Christmas in Georgia

This past Christmas was our turn to spend it with Chris' family. As usual we all convene at Hannie and Pa Pa's (Chris' grand parents) house for our celebration.


Christmas Eve usually means a candle light service at church and then home for some yummy Bar B Que. However, there is no nursery and therefor not a chance that we are taking the monkeys with us. They may be cute and all...but cute is NOT chasing them down the rows during the service...or calling the fire department b/c they knocked over the candles. All very possible occurances.

Chris and I decided we would start our own family tradition with the boys this year. We let them bake a birthday cake for Jesus. They had a great time helping make and "decorate" the cake. Next year I think we will switch to cupcakes...stay tuned.

Parker (on right) : "Hey, brudy...you think they will notice if I stick my finger in the cake?"

Peyton (on left): "Ummm, nope...we're just gonna put some of that white stuff over yonder on it anyway."

They went with the decorating moto: spread some, lick some...spread some, lick some.

So proud of their cake

We like sprinkles yes we do...

Santa's elves hard at work Christmas Eve

Chris and Betsey (sister in law) testing the scooters out. Yep they work.

Nothing like a good game of Settlers of Catan to kick off the count down until Christmas morning.

The boys heading in to see their loot on Christmas morning.

Santa brought them a fun rug and of course some new cars and trucks

Peyton and Uncle Greg checking out the many roads to travel

The boys trying out their scooters from Hannie and Pa Pa

Singing Happy Birthday to Jesus

Do these two pictures need any more explanation for the switch to cupcakes next year? Yes, a community cake it was. Well, a community cake for two!


Peyton: "want a bite?" Uh, no thanks buddy... not telling how many licks went into icing this cake!

Parker- Christmas day is hard work! We have video of Peyton falling asleep at the lunch table...didn't have time to grab our camera for a shot. They were exhausted after all their holiday partying.

I've included a comic below that I thought was a fitting example of our home. You may remember our tree from last year. Of course this year wasn't much better. Why you may ask? Well, you're in luck...I just happen to have captured some pictures to include and I also happen to capture the crime being committed!

Where might you find the missing puzzle piece and cell phone? Why the Christmas tree of course.

Our Little People manger set was missing the angel for quite some time. They boys had placed baby Jesus atop the display in the angels place. Clearly a better spot for Him. Where might the angel have been "placed"?

In the christmas tree of course. Two angels they were not when it came to our tree...

Proof you might ask?

PROOF! Caught in the act... now we know how the puzzle pieces, cars, trucks, cell phones, angels, wise men and various other non ornaments ended up in the tree.

Yep, this one was AFTER timeout from the previous picture. Oh boys...does it ever end?

Now you don't have to wonder why these above ornaments were the only ones that made it on our tree this year. Well, they were the only ones that I knew would come down in one piece:)

Maybe next year, maybe next year.

Should have thought of this solution:)

"It's the only way we can keep the twins from messing with the tree."

Ha! This solution would have been perfect...only till I found them swinging from the tree like tarzan:) Oh, life with boys!

Christmas in SC

We spent the weekend before Christmas in SC with my family. We had a wonderful time with my parents, sister and grandparents. They of course spoiled the boys and it was the beginning of their sugar high. Yep, I am a bit late in getting this posted but at least it is before Valentines Day:) Watching Mickey Mouse Saturday morning while the rest of us were making sure everything was just right.

They were VERY excited about the train set and table that Mi Mi and Papa gave them. I love the expression on Peyton's face. "A train, a choo choo...be careful, be careful" Peyton kept exclaiming over and over again. Christmas time is so much fun with kids.

The boys had a great time delivering all the gifts to everyone. Here they are with Papa.



Of course they enjoyed opening their own gifts...and everyone else's too!





The boys loved their remote control trucks from Luke! Parker learning to drive...lets hope things improve over the next 14 years!





The boys love floor puzzles! We found this alphabet choo choo puzzle and they were thrilled. OK, not so much about daddy's letter and sound lesson but they loved the long train it made.





Even a present for the baby girl!





The boys eating Mi Mi's chocolate cake.



Not much has changed over the past 28 years... My Mr. Potato Head on the left from when I was 2 and the boys new one on the right.





Maybe we've got Tiger goalies in our future!



