Trip to GA - Nov. 22, 2010 - Dec. 1, 2010

We went to visit my family in Georgia for Thanksgiving and we had a great trip. We enjoyed spending time with our family and we also enjoyed the nice weather they had while we were there. One of the highlights of the trip was our stop by the beach on Thanksgiving Day.  We spent Thanksgiving Day down in Brunswick, GA (which is about 45 minutes from my mom and dad's home) and Brunswick is right near 2 islands, so we made a stop by St. Simons Island before going over to my sister-in-laws parents home for the day.  The kids loved the beach and we had thought about going back again before we left but we didn't.  But the little time we spent there the kids had fun.

Hayden and Corbin had a lot of fun trying to catch some birds and they also had to roll up their pant legs and check out the water. Kayla had fun playing in the sand and could have stayed there for hours just digging away, but she also loved walking through the water and getting wet!! Katie also loved the sand and wanted to be right there with Kayla playing in it (and eating it too!!). And it didn’t take her long to make her way to the water, she kept running right for it, and wanted to dive right in!! We stayed at the beach for close to an hour, and then decided we better leave before the kids all got too dirty and wet. Which Kayla already had, she had gotten her pants wet, so we just took them off of her and we hung them out the car window to dry on our way to the Earl’s. We spent the rest of the day over there – the kids had fun playing with their cousins and the other kids that were there, they stayed outside most of the time even though the sand knats were horrible that day. They also enjoyed getting their hands painted to make a couple of Christmas cards for a craft. –Katie spent most of the afternoon sleeping, I think she ended up sleeping almost 4 hours!! She woke up while we were just starting to eat, Imagine that?


Another highlight for the kids during our vacation was our trip to the....

When we got there, it was starting to drizzle rain, but stopped pretty soon after. We were able to see several alligators,

(Hayden was really excited to see the alligators, Kayla wasn't so sure about them)

the kids stopped to take a few silly pictures,

and they found Santa's sleigh at the Swamp Park.

We went to the little show that they do with showing the baby alligators and some snakes too. During the show, he was letting people touch the baby alligator, and as soon as Hayden touched it, it started to pee. The guy then jokingly told Hayden – “you made him do that” and Hayden got that big grin on his face. He thought it was pretty funny!!

After the show, we went on the train ride that takes you through the swamp. While we were on our ride, it started POURING rain, and needless to say, we got soaked!!! 

Good thing that we were all done seeing the alligators and bears because we were all soaked from head to toe and were starting to get cold!! 

We went that Saturday afternoon to the lake near my mom and dad's to have one of my aunts take some family pictures.  It wasn't the best picture taking experience, but we did mangae to get one family picture of just our family that turned out o.k. 

We lucked out and got a good picture of all of the family together with everyone (even the 2 littlest kids) looking at the camera at the same time with no eyes closed.

And we even got some really cute ones of just Katie!! 

It would have been nice to have gotten more pictures of our family and of just Hayden and Kayla, but the kids were more concerned about everything around them. Hayden kept wondering what all the pokey stuff (the pinestraw) was and wanting to find the perfect piece to keep. Kayla was ready to be done, so she oculd go play at the park. Katie did good, but it was just hard to get her to look at the camera sometimes. Better luck next time I guess!!

We spent the rest of our days on vacation - just relaxing, we did some Christmas shopping, the kids had lots of fun playing with their cousins (and playing outside!!), visiting with my dad's family on Sunday afternoon for our little "reunion" we had with them,  and just being with our family.  It was a fun trip and it was great to be able to go "home" after almost 2 years, but it was also great to come "home" after 10 days. Does that make sense??? --The kids were pretty sad to leave. This was the first trip that Hayden hadn't gotten homesick. The day before we left he said "Why can't Waycross be closer to Manassa?" :(  --I feel the same way!! Thank goodness that Papa Mike and Nana love to come out every summer for a visit!!

