Thanksgiving

We headed to NC for Thanksgiving! So much fun as always! We stayed for a week! We visited with aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and friends. It was great. Our trip started out kind of bumpy! We were supposed to leave Saturday morning but Ava came home from school Friday with a temp of 104! :( She was so sick with a sinus infection. By Saturday morning she was feeling better with the antibiotics. Too tired and weak to travel so we had to leave Sunday. On Monday Griffin had a constant fever. We took him to urgent care, he had a double ear infection! And Sarah-Tate had strep! Ha! Crazy!

The girls spend time with Aunt Sharon. She did a sewing project with them. They made pot holders, purses and dolls! Aunt Sharon and Uncle Bob are always so much fun! The girls also helped Aunt Sharon put up her Christmas tree! They loved it and so did Aunt Sharon! :)

We also went to Ava and Sarah-Tate's favorite place to eat Asiana! Aunt Sharon, Uncle Bob, Matthew, GiGi and Poppy! It was super yummy! The girls ate so much food! Their GiGi was shocked!

We had a yummy meal on Thanksgiving! Aunt Lillie came over as well as mom's family. It was so nice! We always have so much terrific food! YUM!

Mom and I did our usual day after Thanksgiving shopping. We seem to beat the crowds! So nice! We go early and leave by lunch to come home!

On Friday afternoon we got a wonderful visit with my cousins Aaron, Bryan, Ashley, Claire and Reese! Bryan and his family live in Atlanta, it was so great to see them!!

As always the time passes too quickly when we are home! :(

Happy Tuesday!

January is almost over...

Fall is my favorite season, it passes so quickly! Crazy!

Run down of the fall/winter activites!

October we went trick or treating with some friends in our neighborhood. The kids had a great time. Ava was a black cat, Sarah-Tate was Belle and Griffin was Batman. Cute. They get a crazy amount of candy!! Between school parties and trick or treat we have candy for a month!

I made these cute treats for school parties!

Ava did a book report on Junie B. Jones for her Halloween dress up at school! So cute!

So sad that I am just doing this post and it is the end of January! Happy Tuesday!

Fall.....

I love Fall! I love pumpkin everything, cool weather, decorations, college football, fresh apples and Pumpkin Spice Lattes! Love it! Things are in full swing with the kids. Ava has Zumba on Mon, Art class on Tues, Brownies on Wed and Gymnastics on Thurs. Sarah-Tate has Ballet and Tap on Thurs. Griffin is in preschool 2 mornings a week. He loves it!

Sarah-Tate had a birthday party in Sept. We invited the girls from her class and a few other friends. She had wanted a Pump-It-Up party but they were all booked so we just did a pool party at our house. So much fun! Her theme was My Little Pony Princess. We had lots of food, drinks, pizza and yummy rainbow cupcakes! All the girls had so much fun swimming!

Cute girls!  Fun party!!!!!

School days....

Wow, the summer flew! I always feel it goes quickly but I think this summer went really fast. I miss the kids so much when school starts back. The house is so quiet. It is strange!

Ava is in 2nd grade. For K and 1st she looped up with the same teacher and same class. This year she got a whole new class and teacher! She was a little nervous the first day but excited that her daddy got to take her in! She loves her new teacher Ms. Relaford. She also has a few friends in her class...Kierston, Mia, Sydney, Alex and Connor. I was shocked they had homework the first week. I think Ava was too! She is signed up for Zumba and Acrojax as well as Art. Oh and Brownies! It will be a busy year!

Sarah-Tate started VPK. We love her new school. Her teachers are awesome and the class seems really great. She didn't even cry or seem concerned when I left. She just smiled and said good bye! I was worried. At her old school she cried often. :( She has already made lots of new friends! We hear about Sadie, McKenzie, Sophia, Rowan and Eliza. She is the tallest kid in her class, the first day someone thought she was a 1st grader! Ha! My kids are all so tall. Not sure how? She is also doing an awesome job writing her name! Yay! We have worked on it all summer. She does it but in her time. At school she has done it everyday. She is also coloring awesome.

Griffin will start school 2 days a wk after Labor Day. He and I have had quality time. Today we did the library story time and then puzzles for about an hr. It was so much fun. Normally I feel so stressed or in such a hurry. Nice to just have him and time to kill.

