OH yea, the ever-famous Santa pic. . .

Maybe I'm not very good at this "Blogging" thing. . .

Because I can't keep up with posting!!

Wow. . .since my last post we have been a very busy family!

Gavin had his "FIRETRUCK BIRTHDAY". We had his 3 year old party at a local Firestation. It was a huge hit. Here's some pics from the special day. . .

As you can see it was a very fun & active party. The Firefighters were great, lots of interaction with the kids and they all loved it. It was a little boys dream come true!

Then on the night before his birthday we celebrated at Chuck E. Cheese with his buddy Robbie. . .that's always lots of fun!

On Friday, December 7th my little boy turned 3. It's hard to believe. Where has the time gone? Boy. . .the saying that "time flies" is so true when you have a child.

That morning, his little friend Maggie came to spend some time with us. Gavin got his "birthday love". . .



We marked his On his birthday we started a very "big boy" thing. . .Potty training!! Boy. . .has THAT been an adventure! Actually I'm very proud of him, he's caught on quite quickly and done great with it! Here he is sporting some of his "big boy undies". . .and of course his cowboy boots.
Which brings me to our next "birthday" event. Gavin's gift from us for his Birthday was a date to the Rodeo. We had a great family outing and let me tell you. . .the child has YET to stop talking about it. He's my little cowboy. . .

The whole family went and we had a great time. We were all pretty surprised Mom & Dad joined us for the Rodeo, but it shows the lengths Grandparents will go to for thier Grandchildren. . .Gavin was thrilled to have them there, along with Brandon & Jody.

Last weekend he participated in his first "church performance". Since it was his first time performing I wasn't sure what he would do once he got on stage, but have no fear, he was quite the "ham". Yes, you are not seeing things. . he has on a "halo". No comments needed. . .

As you can see things have been busy around here. . . thankfully the Birthday celebrations have come to an end. . .it's a good thing. . Now we have to get ready for Christmas!!

Holy Cow. . .where did the last two weeks go!?!?!

Man, what is it about the holidays that the closer you get to them the FASTER time goes?!?!

I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone. I hope you & your family had a great memorable Holiday. We had a very nice one there. It was actually very low key and THAT was wonderful!!

My Aunt & Uncle from SC came for a visit and that is always nice. They are very special to us and Gavin gets so excited when they come in. He truly loves them. They have two dogs that he's quite fond of too and he hasn't stopped talking about them yet. He actually cried Saturday night when I told him that Teresa wouldn't be at Church on Sunday because she went back to SC. He didn't like that answer ONE bit.

We had lunch on Thursday at my Aunt & Uncles house (this is my Dad's brother), got to reconnect with cousins, etc. and that was great. Then Friday I did my once a year *crazy* shopping extravaganza. Yep, left the house at 3:25AM for a stop at JCPenneys! Then onto various other stores for lots of Christmas goodies!!

Then yesterday (Sunday) we hosted Thanksgiving for David's parents and had a very nice visit with them as well. It was a great holiday! And now Gavin is on the countdown to Christmas! He is going to be so much fun this year. I can't wait.

Here's some random pics to share with you over the past two weeks. . .

The Birthday celebrations have begun. . . and we have a new Horse!!

Meet Riley the Horse, named respectfully after my Aunt & Uncle's dog Riley. . .

And who wouldn't want a new horse movie too!?!?!

And here's some comical ones. We tried for Christmas Card photos on Saturday. . .Whew. . .
OK Gavin, you have to sit. . .

Removing the props. . .I think he's going for the touchdown here. . .

Could you look at the camera!?!?!?

Taking a 3 year old's pics is such a challenge!! Especially when you add in that my Mom, Aunt & Uncle AND their two dogs went with us!! We were all exhausted by the end of that adventure!

Out of the mouths of Babes. . .

Last night Gavin said some things worth sharing. . . .How can a almost three year old be so rudely funny one minute and sweet the next??

Let me set the scene. . .
We had taken my Grandmother to dinner and was returning her to her home. My Grandmother lives in a Retirement Community that has Independent Apartments (where she lives), Assisted Living (where my other Grandmother lived before she passed away in Feb) and a Nursing Facility. It was raining lightly, so I had the windshield washers on. It was just Granny, Gavin & I in the van, Daddy had driven separately.

Going down the road the windshield washers made that "squeak" noise that they do sometimes when it's not quite wet enough. . .Gavin in his innocent voice loudly announces "Meee meeee, I fink you passsssseeedd Gassssss!!" (Translated: MeeMee, I think you Passed Gas). We all got quite a chuckle. . .

Then we left MeeMee and drove past the Assisted Living building and sweetly Gavin says "That's where Ganny used to live". I replied "Yes, it is". He said "She's gone sleepy sleep with Jesus now, right??" That's right Gavin, she's gone sleepy sleep with Jesus.

Happy Halloween!

From my little cowboy. . .

When did you get so big??

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear Daddy (David)

Happy Birthday to you!!

Today is Dave's 34th Birthday and we have had a great day (evening) celebrating! Gavin was precious, he was so excited you would have thought it was HIS birthday! At the birthday boy's request we took Daddy to Olive Garden tonight. Gavin announced to EVERYONE (the host, waiter, people behind us, etc.) that it was Daddy's Birthday. We had a grand dinner and Daddy enjoyed his evening very much.

