Christmas Celebration 2011

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As always each year both Christmas Eve and Christmas day were busy but filled with fun! I am loving being off with my family and it is spoiling me having this time with them. I look at how big both Dawson and Mady are and it makes me want to turn back the hands of time. I am so thankful and feel so blessed right now in my life!

FUN IN FALL & THANKSGIVING BREAK

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Thanksgiving Visit w' Friends

I am so very thankful we were able to meet up with some of our best buds who we've not seen in a long time. It was great to see all the kids together and catch up over the weekend. Hoping we can do it again soon! :) Miss not having all my girls in town!

Gamecocks beat Clemson!! Cockadoodledo! :)

The kids were so excited this past weekend to watch our Gamecocks play. We were all even more excited to watch them win the state title against Clemson. :) I just love getting my babies all dressed up in Gamecock gear!

Halloween

Okay so yes I'm ashamed to say I have been slack in the blogging department with my own family. :( Here's some pics from Halloween. We had such a blast going over to the grandparents houses and watching Channel 146 perform at a local church.

Fun At The Fair!

We all had a blast at the SC State Fair this year with Mimi, Papa, Uncle Stevie, Tucker, Riley and Ragen! I was so impressed with Dawson riding so many rides this year. Madalynn is finally old enough now to enjoy them too and boy did she ever!! She is not afraid of anything. LOL!! From rides, to games, to petting farm animals, the kids had such a great time and didn't want to leave. The best part for Mommy is always enjoying the elephant ears - YUMMY!!! :)

Fun In the Mountains!

The weather was beautiful and highs were in the 70's and lows in the 50's. It was perfect! We took the kids gem mining and even trout fishing. The best part was the nature trail walks we took with the kids. The leaves were not at their peak but gorgeous all the same.




We made great time arriving Friday afternoon and were able to get everything set up and enjoy a beautiful sunset before dark.

Labor Day Fun 2011

We wanted to make sure and spend this day off as a family and doing something fun together. However, when we first woke up we weren't sure if the weather was going to allow us to go to the river as planned. But, as the morning went on we decided to chance it and I am so glad we did! The weather ended up being perfect...not too hot with a nice breeze! :)

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First day in First Grade

It's so hard to believe that my little man is now a first grader. After school, he came down to my room and was so tired. He just wanted to have a snack and take a nap. However, after taking a power nap in the car on the way home, he perked up and was ready to talk about his first day back. He was so excited about how they looked up astronaut clues and wrote the school rules. Of course, nothing was better than being able to see that his cousin, Thomas was in his class too!! They was the icing on the cake for him! LOL

I can't wait to see what this year has in store for him. He is going to learn so much I can tell and I am so thankful for his teacher, Mrs. Garrett. :)

Isle of Palms Trip 2011

We made it back today from the beach and had such a great time! I am so happy my brother and his family were able to join us this time for some fun in the sun! Of course you know I take a ton of pics and it's so hard choosing which ones to post - so I just created a slideshow instead. :P

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Easter

We had a wonderful Easter weekend! The kids woke up this morning to their baskets full of goodies and we explained to them why we give gifts on Easter and the real meaning of Easter - Jesus arose from the grave! We talked about how he gave us the best gift of all - everlasting life! After a very powerful church service, it was time for our afternoon festivities to begin. We ate a delicious lunch at Gongi's house and then headed to Mimi and Papa's house for our Easter egg hunt! The kids had a blast finding all their eggs pretty fast, and counted all their dollar bills from Mimi and Papa. ;) It was then time to cool off in the pool. I can't get over how hot it was today. It was beautiful but hot and it's only April! When we got home, Gamma brought over this Resurrection egg set she's had for more than 20 years, and went over each one of the eggs's special meaning. I have never heard it before, but it touched my heart. I definitely want to keep that tradition going with the kids each year.

Of course, I am a little down that our spring break has come to an end just because the majority of the time off we were all sick. :( We really didn't get a chance to get out and go anywhere, and poor Troy is still really sick. Please continue to uplift him in your prayers..he's fighting a horrible case of strep. I just keep thinking we only have 6 more weeks before summer vacation begins! I know it will fly by and be here before we know it. :)

We had a "Super Mario" Time!

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It's hard to believe that Dawson is now 6 years old. It seems like yesterday that I was just pregnant with him and wandering what motherhood had in store for me. We had such a great time today and the weather was gorgeous! Daddy and I worked so hard on making all the decorations so his Mario birthday theme was just perfect! It actually brought back so many memories of when Mario was first introduced to us as children with the Nintendo games! LOL! I can remember my brother and I staying up all hours of the night trying to beat all the levels. :) One of Dawson's gifts today was Mario All-Stars game and it has all the old original games on one Wii game! Looks like Mama will be up late tonight being a kid again.:)