Sounds of Christmas

As always, both boys schools did their Christmas programs. And of course like every year, they were super cute and funny. This year at Nathan's school he was actually chosen to be in the "play" portion of the musical. He was asked to play the part of Donner the reindeer. He had several speaking lines and did very well. Rod and I were SOOOO proud of him!!! To be in front of a packed house and step up to that microphone (especially for Nathan, who is a bit reserved) took a lot of courage! Great performance!!!!!

Aren't we glad to know Donner is an Auburn fan ;-) Check out the AU necklace he forgot to take off. LOL
All the reindeer and Mr. and Mrs. Clause

At Wilson's school, they did their annual Caroling on the Porch. All the kids are sitting on the porch while the parents gather out on the playground to listen to all of the Christmas music/songs the kids have been working on. Always super cute too!

If you don't already know....Wilson is NOT much of a singer. He just doesn't get excited about it.....BUT check it out, I caught him in the act!!! Yep, he actually opened his mouth and sang a few songs this year!! Yay!!!

Sweet cousins! BB came to watch her big sister and cousin!

Wilson and his best bud Rucker!

A Night in Lights

We took our annual trip to Calloway Gardens this year right after Thanksgiving. And it was PERFECT!!!! The crowds were small and we got to see and do everything we love! And the best part of it was we practically had Santa all to ourselves!!! This is one of my all time favorite holiday activities to do with my kids. And no matter how many times we have been, the smiles on their faces make every second of it worth it. It has become "tradition" that we go see Fantasy in Lights with our cousins.......and that makes me love it even more!!!

Hopefully next year baby Haynes will make the trip with us!

This year we put on our coats, hats and long underwear and braved the trolley ride through the lights. We grabbed some hot chocolate and we were ready to ride!

What a great way to kickoff the Christmas season! Thank you Calloway Gardens for a wonderful event.........we are already looking forward to next year!

Day of Thanks

Lots to be thankful for this year of 2011........of course our families and friends, our church, our health, our home, our sweet teachers that love on my babies everyday, our jobs, and the list could go on forever!

Thankful for sweet little friends that my kids have made this year

Thankful that my nieces and nephew will grow up being super close with my kids!


Thankful for my cousins and their sweet families and my brothers family of course!

(Me, Katie, Ali and Shannon)


Thankful for these two turkeys!

Thank you Lord for all your many blessings!

Ghosts and Frankenstein and Dracula......Oh My!!!!

Yep, it's December 7th and I am just now posting about our Halloween!!!!! Remember a few posts back I asked you to bare with me because my goal was to play catch up before Christmas got here......well, I'm still playing catch up ;)

Halloween was once again a success!!!! Of course those pumpkins we picked up at the pumpkin patch quickly became Jack-o-Lanterns. The boys were extremely proud of them too.

This year Nathan begged to be something "scary"......I told him it still had to pass my approval because he was only 8. His choices were vampire, mummy or Frankenstein. He chose the vampire......of course because of the blood. Wilson got to choose from the left over choices and went with Frankenstein, and boy was he cute! We went all out this year with make up and all.......I'm no professional by any means but I thought they looked pretty good if I do say so myself.
Farmer Prather and his flower Anne Reynolds came to trick or treat with us. And of course the 2 AU cheerleaders (Stirling and Bradley) were along for part of the night. The kids had a blast!!!

Until next year...................

Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere!!!

The Pumpkin Patch trips were in full force this year. I don't care how many time we go during the fall to one of them, the boys always ask "so mom, when are we going back to the patch?" Seriously.....they are obsessed. I guess it's all the hay, tractors, corn, scarecrows, PUMPKINS, corn pits, slides.....should I continue my list. I think not. You pretty much get the picture.

Our first trip was to a local farm here in Auburn.....The Lazenby Farm. Nathan's class doesn't do a pumpkin patch field trip so I checked him out on his birthday and we made an afternoon of it. And of course it wouldn't be fun without friends so we talked the Zapps into coming along with us.

Wilson & Owen playing in the corn.

Nathan and Walker on top of the hay maze

Nothing like spending a beautiful day with both my boys!

Then it was on to the next excursion......this time it was with Wilson's 4 year old class from his school. Let me just tell you, there were about 20 4 year olds that were beside themselves with excitement. Especially once they got to there and saw all the fun stuff they could do. The pictures need no words..................

This is just half the class. They had a blast and cannot wait until next year to do it all over again!