Dear Santa

Dear Santa,
For Christmas this year...

I want ... A new DSi XL
I need ... 20$$$$
I'll wear ... Onder ormer (Under Armor)
I'll read ... A Geronimo Stilton books

... And I'd really love you to bring me...
Soper Mario Galaxy for wii.

Love, McIver

Well, let's just say that Santa sometimes knows what children want even before they know they want it. This wish list may not come true, but Mac is going to have a fantastic Christmas.

Pirates Voyage

We took the children to the Pirates Voyage dinner show last Friday night in Myrtle Beach. We started out with the pre-show learning some pirate vocabulary and singing songs with three singing pirates. We all got a kick out if that. Then, we headed into the theatre for the show. I was able to snap one quick picture before the show started.

More Houston Mischief

Houston has been busy ...

He pulled the gold ribbon from our Christmas Card tree and tied it from the chandelier in the dining room all the way over to the light in our entry way.

Then, he hid in our tree ... guess he was glad we finally got it up and decorated.  He also brought Olivia and McIver a fun Christmas word search.

Little stinker!  He drew silly faces all over our family pictures...

That got a BIG laugh from the kids.

This was on our bathroom door downstairs.

Aaahhh...

This morning, I came into the kitchen to find ALL of our cabinet doors and drawers open.  It made unloading the dishwasher and packing lunches a bit of a pain.

Houston has built a tervis tumbler pyramid and was perched at the top.  Thank goodness the kids finally woke up and closed everything back up for me while I got breakfast ready.

RHNJ Comes to Columbia

Teresa Guidice, one of the stars of the Real Housewives of New Jersey came to Columbia last week.  Susan, a tennis friend, and I used to rehash each Real Housewives episode while we waited for our turn during tennis clinics last fall.  She saw that the Friends of the Library was bringing Teresa to town and invited me to join her.  (The fact that the FOL hosted the event classes it up a bit, don't you think!?)

After an hour or so Q&A session, along with some squeals from some college-aged girls wearing lots of sequins and faux fur, we stood in line to have her sign our cookbooks and take a picture.

It was TOTALLY worth the wait!

Fun Surprise

Ramelle, my neighbor, and I saw these PJs in a catalog and thought the kids would love them.

Houston the Elf is Back!

A few of Houston's antics... Olivia got her wish for mischief!

Trimming the Tree

Will and the children bought our Christmas tree yesterday while I played in the cities tennis tournament. (For the record, my partner, Kim, and I won both of our matches, but our team came in second place overall.) We spent tonight decorating.

I love our tree. We have so much fun going through our ornaments. We make a point to buy an ornament when we go on trips and we've been given so many beautiful ornaments. It's so fun to walk down memory lane with the children. They really do remember so much.

Belated birthday/ early Christmas

Mac was so excited to receive a belated birthday/ early Christmas gift from one if his godfathers. The Lego City Advent calendar. It sure makes getting up easier... He races downstairs every morning to open the next window and put together the next piece.

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving Day started off for Olivia and McIver with a trip to Dunkin Donuts with Pop.

McIver is LOVING Cub Scouts.  When we went to Lowe's a few weeks ago to buy supplies for the bird house project, he was given a science lab kit to build at home.  He tried to build it himself on Wednesday when I told him he couldn't turn on the television ... but he really needed an extra set of hands and almost threw the hammer across the yard.  So, he was happy when Pop finally arrived!

They immediately got to work on the first experiment ... Dancing Raisins.  It didn't work out quite like they had hoped (possibly due to the fact that our raisins were probably over a year old), but they had fun.

Olivia got in on the action with Scaredy Pepper... that was a good one!

Sweet Little Eliza was not the least bit concerned about Marley, even though he outweighs her by 100 pounds.

Sam was more her size, though.

Mamoo and Grandma Janet enjoyed their visit.  Our children know how fortunate they are to know, really know, three of their great grandmothers.

The fellas manned the turkey fryer out in the driveway.

Half of our crew preparing to say grace.

The other half ...

I'm sick that I didn't get a picture of our Thanksgiving table.  Pop suggested that we move our breakfast table into the dining room so everyone could have some elbow room.  It was a great idea and everyone was way more comfortable that way, I'm sure.  Olivia had helped me with a centerpiece for the table, too.  I'll have to add a picture of that later.

Cacoo with McIver and Sam

Post Thanksgiving Dinner walk with Amelia, Olivia and Aunt Kelli was just what the doctor ordered.  It felt good to move around and stretch our legs.

Watching Elf Thanksgiving night was the perfect ending to a fantastic day spent with family.

Thanksgiving Prep 2011

We hosted Thanksgiving 2011 at our house this year.  We had 11 adults, including two great grandmothers, and four children, as well as three dogs from Macon and Skittles.  It was a blast, but I needed some help getting things ready.  While Nanoo was busy chopping, slicing and dicing in Macon, GranGran was making biscuits and oyster pie in Myrtle Beach with Aunt Kelli just a few miles away making two delicious desserts.  Olivia and McIver worked on the outside, while I straightened up the house and prepared for our guests.

Olivia working on our driveway.

Our neighbors were kind enough to let Aunt Kelli and Uncle Robert spend the night next door so McIver decided he would clear their driveway.

Nanoo, Pop, Cacoo and Grandma Janet arrived Wednesday evening.  They brought Pepper (their average-sized seven-year old Australian Shepherd mix), Marley (their 18 month old Great Dane-Lab mix who weighs in at a whopping 120+ pounds) and Sam (Cacoo's newest find ... a Beagle-Basset Hound mix who is hilarious!).  My house was a dog pound!

