it - and loved that my kids are so funny and challenging. K and M couldn't get enough of the trampoline.  We also played with sticks, did some swinging, and played in the sandbox. It was nice to catch up with Laurie too.

The kids read quietly in Kate's room. No screaming. No biting.  This moment may have been measured in seconds, but lets pretend it was in minutes.

Three of us "moved" to Greenville.  Into extended stay that is. Kate is a HUGE fan.  "I get to stay FIVE nights in a hotel!" Yay. Can you tell I'm excited? I guess this also implies that I started my job. So far so good. My biggest challenge was trying to figure out how to operate a newer version of Microsoft Office than I had at DHEC. State government. Rest assured we didn't spend your taxpayer dollars on software upgrades.

We ate at the Mellow Mushroom and Kate took 15 photos at dinner and decorated them with the PBS Kids app. I should dedicate an entire post to her photography skills. Lately she wants to take a picture of everything. No wonder I never have enough memory on my phone to take pictures.

We shopped at Whole Foods and Trader Joes here in Greenville.  I'm a fan. Of both. Especially the Candy Cane Joe Joe's at Trader Joe's.

And then we came home to the Moo - who spent the week with Nan.  Today he went to daycare.  This week will deserve its own post.  Until then....

The Great Recovery

We spent the weekend recovering from a "fun" little stomach bug that has been going around.  We're not sure who started all of this, but my money is on Mason.  Kate was sick Thursday, me Friday, and Don Saturday.  I think we're mostly back to normal now, and set to enjoy our holiday week, and our last week in Lexington. Bittersweet. 

Mason is in love with Jessie from Toy Story.  He has been stealing Kate's for weeks now.  She has a string in her back and he would pull it and laugh and then put his little finger to his mouth and say "shhhh." I think as in Shhhh Jessie, or Kate will come and take you back.   Because Kate pitches such a fit when he gets his hands on her, Nanna just bought him one.  What a happy boy.

Mason made a cute turkey in preschool. If you ask him what the turkey says? Hooo Hooo. No sweetheart. It is a turkey, not an owl. Now he loves to say it, even if he does know the turkey says "Bobble Bobble."

On Saturday, while Don was taking his turn, Kate and I did an art project while Mason napped.

Thanks to my friend Wendy for showing me that you can pull out a hodge podge of shapes and stickers and markers and paint.. add a little glue stick and you're good to go for a while.  I even threw in feathers and glitter, and she had a blast. And cleanup was really not that bad.

Mason is not exactly crazy about crafty projects (at school), but he does like to eat and throw crayons.

We watched the game. Mason wore his new shirt.

And then tonight we did movie night.  Love these two. Movie night pileup on our bed is becoming one of my favorite things.