Sunday's Events

Derick and I, along with another couple, hosted a Christmas party at our house Sunday afternoon. It was so much fun! We had about 25 adults and lots of kids. Most of the people were from our church, but we also included our neighbors. It was a great way to kick off the week.

Because our family Christmas sometimes gets lost in the Georgia shuffle, we decided to give and receive gifts on Sunday night. After the girls were ready for bed, we surprised them with their gifts!! It was fun, low-key, and perfect.

Here we are with our loot . . .

Caroline is holding up a box in the picture up above - inside is an "air swimmer." Below is the end product . . .

Bruce is a remote-control, helium-filled shark. He's ALOT of fun - and little scary sometimes, too!

Christmas is off to a great start!

Cause We're Very Very Busy and We've Got A Lot To Do!

Wow! What a weekend. Here's a whirl-wind tour of the past 3 days!

The first grade had an awards ceremony. Caroline received the "Super Spellers" award for making perfect scores on all of her spelling tests. She was also recognized for perfect attendance. Doesn't she look happy about it?

Friday night was our Girl Scout troop meeting and investiture ceremony. Saturday afternoon (after play practice) the girls (and Derick and I) walked in the Aberdeen Christmas parade. We are super glad that Mattie and Caroline are in the same troop this year. Mattie is a Jr. Girl Scout and Caroline is a Daisy.

Tonight was the children's Christmas play at our church. We spent most of the weekend at the church preparing for the play.

Mattie was Penny Pine, and her part had a great deal of speaking. She was hilarious. This part was as if it was hand written for her!

See above: Derick made Mattie a cardboard vest to hold that pine tree up. Yes, the pine tree is attached to Mattie.

See below: Caroline also had a speaking role. She was a child who came to the Christmas tree lot to choose a tree.

At the end of the play, the Christmas trees returned. They were all damaged from the greedy or over-zealous families who forgot to bring Christ into their homes for Christmas. Mattie's family managed to get a VCR taped wrapped around her "best branch, permanently disabling her."

It was a great weekend, but we are all exhausted. Good night.

Must Be Christmas . . .

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at our house.

The girls decorated their tree with pink and purple cupcake ornaments . . .

And wrote letters to Santa . . .

Caroline mailed the letter to Santa . . .

And Derick decorated the house for me. No scrooges here!!

And tonight was Caroline's Christmas program at school. Beautiful!

It must be Christmastime!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Instead of traveling for Thanksgiving, we hosted 3 other families at our house. We had a great time!! There was so much food . . . here's the after math.

There were 8 kids . . . here are 6 sitting at the kids' table. The other two are under a year old (and super cute, too)!

After we ate, the older kids had these "cracker" packs that they popped apart. Inside were gifts and these paper crowns. Thanksgiving was a beautiful day and the kids enjoyed playing outside (thank goodness).

From left to right: Clark, Mary Ellen, Mattie, Olivia, Caroline and Jenelle.

On Friday, we went to Durham to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. It was great! And we enjoyed Durham, too. I hope to go back there again. Here is a close up of the girls with the stage in the back ground.

Our friends, the Lovings, visited from D.C. and stayed with us Wednesday-Saturday. On Saturday morning, the guys played golf while the girls did some shopping. We stopped by the bookstore in Southern Pines. After that, this is what the little girls did . . .

It was a wonderful weekend with many reasons to give thanks. Now we are working on Christmas decorations, and our house looks like Christmas has exploded. Yikes!

Oh, and also, ROLL TIDE!

Turkey Trot

Mattie has been training all fall (with her classmates) for the Pinehurst Turkey Trot 5k. The race was this past Saturday. Derick decided to participate, too. It was COLD!

Before the race...

Pinehurst Elementary Turkies preparing to trot . . . Mattie is 3 from the right side in the black hat. She finished in the top half of her age group!

Caroline (and Mattie's) Girl Scout Troop volunteered at a water station for the Turkey Trot, so Caroline and I worked during the race. It was a fun experience!

Holding up Gatorade for the runners to grab . . .

Thanksgiving with Caroline

I enjoyed a Thankgiving program, courtesy of Caroline's class, on Friday. We were treated to some great Thanksgiving songs and snacks. Each child had a placemat for the feast. Here's Caroline's. That is a big turkey-those 4 pilgrims and that 1 Indian are going to eat well!