Dear Houston...

Olivia's letter to Houston last week...

Dear Houston,
This year I was wondering if maybe you could get into a little more mistyfe!, to see what you can come up with. One thing that I think you could do is make the whole house a MAZE! don't you think that would be so cool!?!

love,
Olivia

Circle yes or no
Make the whole house a maze ---- yes or no

a little more mistyfe (at least she's consistent!) --- yes or no

PS: here are some milk and cookies for you.

YaYa Weekend in Atlanta

Thanks to a Living Social coupon from way back during the summer, the YaYas had another fall get-away to Atlanta last weekend.  I left home Friday morning and stopped in Augusta to pick up Ashley.  We chatted nonstop for the two-hour drive to Atlanta and met Sarah at the hotel downtown.  

The comedy of errors started when the lady at the desk told us to go to room 1208, but our key card didn't work.  Instead of going back downstairs, we asked the housekeeper working down the hall if she would please just let us in.  Just as she swiped her card, the door opened from the inside.  This poor man who looked like he had just woken up found three women loaded down with luggage, hanging bags and coolers just staring at him.  Clearly, we were in the wrong room.  We finally made it to our room (just across the hall from 1208) and got settled in while we waited for Dawn to arrive.

Cafe Intermezzo was just around the corner from the hotel so we headed there to have a late lunch and catch up.

Ash and Sadie

Dawn and me

We might also have enjoyed a champagne cocktail.

Afterwards, we walked back to the hotel to freshen up and made it back in time for the Wine Down (get it?  Wind Down!  I want to have a bunch of girls over to our house one night and call it a Wine Down ... so clever!).  We made lots of friends in the bar, including a bride-to-be who was in town from the west coast somewhere to go wedding dress shopping.  We were not invited to go along!

We spent Saturday morning visiting the St. Philips Cathedral Bookstore and Farmers Market which has become a bit of a tradition.  The bookstore is huge and has some many fun ideas for Christmas gifts.  This weekend also happened to be an artists' market with lots of artwork, pottery, handmade jewelry and more.  We also hit Atlantic Station to shop because we needed to be sure we were close to the movie theater in time to see the latest Twilight movie.  Believe it or not, we were not the oldest people in the theater ... I don't think.  Afterwards ... more shopping at Phipps Plaza.

Then dinner at Truva, a meditarranean restaurant within walking distance of the hotel.  Our server was kind enough to take a picture for us.

This elementary school music teacher moonlights as a belly dancer.  We promised we wouldn't tell her secret!  (I feel like I need to tell you that we confirmed that she has not had children yet!)

A little while into dinner (which consisted of a delicious assortment of appetizers), Liz came to join us.  (Hi, Liz!!)  Dawn and Liz used to work together in Atlanta (correct me if I'm wrong, girls) and became fast friends.  We loved having Liz come hang out with us.  It's so great to be able to just pick up where we left off with everyone no  matter how much time has passed since our last visit.

Sarah decided to call it a night, but the rest of us weren't finished with the fun yet.  So, back to Cafe Intermezzo we went for coffee and dessert.  Of course we made friends with the waiter who was kind enough to take our picture.

We tried to go to the Corner Bakery for breakfast Sunday morning, but the downtown restaurant was closed to we went to the Atlanta Grill in the Ritz Carlton.  It was delicious and filled us all up.  Sarah headed home while Dawn, Ashley and I made our game plan for more shopping ... Nordstrom Rack, DSW, Ulta, and more.  We had a quick lunch at the midtown Corner Bakery and then headed home.  What a great, fun weekend!  I love my girls!!

Krispy Kreme Date with Mac

Olivia had a field trip to Cypress Gardens last Thursday with her fourth grade class.  She had to be at school "no later than 7am, Mama, or Mr. Shirley will be really upset with us."  So, we picked up her friend Kit at 6:45 and made it into the front circle in plenty of time.  Mr. Shirley was not upset, I think he was just a little tired because, like I said, it was early!

Anyway, Will had to round early that morning so he wasn't available to stay with McIver and get him up and fed.  So, I bribed McIver with a trip to Krispy Kreme after we dropped off the girls.  He obliged and was as happy and pleasant as can be.  For the record, the pumpkin spice doughnut (only available for a limited time) was delicious!

(His smile might look forced, and it was.  I had to beg him to stop eating long enough to smile for me.  He might also have been a touch displeased with me because I wouldn't let him order a 'diet coke so it will wake me up for the whole day.')

Last Soccer Game

McIver's last soccer game was yesterday. Even though it was a tough loss, they had a fun season. Mac has decided to play soccer again this spring. We're convinced he's better suited to a game with a bit more action. We managed to get a quick team photo before the coaches handed out the trophies.

Like I said, it was a tough loss.  The opponent was pretty aggressive and several of our players were injured (whether knowingly and on purpose or not is unclear).  Also, during the high-fiving and 'good-gaming' that goes on after the game, the other team was a bit obnoxious from what I've heard.  Anyway, I managed to get this shot of McIver patting his buddy Hugh on the back as he received his trophy.  Hugh was one of the ones who was hurt during the game.  

Fall Festival

McIver had a ball at the Fall Festival last week. The climbing wall was no trouble for him. He. Has. No. Fear.

He slid down the entire tower upside down.

Then he and a buddy jousted.  McIver held his own for a good while but ultimately lost his balance first.

They also had some folks from Mad Science doing cool experiments with the children.  McIver loved the dry ice bubble concoctions.