The boys love the soccer balls and goal aunt Mel gave them. Look at that leg on Parker!

The boys were so busy on "Christmas" Day that we saved their stockings for the next day. For good reason too...more candy! Parker enjoying two flavors of his suckers.




Making music with their new instruments. So much fun to see them playing music...the harmonicas are fun but I could do with out the flute thingy... much to loud and off pitch:) Hopefully they will take after their Uncle Greg and not their mother when it comes to music skills.

Yum Pizza!

While in South Carolina preparing to celebrate Christmas with my family, my mom was telling me that the Pizza place where I worked in high school was closing it's doors. This was by far my favorite job growing up. Two of my close girlfriends in high school worked there too. Several of our guy friends were delivery guys too. We had so much fun working together and socializing. Yes, we got our job done...but how fun it was to do it with you really good friends. We worked here our junior and senior year. We were the phone chicks...answering phones, taking orders, making pizza and helping the carry out customers. All in all a great place to work.

Hugh, The owner, sold the business and closed the doors to Custom Pizza December 23rd. He supplied pizza to the high schools and middles schools and to many community events. It was neat having a local pizza place growing up. My parents still ordered pizza from here even after I moved on. He was open for many, many years and served the community well. This was the first year he was going to be home with his family on Christmas Eve in all the years he was open. We are excited for him as he closes this chapter in his life and is still young enough to enjoy the rest.

All this to say...we swung by there to order one last pizza and to say goodbye one last time. The boys were excited to go order Pizza, as this is one of their favorites. They were even more excited with the offer Hugh had for them. I'm convinced he would make a fabulous preschool teacher...you will see why.

The boys got to make our pizza! Here they are rolling the dough...are you kidding me? They don't even like to play with play dough. Here he had them rolling, pulling and trowing the dough!

Parker helping put cheese on our pizza.

Peyton getting his turn.

They loved placing the peperoni and ham on the pizza. They were so careful to place it just right.
Peyton watching the pizza cook in the big oven.

The boys had a wonderful time making their pizza. I couldn't believe Hugh got them to get their hands dirty! We are sure going to miss him and his pizza's when we are in town. We wish him the best of luck and lots of relaxation. He has been in the pizza business for years and it greatly looking forward to some down time.

Then and Now

OK, many of you have been asking for prego shots. Here we go! I thought it would be fun to compare my pics from being pregnant with the boys to my current pics. Sadly, I have not been on top of pictures this time and have missed some "milestones" that I captured last time. Oh, well.


This first set of pics were taken Thanksgiving weekend at 25 weeks. I couldn't find any with the boys at this point.

Parker loves it when I show my belly...he always comes running:) "kiss bebe, kiss bebe" We shall see how it turns out once she is here...

28 weeks with the boys. Hotel del Coronado near San Diego, my favorite spot in this city.

Picture on the top is at 29 weeks with the boys...the bottom is a 32 week shot this time around. Funny story about the top picture. This was at a black tie silent auction and dinner for California Baptist University. Chris was there to accept an award presented to Chick-fil-A by CBU. No one from the home office could make it out to California, so he accepted it on their behalf seeing that we were the closest store to the school and did several events with them. I didn't want to buy a formal dress seeing that I would only wear it once...Chris felt bad going in a tux so to make me feel less out of place he wore his suit:) OK, the funny part...those pants are my regular pre pregnancy pants...unzipped all the way:) If only people had known! Good thing the wind wasn't blowing:)

Now the fun begins. What a difference carrying one makes! They are both at 32 weeks 3 days. We took the picture on the top as we were going out to eat one last time as a family of 2. My mom was coming the next day to stay until the boys were born...little did we know I was going to go into labor the next day and this would be the last shot we got. So, this past Monday (1/14/08) I put the same clothes back on and took a current 32 weeks and 3 days shot...My feet aren't even fat, yet! That is the one thing I hated about being pregnant with the boys. I couldn't stand my fat feet b/c my toes were touching...ick!

HA HA HA! No more complaining from me. Top picture is then...Botto, picture is now!

As of today I am 32 weeks 5 days...the time when the boys were born. So far all is quiet...thank goodness:)

Hopefully we will get in many more pics before she makes her arrival in 6 1/2 weeks.