Happy Thursday!

Birthdays and stuff....

I totally missed the post on Ava's Birthday!?!?! We had a small party this year instead of a big class party. Ava invited Sarah-Beth, Dominique, Ragan, Sydney, Summer and Sara to go the movies and see Arriety for her birthday! She had a Monster High Cake and cute lollipop party favors. The movie was great and the girls were wonderful! After the movie we came back to our room, had cake and opened presents. Ava's teacher, Ms. Helms and her daughter Katlyn came. Ava was so excited! She got lots of Monster High stuff! Gigi and Poppy also came to visit and go to your party!

I cannot believe Ava is 7! These years have gone so quickly! It seems just like yesterday I was at Dr Boyd's office and he said I had to be induced the next day! Crazy!!! Ava was so tiny when she was born 6lbs 2 oz!!! We had to go buy premie clothes to fit her! We were both so nervous! It was crazy to be so nervous b/c I had always taken care of kids? I think I expected her to be bigger and not so petite and fragile!

I am so blessed to have Ava bean in my life. She is such a ray of sunshine. Always a big helper. Always watching out for her little brother and sister. Ava makes me smile each and everyday! She also makes me want to be a better person. I love you Ava bean! I am glad you had a wonderful birthday! I hope all your birthdays are magical.....

Christmas and other stuff....

Wow, such a long time without blogging! Well, Christmas was wonderful! We headed to NC to be with my family this year. That is getting harder and harder! We have 3 kids, a dog, the 2 of us, all our luggage and then all the presents! Wow, our van was FULL! But, we made the trip and the kids were beyond excited to be at the farm for Christmas! We had a full schedule as always! The first night my aunts, uncles, brother, sisterinlaw and cousin came up for supper. The next day was shopping and last minute stuff. Saturday, Christmas Eve we spend the day cooking for a mid-afternoon lunch/dinner. I made hashbrown casserole, poppyseed salad and made from scratch red velvet cake! YUM! The cake was almost a disaster b/c Mr Griffin upped the temp on my mom's oven! Thankfully I smelled it before it was too late. He is a mess!

We had a wonderful get together! My sweet 92 year old mamaw came! I love her and miss her so much! Wish we lived closer!

Christmas Day was wonderful! The kids got an overload of STUFF! Ava and Sarah-Tate were so proud and happy to finally have an American Girl Doll from Santa! They both asked for Kanani, doll of the year! They also got games, dolls clothes, books and the list goes on and on! Griffin got a John Deere Tractor from my mom and dad that he can ride on! Oh, that was it for Griffin! He is obsessed with that thing! Loves it! After presents we had our traditional breakfast of biscuits, gravy, bacon, sausage, eggs, grits and homemade jelly. Once everyone was settled mom and I went to visit Mamaw were she is staying. She is so cute, I hope I live to be 92 and have all my kids love me as much as we love her.

On Sunday Ava had a sleepover with her cousin Caroline. She had waited all week for this special moment! They were all so cute and excited!

Funny how you plan for so long but the trip is so, so fast! When we got back into town Matt's mom and dad came up from Sarasota! It was nice seeing them. The kids were excited of course for round 2 of Christmas! Unfortunately, Griffin got really sick New Year's Eve! Matt and I ended up spending our night in the ER downtown. Turns out he had a hernia and hydrocele. It was an awful night. They had such a hard time getting an IV in him and he was miserable, crying. So sad! :( Thankfully he got treated and sent home. We ended up having surgery at the end of Jan. He did awesome and is all good now! Yay! Can't believe he is almost 2!!! Time flies!

Some Christmas pics....

Santa....

We decided to go see Santa Saturday morning with some friends. Ava and Sarah-Tate were super excited. I knew Griffin would probably not like Santa.....

Initially things seemed ok. He stood with Santa and didn't seem to mind at all. But- things changed quickly when the photographer suggested Ava stand beside Santa and place Griffin on his knee....

He was ok at first but then he looked back and saw Santa and it was all over. He quickly returned to Mommy and the girls continued with their talk!

The visit with Santa was the same when the girls were small too... funny how it doesn't change!

Happy Monday!