St Mary's White Lighting

Before actually talking about this post, let me issue a warning to all my faithful blog watchers....I get a little "Christmas Crazy." I am one of those people who check the paper and online for holiday events and then wants to go to EVERYTHING!!!! So, this holiday season expect to see LOTS of Christmas events. :) It drives my husband crazy that I plan something for every day of every weekend.....but he too has learned to sort of deal with it and know that January will be here soon enough. :-)

So, let the fun begin!!!!!




Tuesday night our little town of St Marys had their annual White Lighting event. Many gather behind Santa to parade down the main street toward the waterfront watching as Santa waves his hands to turn on the city lights as he passes. I remember going as a kid and am now excited to share this tradition with Kate. Unfortunately, however, in the past they sung carols down the street and this year it didn't quite happen. :( It makes the parade so much more special...hopefully next year???



Kate and daddy were waiting in the middle of the street for Santa to arrive so that we could join the parade.







Not sure why they had a Christmas Beaver, but he was cute :)



Along the parade route there are entertainment stops. We are standing in front of the hand bell choir playing Christmas carols. Also, several kids' dance groups performed.

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Our friend Dave came along for the fun. Kate loves playing with her buddy!

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Once Santa stepped off his carriage to light the big tree, we found ourselves in the perfect spot. In fact, he tripped over our stroller. Oops...that could have been a disaster. Fortunately, he didn't actually fall.



Kate in front of the big Christmas tree and then an attempt at a family photo. Kate's face might look funny because she is screaming "CHEESE!"

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Holiday Island

Last night we headed to Jekyll Island for their annual tree lighting event. It was a bit cold, but we had lots of fun! There were lots of Christmas lights, crafts for the kids, a jumpy obstacle course, a hayride, fireworks, music, dancing, SNOW, and of course, Santa Claus!!!







Gabe was very bundled and, I think, had a good time too! :)

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Kate made a sea turtle ornament with daddy and a puppet with pawpaw. We decided to skip putting sticky peanut butter on a pinecone to make a bird feeder...maybe next year.

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Here in the south we do snow a little different. :)

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Kate was sooooo excited to see Santa this year. She has rehearsed so many times...."Please HoHo, Fish Movie. In Kate's hand." It was very cute. BUT, moments before it was her turn she panicked! We were able to convince her to sit with Mrs. Claus, but she wasn't thrilled about that either. She was able to get her line out, but she was sure ready to get out of there!

Gabe, on the other hand, was excited to sit on Santa's lap. :)

At the end of the night, Santa reached into his cup, threw magic powder in the air, and in an instant, the Christmas tree was in full glow.

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St. Augustine

Friday night we drove south to St Augustine for their Winter Wonderland. The website made it sound like so much fun and we thought it would be a great activity for the kids. Well....not so much. The girls had fun, but the best part was roasting marshmallows to make s'mores....which didn't require driving an hour south!


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On the way to the Winter Wonderland we noticed this really cute Carousel. So, we left early and headed off to find it in hopes of still having some fun before leaving St Augustine entirely.

It was great! All the horses wore Santa hats, Christmas music was playing, and it was located inside a very fun park/playground! By the time we got there it was almost 8:00pm (Kate's bedtime), but the girls were still full of energy and had a blast.



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Then, before saying our final goodbyes, we stopped at Denny's for a very late dinner. As you can tell, Apryl was a bit tired. Hehehe.....




Chris, Apryl, Bennett, & Alexander......Thanks for making the long drive south to hang out with us. We all really enjoyed having you guys for Thanksgiving!

Around town

Friday, instead of fighting all the crowds of people out shopping, we decided to take Apryl, Chris, & the kids to our favorite park downtown to play and have lunch.



Kate was showing off her new jingle bell necklace.




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.............Kate & Bennett........................................................Alexander & Gabe................

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Turkey Dresses

I've had a couple people ask about the turkey dresses the girls were wearing so I thought I would just make a post about it. :) My friend Apryl is great at finding cool custom things on ebay, and she and I both LOVE special outfits for special occasions. We bought these dresses for $20, which included shipping, and the turkey is a removable pin so that they can wear the dresses again! Pretty good deal I think! We love ebay!!! :)

More pictures!

My cousin Jaime took some really cute pictures of the girls playing so I wanted to add those for everyone to see. They were having so much fun with Jaime and being extremely silly running in circles, hiding in the curtains, laughing hysterically, and playing ring around the rosie.

Food, Fun, Family, & Friends

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Jon and I are truly thankful for all of you, our friends and family. But, we are most thankful to God for all that he has done for us and especially for blessing us with two very precious gifts....Kate & Gabe!

Today we went to my Uncle Lane & Aunt Deanna's house for Thanksgiving dinner. We always have a great time with everyone. And how fun that we live so close now!!!


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A little brother/sister bonding :) I think Gabe was a little freaked out....he never knows what to expect from his big sister!

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The whole gang...minus baby Hannah. She was napping during the picture. I was going to just paste her in, but I'm not very good at that and was afraid she would have looked like a giant. :)




Yummy food!

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Gabe got to spend some quality time with Grammy & Grandma today!

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The kids also got to spend time with their new baby cousin, Hannah. Gabe & Hannah are both growing up so fast!

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What is one thing Kate was thankful for today......FRIENDS!!!

Our very good friends from Atlanta, Apryl & Chris with their kids, Bennett & Alexander, came down for a few days to spend Thanksgiving with us! Kate was sooooo excited!!! She and Bennett often have a love/hate relationship, but they acted like the best of friends all day today. They chased each other around the house and yard and had so much fun. Unfortunately, not many of my "together" pictures turned out....the girls are too fast!

Kate also loved seeing Alexander. I think she might have a crush on him. :)

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The boys..............