Our Little Lemondrop

Kayla started her second year of doing ballet in September. She was in the Pre-ballet class this year, and really had lots of fun at her classes, and was always excited to show us what she learned in class each Monday.  She was also excited to wear her costume for her recital this past Friday night.  She was a Lemondrop in "The Nutcracker" and she was all happy and posing like crazy at the house before we left.Then, when we got there, she went and waited in the ballet room for 20 minutes or longer before they brought them out and sat them in the front row before the recital began. She then turned around looking for us, and then when she saw us she got a little upset and started to cry.  But mom went and talked to her, and she moved and sat by one of her friends and then she was fine.  She stayed sitting with her class, and did go up on stage when it was their turn.  Even though, she looked like she was ready to cry and was being really shy, and didn't really do anything, ...she was still so CUTE!!

Encounter with an Indian

So, last Friday, Hayden came home from school and was playing in his room and next thing I know he brought this feather to me (that he must have had stashed away in one of his "collections" somewhere). Then, he told me he wanted to make a "headpiece" with the feather. So we got his headpiece made:

Not a very happy looking Indian,huh?

Then, he got his tent all set up... 

and was armed with this "bow and arrow" and was ready for a fight!!!

Halloween

Our "Commando" Guy:

Our Beautiful little Pirate: 

And our cute little Elephant: 

We had a good Halloween this year. We had our Ward Party on the afternoon of the 30th, then afterwards took the kids to a few family members' homes for trick-or-treating.  Hayden had his party at school the day before, so it wasn't too bad like some years have been when Halloween seems to drag on for at least a week or longer!!

The FUN Begins as Katie turns ONE

Wow!! This past year has just flown right on by, don't you think? And here it is with November half-over, and Christmas right around the corner!! And our baby is now a ONE YEAR OLD!!!

She woke up that night before her birthday (Nov. 7th) running a fever, and didn't sleep very good. She wasn't feeling very well that Sunday morning, so I stayed home from church with her. Then everyone came over after church for her party. You could tell she wasn't feeling very well, she just wasn't herself. 

We had a Princess themed party for her (since she is our precious little princess!!)  I found some cute cupcake wrappers when ordering for her and Kayla's parties, so I decided to just make cupcakes instead of trying to make her a cake. 

But she did have her own little cake to dig into:

She didn't do very much "digging":

But, she did eventually dig in some:

 YUM-YUM

After enjoying her cake, it was time for the presents:

she got a piggy from Aunt Melody and family

a My Pal, Violet, from Nana and Papa (plus, an outfit) 

a baby doll that sings "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" from Aunt Jacki's family: 

Playing with her Busy Ball Popper that she got from us (and she got an outfit too) 

**for journaling purposes: She also got money from the Snuffy's, a dress, leggings, and money from Grandma Debby and Papa Larry**

Playing with her pal, Violet, after her bath:

Well, that pretty much sums up her first birthday.  I took her to the doctor the next morning, and it turned out that she had an ear infection.  She slept most of that afternoon and the next day too, but was back to her happy, busy little self a few days later.

I started to do an update last month, but never did get around to finishing it up and posting it. So since the last post in September, she has definitely mastered the art of walking. She started around the end of September trying to walk more, and by the middle of October she was really good at it.  Now, she is starting to "run" when she is excited about something. Like when Daddy comes home from work, she will go as fast as she can to try to get to him before Hayden or Kayla does!!  She still enjoys to eat and will eat just about anything, she is for sure my best eater!!  She has started to "talk" a little bit more, and one day last week, it even sounded like she told Kayla "Stop it!!" She still enjoys being right where the kids are and getting in the middle of whatever they are playing. But, her all time favorite game to play with the kids is wrestling, which she usually ends up winning!! She loves it!! --She is such a sweetheart, and is bursting with personality. She is a blessing in our lives and just brightens each day with her great big smile!! 

Just a few pictures since last time:

Taking it easy after finishing her breakfast:

Wanting to "play" Candyland with Hayden

She was stuck under the chair, but had managed to get out by the time I got the camera

She loves these pig jammies!! She even dug them out of her dirty clothes basket and took them to Waylen so he would put them on her instead of the jammies she had on.

There's that beautiful little smile that brightens our day: