Ho, Ho, Ho!

This past weekend we had planned to meet some friends at Silver Dollar City.  However, everyone else in the state had the same plan so we opted to hit the Landing and try SDC another time.  And of course, we just couldn't go to the Landing without stopping in to visit Santa at Bass Pro!
(And yes, I am cheap and that is a picture of a picture...one that turned out pretty good all things considered!  Drew wanted no part of Santa so we opted for a family pic to get both boys in there.)

Last year Mac and Santa didn't really jive, but this year, someone was very excited to tell the jolly man what he wants for Christmas..."a new train and Tidmuth Sheds."

I love Santa! 
Mac very intently listened as Santa explained how important it is for him to go to bed like a big boy.

Love this one!

 

Well, I got Drew to go near Frosty at least :)

Who can go to Bass Pro without shootin' something??

"That Crazy Charlie!"

A few days after Thanksgiving, our friendly elf, Charlie, came back to visit us from the North Pole.  The week of Thanksgiving I began telling Mac that Charlie would soon be here to get him ready for his return.  Well, each day Mac would ask if his friend was here yet :)  So the morning that he made his appearance brought many smiles and much excitement.  And you'll never guess what Charlie did that first morning...he brought snow-covered donuts, letters, and special treats!  We are all so glad that he is back but that Charlie sure does some crazy things! 

 

Breakfast from Charlie

Letters to the boys

 

These boys LOVE some donuts!

Nothing better than a big white grin :)

My boy did not want to stop eating his delicious, sugary breakfast!

Loving every second

Each morning when Mac wakes up and begins looking for Charlie, we know he has found him when we hear "That crazy Charlie!  Come see what he is doing!"

Santa and his elves must check out Pinterest at night because Ol' Charlie sure has some tricks up his sleeve  :)

One of Mac's favorites...he said that Charlie was reading the story of Noah to all his friends.  Yes, that is a Gideon New Testament. hehe

Why should Santa get all the cookies??

November happenings

 

Wow, does anyone else feel like November totally just came and went???  And I'm still sitting around wondering how it's still not the first week of the month!!  I suppose that's a testament to how packed our days have been! But I reckon anytime you throw in a week and a half of fabulous family vacation time, the rest of the days speed by.  Anyhow, since I haven't blogged all month, I'll do a recap of some highlights...

 

The Taylor Family went on a GREAT Disney trip to see our favorite Princess!  My next post will be just about our trip, but I have hundreds of pictures to go through and pick out my favorites.

 I thought it'd be great fun to have a movie night on our big air mattress.  It was great fun...lots of wrestling, giggling and jumping.  Not lots of movie watching!  But the boys thought it was so fun.  I even let them get by with eating sugar cookie pop tarts for supper :)

 

For Thanksgiving Sam's parents and brother, Reed, came for a visit.  We had a good time catching up, and we all got in on some great Black Thursday and Friday deals!

Our music pastor's family had no relatives come in town so we had them over for Thanksgiving lunch with us.  Reggie smoked a mean turkey!

It's always nice for an excuse to use nice dishes.  And I even polished up my great-grandmother's silver to use :)

Let me just say right now, I was in favor of eating pumpkin pancakes at IHop for lunch.  I mean, my mom, aunt, and grandmother always do all of the cooking.  I had zero experience doing all of the cooking for a crowd.  But with a little (well, lots) of encouragement from Sam and many phone calls and emails to my mom, I successfully prepared a pretty good lunch, pies and all :) 

Our month was filled with lots of beautiful fall leaves and Mississippi State football watching on tv

 

 Our breathtaking view from the back deck.  The Ozark sunsets are just incredible!

Choo, Choo...All Aboard!!!

This year for Kid's Fun Night at church, Thomas the Train and his sidekick Conductor made an appearance.  Mac was so very proud of his costume and of the fact that Drew was his driver :)

I know they are my kids, but they are so stinkin cute!  

A neat shot at the front door with Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater-named because Mac and my mom like the nursery rhyme (CeCe helped the boys make our cute pumpkin when she was here)

Getting ready to go in the church.  Drew loves his car ride much better than a plain ol stroller!

Trick-or-treating on "Treat Street" at church

 

On the hayride (Sam was in charge of a huge indoor maze, so I had the kids to myself tonight.  We had lots of fun with not one single meltdown!)

Well, not every picture can be great, right??

Happy Fall Ya'll

 We recently had some family pictures taken...I was pretty pleased with the results :)  Here is a sample...

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Little Of This And That

I got so terribly behind on blogging this summer with our move and then months without internet service that I just realized I had some shots that still hadn't made it on the blog.  And for the sake of recording our memories for our book at the end of the year, I will just recap a few things we did this summer...

 We went to speed boat races in Rockaway Beach.  Very, very loud but pretty neat to watch.

Swinging in between the boat races

Swimming in the pool at our trailer park :)

 

 

Fussing because he wants something to eat! haha

We went to a Fourth of July concert at The Landing featuring a Journey Tribute and fireworks.  It was PACKED and hot but lots of fun.

Ooohhing at something he sees

This is a tiny example of how crowded it was.  It was this packed every way you looked for as far as you could see.  And we were right up in the middle of the madness, all to see a good fireworks show.  Sam sure did enjoy the Journey Tribute as well!

Mac was cutting a big ol rug to the music, entertaining everyone around us.

Mac and his stranger "best friend"

Each week I took the boys to storytime at the library in Forsyth.  Mac was by far the youngest but still really enjoyed the stories and crafts.  Here is some of the artwork displayed outside of the library.  Mac's is in the top left corner.

Nothing like a little fishing in your underwear. Lol (or actually, a pull-up on this morning)

We even made it to a friend's party from Monticello. Adam and Mac were weekly playmates when we lived there :)