My camera was a hit with the 1st graders - especially when I let them do some picture taking!

The cutest turkey on the planet . . .

Morrow Mountain State Park

We finally had an opportunity to go camping over Veterans' Day weekend! We found a beautiful state park, and we look forward to going back there many times. Here are some photos from our trip.

The girls at Lake Badin en route to Morrow Mountain State Park . . .

We enjoyed a morning hike along the river. Here are the ducklings following daddy . . .

Tarzan and the rest of his family took some turns swinging on this riverside vine . . .

This huge tree was a magnet to daddy and his ducks . . .

After our hike, we did some fishing from the pier . . .

Walking Field Trip

I chaperoned a walking field trip with Mattie's class today. We learned all about the history of Pinehurst. When we went to the Carolina Hotel, we found a surprise!!

Santa was there seeing children. This is the first picture I have of Mattie with Santa in YEARS.

Mattie, Grace, Holden and Noah were in my group of kids. They were great!

When you come to Pinehurst, I will share the new-found history with you!

Mattie's 10th Birthday Party

Last Friday the girls' school celebrated Veteran's Day (it was also hat day). The school had a ceremony during which the veterans were recognized. It was also Grands day, and mom and dad were able to join us in the cafeteria for breakfast.

But the main event took place at 5:30 in the afternoon! Mattie and 17 of her closest friends celebrated her 10th birthday.

Mattie designed her own cake, and the local cake shop was able to use her design exactly . . .

The real fun began once the Rolling Video Game truck showed up. It parked in our driveway. . .

After posing, the kids went inside the truck to play video games. The truck included 4 widescreen TVs, 4 gaming systems and lots of video games. Here are the girls playing Mario Kart . . .

Mattie had a great time. A friend brought her a sash that said, "Little Miss Birthday Girl."

Birthday success!!

Trick-or-Treat, Mattie is 10!!!

The morning of the 31st started with the obligatory candle-in-the-breakfast-food...

We had a very full schedule, so Mattie opened all of her birthday gifts at breakfast. . .

In the afternoon, it was full-on Halloween. First, we attended a party at a friend's house. Then we headed to the church for a carnival. Finally, we did some trick-or treating on our street. . .

It was a great day!!

2 Birthdays and Some Pumpkin

Grandaddy and Nita visited us for a long weekend of birthday celebrating and fun. On Friday, we were excited to celebrate Grandaddy's birthday with him. While everyone else worked or went to school, the 3 of us messed around in Pinehurst and Southern Pines. Friday evening we had a delicious meal (courtesy of Derick). Grandaddy and Derick played a round of birthday golf at Talamore Resort the next morning, while all of the girls went to see Puss In Boots at the movies.

Saturday afternoon we all went for ice cream at The Ice Cream Parlor in Southern Pines. While there, Mattie opened her gifts from G & N. Just as we headed to church this morning, G & N headed back to GA...

After church, the girls carved their pumpkins. Caroline is a little grossed out by pumpkin guts.

So is Mattie . . .

But, with lots of help from Daddy, the end result was perfect!!

Does anyone else see the irony in a pumpkin wearing horns and a pumpkin with a cross? I just noticed that!!! Not planned . . . but good just the same.

Pig-n-Pik and Pumpkin Farm

After church Sunday, we met our friend Andrea and her two girls for a Sunday-afternoon adventure. It was a beautiful autumn day. Here's what we did!

First stop, Pig-n-Pik at the Carthage, NC airport. We ate on the patio. (A small disaster occurred when we received our food. A yellow jacket and about 200 million gnats joined us). The air traffic was busy and we ate near the runway where we all enjoyed watching small planes land and take off. We will definitely go back - and so will you if you visit us!

At the Pig beside the runway...

Then we moved on to the pumpkin patch. We stayed there all afternoon! The girls enjoyed the playground and a huge jumpy thing. We all took a hayride and enjoyed learning about the working farm. Finally, we chose and purchased our pumpkins.

When we got home, the girls decorated their pumpkins. We use these face parts first - then we carve the pumpkins right before Halloween.

Mattie and her finished pumpkin . . .

Caroline and her finished pumpkin . . .

The girls imitating their pumpkin faces . . .