Movie Night Outside

Last Saturday night, after the wing Christmas party, we headed down to Destin for the outside viewing of the Polar Express. They had a huge screen set up near the playground and benches to sit on and even some people walking around selling popcorn and cotton candy. I really thought the kids would enjoy it more than they did but they seemed more interested in running around than actually watching the movie. Nevertheless, they had a good time and it was a neat experience.

This is one of the few times both kids were actually sitting down at the same time watching the movie.

All bundled up!

Eating popcorn with mittens on is kind of hard!

Olivia slept most of the night. I got a couple of nasty looks from people, but really Olivia was probably warmer than anyone else there. She looked like the kid from 'A Christmas Story' all bundled up in her snow suit.

Wing Christmas Party

This past Saturday afternoon Andrew's wing held their children's Christmas party. This is the first year we have been able to attend and it was a lot of fun! They had lots of fun things for the kids to do; like decorating Christmas hats, frosting and decorating cookies, pin the nose on the Santa, there were snacks, and the Jolly old man in red even made an appearance and gave all the kids a gift! Abby of course had a blast with the highlight being that Santa came and she was even brave enough to sit on his lap this year!!

Decorating the Santa hat

Wearing the finished product

Pin the nose on the Santa

Decorating cookies

Daddy and Olivia

I don't know what exactly was going on here, but apparently something was too loud for the kiddos!

This was when Santa was arriving...I just love the look of joy on Abby's face. This is just such a magical time of year :)

She told Santa she wanted a dolly for Christmas

Abby and Santa sitting on a JASSM which is the missile that Andrew works on!

Greta's visit

My sister Greta came to visit for a week and it was wonderful having her here. Abby loved hanging out with her and showing off all her new skills, and I loved being able to chat and catch up and appreciated all her help. I am sure it wasn't the most exciting vacation for an almost 20 year old, but that is what you get when you combine the fact that I have 2 kids and we live in Crestucky!! We did hit up a few sights, like Destin Commons, the outlets, Fuddpuckers, and open gym to name a few. We did have fun though and we all really enjoyed spending time with Greta!! We miss you already....come back soon!

Abby was very excited to take Greta to the "alligator" place aka Fuddpuckers for lunch. Its a total tourist trap, but Abby was excited to see the alligators and it gave us something to do.

Abby and Greta by the Christmas tree at Destin Commons

UFO

That stands for Unidentified Fuzzy Object. Abby and I found these fuzzy things out in the yard one day and we really don't have any idea what they are. Abby had fun searching for them among the leaves and acorns and had a whole "fuzzy" family; a Mommy, a Daddy, a big sister, and a baby. Then she went on to try and find a Nolan fuzzy, Miss Sam fuzzy, and a Mr. Brian fuzzy!

Christmas Tree Farm

Andrew and I thought it would be fun to go to a Christmas tree farm and cut our own Christmas tree this year. Andrew looked around online and we found a tree farm not too far from our house. We really talked it up to Abby and she packed a backpack full of supplies for walking in the woods to find the perfect tree. When we got to the tree farm we were a bit disappointed, we didn't really fall in love with any of the trees. They didn't have the "traditional" type of fir tree that are often used as Christmas trees. After talking it over a bit, Andrew and I decided we weren't going to cut down a tree just for the sake of saying we did so. Abby wasn't upset at all that we left empty handed and Andrew found our perfect Christmas tree at WalMart, so everything ended up working out!!

Thanksgiving 2008

We had a wonderful Turkey Day this year. Sam and Brian were gracious enough to host dinner at their house this which was perfect for us. It was very relaxing for us and I didn't have to worry about cooking or cleaning too much! Brian fried a turkey and some rolls, (it was delicious) and Sam, Andrew, and the Malone's supplied the rest of the side dishes and desserts. We had a ton to eat and all the food was wonderful as was the company! We have a lot to be thankful for this year and we are grateful for all of the blessings in our life.

PS....I forgot to post this in the ramblings section, but its appropriate here too. We talked a lot about what we were thankful for in the days leading up to Thanksgiving and Abby gave lots of different answers including, her Mom and Dad, animals, apples, pumpkins, ect. But, I think the best was when she told me she was thankful for chocolate!!!! She really is a girly girl :)

Our wonderful hosts

The kiddos playing outside before dinner

Me and 2 of the people I am most thankful for in this world!

Jake sporting his eating pants!

The kids table

The adult table

The "nursing" table. Olivia didn't want to be left out of the feast and decided she wanted to eat just as we were sitting down to dinner. I ended up feeding her while the rest of the crew ate, but I made it back to the table in time for seconds so I didn't eat alone!!

Brian with the yummy fried turkey

Andrew turns 30

Andrew turned 30 last week and to celebrate the girls and I sent him to New Orleans for a few days and hooked him up with Packers/Saints tickets. His good friend Jason flew down to help him celebrate, and from what I understand they had a great time! Happy 30th birthday Andrew, I love you!

Here are a couple of pictures from the game courtesy of Jason