Happy Birthday dear! You are a wonderful husband, whom I love with all my heart. You are a great daddy and you are my best friend. Thank you for being you. I love you.

(Yes, I am fully aware that I am in BIG trouble for posting this picture on the blog. But David, seriously, how could I resist??)

Fall is here!

The only place I can take more pictures than the beach. . .

is the PUMPKIN PATCH!!

We went to the Pumpkin Patch this past weekend with our dear friends Marshall & Lisa, and of course their two boys and had a great time. Here's just a select few of pictures I took. . .

Can you believe how big all these boys are getting?? Where has the time gone??

Gavin is on the search. . .for his perfect pumpkin. . .

Come on Daddy. . .I might need some helpCarson, let me show you how it's done. . .

Come on Parker, let's me & you do some exploring!

Now this my friends, is THE pumpkinAnd he did a good job keeping up with it and carrying it the whole way. . .not even struggling to get it in his arms WITH his cup. . . .

Something else Gavin kept a close hold on that day was Lisa. . .he loves her!

Look at that sweet boy! (This is Carson)

If you are ever up for a challenge let me give you one. . .take 3 boys under the age of 3 to the Pumpkin Patch and try to get a good picture of them together. . .

OK, so the day is great. . .great weather, great friends, great pumpkins. What could be better. . .oh wait. . .there are HORSES here!! Anyone that know Gavin well knows that right now he is OBSESSED with Horses. His wildest dreams come true.

Let me at them. . .Horses. . .here I come!Don't worry Mom, you don't have to walk with me. . .me & my Cowboy friend can handle it!

I love this picture for two reasons. 1) the look on Gavin's face. . .he is loving every minute of this and is thrilled. 2) Lisa looks so happy & proud of Gavin, Now that is a true friend. . .standing there waiting through the LONG horse ride line, chasing and keeping up with 18 month old twin boys and STILL has a smile on her face when it's Gavin's turn. :o)

The ride is over. . .thanks Horsey for a great ride!

So we had a great visit to the Pumpkin Patch & Farm. We also ran into other friends, the Smiths who were just as excited over the horses and our friends the Higginbothams, who we miss and it was so good to see! Lots of great fun!! It was a great day overall!

Happy Birthday Aunt Teresa & Uncle Donnie. . .
We love you!!

Wordless Wednesday--Welcome Fall

The Beach Bums have returned home (Warning: EXTRA long post with LOTS of pictures)

We're back! We had an incredible vacation!! It seriously was the best I can remember since my honeymoon. Gavin had a great time, was a good little boy and LOVES the beach. The time with family was wonderful. We truly came back with a new sense of how important our family is. We had good weather with the exception of one day and who could ask for more?? Now. . .for the details for those who are really interested!!

The drives to and from the beach went quite well. We took my 88 year old Grandmother and Gavin & Granny entertained each other quite well. We didn't even USE the DVD player until about 4+ hours into the trip! Brandon & Jody left much earlier that morning and had the house opened and all ready for us. WOW--What a HOUSE!! We were absolutely thrilled with our house. My Mom did HOURS of research on houses and boy did it pay off! She did a great job--our house was incredible! Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures of it, but here's a few:

A couple of the bedrooms

The view from the porch of the ocean & our pool

Our house from the ocean

We had lots of family and friends there this week. Some of our family came and stayed with us, we had 12 people total and some good friends were just 4 houses down from us! Needless to say it was a great time for all. We really enjoyed getting to spend quality time with everyone.

We took my 88 year old Grandmother with us. This was her first time being on the beach--EVER!!

Gavin had so much fun playing on the beach. He kept saying it was "a BIG sandbox". He loved the sand and water. He LOVED collecting sea shells and got quite a few! He had a blast playing in the sand with Daddy and with our friends too!

Gavin really enjoyed all the time he had with family too. . .

One day we went to the Aquarium, lunch & played on the beach with friends. . .

One little incident that didn't prove so much fun was My trip to the local ER. Oh. . .we had to have some excitement somewhere!! Sunday night we went out and stuffed ourselves at the Calabash Seafood Buffet. We always do this once for the guys. . .to get their fill of crab legs and other seafood. As most of you know I am only a shrimp lover when it comes to seafood. I do love shrimp though and have eaten it all my life. Well apparently I have developed a shellfish allergy. So anyway, we went to eat a late dinner, came home visited a while and headed to bed. I woke up an hour or two later just itching all over my body. Turns out I was having a reaction and was swelling quite badly all over my head & face. You should have seen my ears!! Dave called me Dumbo for quite a few days--and that was no exaggeration! Dave rushed me to the closest ER (thankfully we just passed on that evening and knew the location) and they gave me some big ol' shots and stopped the reaction. I was forbidden to eat any seafood the rest of the week. Also because of the steroid they used I had to limit my time in the sun! Well. . .no seafood, no sun, they took $100 of my vacation money--YIPPEE!! I thought my week was off to a great start! Thankfully I was wrong and we had a great time anyway!!

Thanks for reading my Novel of a post! We had a great time of fun, family, friends and relaxation. It was wonderful and we are very blessed.