Too long

It has been over 6 months since my last post, so I thought this post would be a quick update on what has been happening. December: Mike and I gifted Mike's parents a weekend at Disney. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and we went to the Candlelight Processional. The candlelight is an annual tradition that we started about 10 years ago. We are going back again this year, but this year we are going with my family. Counting down the days!!

We are thankful we were able to celebrate Christmas with both families during the holidays. As long as I can remember, my family has had the tradition of Santa Clause coming to the house on Christmas Eve. This year was no different! It's so much fun to see what fun and silly gifts Santa brings us!

I was also excited to meet my new 2nd cousin, Jourdan. She's just precious!

SPRING: This spring was very different. My spring break was different than my mom's school break, so we weren't able to go on any trips this year. :-( Plus, my school is in the process of building a new building and my current building was being torn down just one week after school was out. Therefore, I was very busy cleaning out and packing my classroom. I had been in the same classroom for 13 years, so I had lots of STUFF! My BFF, Brooke, and I enjoyed chatting, watching and taking pictures of the demolition of the old building. Brooke attended SPCS as a student. :-) It was a sad and exciting day all at the same time!

SUMMER: This summer has been fun fantastic!! I was able to fly to SC to visit my family. While I was there I got to have lots of play time with Miss M and Mr M. We had so much fun running, jumping and laughing. I can't wait to give them some more kisses!!! During my visit, my mom surprised all us girls for a Girls Night Out to see Lion King at Greenville's Peace Center. Miss M was upset that she wasn't old enough to go with us "big" girls. Lion King is at the top of my list of Broadway shows. It's up at the top along with Mary Poppins.

My summer is not over. . .next post Anniversary trip to Hawaii!!! And I hope promise it won't be 6 months for the next post.

Blessed Thanksgiving

What a blessed Thanksgiving! I could not have asked for a better Thanksgiving. Mike and I traveled to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Northern Georgia. My mom's side of the family--her Dad's family--have been getting together for several years for Thanksgiving. It is a wonderful time to catch up with family besides just seeing and writing them on facebook. We have some family that live near Blue Ridge, so several families stayed with them and the rest of us rented two other cabins in the mountains.My entire family stayed in one cabin and we had a delightful time together. We all arrived in town on Wednesday and my sister made a spectacular southwestern soup for dinner and we enjoyed our conversation and just being together. Thursday morning we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and we drew names for Christmas. Shortly thereafter, we headed to my Cousin's house.It was fun to give and get lots of hugs from family. Before we ate, the word passed along to everyone that we were going to take a group picture outside. I couldn't believe how many family were there once we were all in one place. It was painless to get all these people together for a picture! What a great memory~my Pappy would have loved that we were all together, so would his brother and sister~seeing all the family getting together and making memories to last a lifetime.
We enjoyed the many activities at my Cousin's house, playing pool, fishing on the lake, target practice in the valley, tepee in the valley, movie theater room, and of course EATING!!

We got to try some new recipes for Thanksgiving dinner. I got 5 of my favorite recipes, so I can't wait to for the opportunity to make one of these yummy southern recipes! (Thanks Karen, Brenda, Marlene, and Kelly for sharing your fabulous cooking with me!) On Friday, my immediate family took a train ride on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway.We had a fun time with each other. There were additional passengers on the train too~Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and Santa and Mrs. Claus. We enjoyed popcorn and hot chocolate while singing Christmas carols and listening to a Christmas story. Miss M is at the stage where she will let you know when she wants or doesn't want her picture taken. We enjoyed shopping and eating at Harvest on Main. If you are ever in Blue Ridge, GA, you won't want to miss this great place to eat. Most of the food they serve, comes from local farmers in the area. Mike and I were sad to leave such great southern hospitality and head back to sunny Florida. We had a great time going to a new place and experiencing God's amazing creation. We would love to return next year for Thanksgiving, so we will see what the Lord has planned for 2012. But for 2011, Thanksgiving weekend was a blessing in itself.

Dinner Done!

The most dreaded question of the day is "What are we going to have for dinner?". This is the second year Mike and I have gone to Dinner Done. It is so much fun to prepare meals and not have to go to the grocery store, put the groceries away, make a mess in YOUR kitchen and then have to clean it up. Dinner Done does the shopping for you, provides the kitchen set ups, and cleans up the dirty dishes! What more could a girl want? The meals are wonderful, homemade and ready to go into the oven each night.
Dinner Done is a great way to spend time with your special someone or great friends!!! Jen and Julie putting all the food in the coolers to transport all the way back home.
After all the preparing meals, Mike was hungry and loves Zaxby's, so we had to stop when we saw one on our way home from Tampa.