Home, Home, Home!!!

 He's BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Well, sort of...he's still over at work unloading, unpacking, checking in, etc, but he'll be home tomorrow).

Thank you, United States Air Force for bringing our favorite soldier home safely.

More pictures to come.  Thanks to my friend, Megan, for taking them. 

The Candy Cottage

The week of Christmas, I was baking in the kitchen and watching the show, "My Carolina Today."  It comes on after The Today Show.  It's a nice, local show out of Raleigh.  Anyways, they had a segment on about these candy cottages that were invented near Raleigh.  It's a "no gingerbread mess" concept where you put the plastic cottage together anytime, and then you decorate it with your frosting and decor.  After you finish, you scrape it off, wash it, and reuse it.  I thought it was really cool.  So, they had a giveaway, and I entered on their website, and yea, I won one!!!  It arrived at the house the other day, and it looks really cool.  The neat thing is that you can use these for any occassion, and they have pictures of ones at Halloween, Easter, etc.  It's really big, and I think the kids and I will really enjoy it.  If you want to read more, they have a website here:  http://www.candycottage.us/

Thanks, Candy Cottage for this cool product.  From one very uncrafty person, I think this is a winner.

Christmas in Wilmington

After spending a few days in Tennessee, the kids and I packed up and drove the almost nine hours to my parents' house in Wilmington, NC.  The same day we were headed east, my brother and his family were headed west.  Clay had spent the week in Wilmington and had to get back to Oklahoma.  We ended up meeting for lunch, exactly halfway, in Charlotte.  Ironically, our sister and her family live in Charlotte, but they were at our parents' house already.

 We met at McAllister's Deli, and we all had a great lunch.  It was nice not to have to eat fast food again.  Alex and Madison enjoyed sitting with Cousin Wes.

 Madison with Aunt Karen

 Uncle Clay with Alex

All ready to load up again.  Lucy, their dog, had to join the crew. 

 After driving all day, we made it.  Cousin Alaina was ready to see us.  Madison was so happy to have a little girl to play with while at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Time for presents

 Alex with Uncle Harry

Madison is so excited about her new Barbie.

 My mom

Luke with his Lego boat (it came equipped with a shark and a fish too)

 Alex with his Lego tractor

Madison likes this picture with her cousin.

 I think Alaina liked the bath octopus we got her.

Lego tractor out of the box

 These flashlights my parents found were the BIGGEST hit with all the kids.  It was so funny.

Flashlight

 Anything left in there?

Storytime with Grandpa

 We took a picnic lunch to Carolina Beach State Park. It turned out to be very windy and cold, but the kids didn't seem to mind too much.

Alex and Grandpa seemed to have the right idea about eating lunch.

 Luke joined in.

Then, Grandpa joined them.

 Alaina didn't want to stop and eat.  She was having too much fun.

I was the keeper of the chips so none of us got stuck eating sandy chips.

 My crew

Alex is trying to share with Alaina.

We had a great visit with everyone.  It was so nice to see all of you.

Christmas in Tennessee

The kids and I traveled to Tennessee the Tuesday after Christmas to see Edward's family.  We ended up having a pretty quiet visit, as Edward's brother, Jason, and his family were unable to come due to my niece getting sick.  So, the kids and I spent our time hanging out with Nana and Pop. Since James (Pop) had to work, Jean Ann and I took the kids to an indoor wildlife place in Piegon Forge.  The kids loved it and saw a lot of cool and unusual creatures.

We spent a lot of time relaxing and playing at the house.  Alex spent a lot of time lining up these Matchbox cars.

Presents, presents, and presents...Madison is showing off a new outfit for Hannah, her American Girl doll.

This has become a real hit, a projection alarm clock.  The boys love it, and I was even able to put Alex down for his nap without a fight due to this being on.

Madison loves her boots.

I've been listening to Belle sing a lot.

A bird feeder...the kids love to feed the bird feeder when we visit.

A favorite at our house, Max and Ruby

All three kids got sleeping bags.  Alex is trying to put his on as a backpack.

Relaxing with Pop.  Thanks for the great visit.  We had a really nice time.