UNO

A few weeks ago a sweet friend called me to see if I wanted any of her kids items before she donated them to Goodwill.  So Caroline and I headed over and found a few puzzles and games that we didn't have.  Caroline has loved the "new to her" items!  Yesterday she brought out the UNO cards and asked to play.  I wasn't sure how it would go given all the "rules" of UNO.  Much to my surprise she got the game and loved it!  We  drank hot chocolate, listened to Christmas music, played several rounds and laughed a whole lot all while still in our PJ's at 10:30 in the morning! 

Just another reminder it's the simple things in life that make our kids happy.  We have so much we could learn from them...

Just what I needed...

This morning I enjoyed a cup of coffee, a quiet house and the lights of Christmas in my den.  Caroline was still asleep as I sat down with my daily devotion.  (which hasn't been to daily these days...)  The title was "What We Both Needed."  It talked about important people in our life who are just what we need.  It said to spend some time reflecting on those individuals and take a minute to let them know.  I sat down and my list continued to grow and grow.  It will take days for me to actually thank each and every person in my life who has encouraged me.  But it was good to reflect on just how blessed I am...to think of the ladies especially that God has placed in my life.  The ladies who have encouraged me as a wife, mom, child of God.  Ladies who left sweet surprises for me just when I needed them.  Ladies who have loved me in ways that just don't make sense. 

As I began to write emails or notes (which will take forever to finish) I began to weep, big crocodile tears...I am so blessed and yet almost every single day I take it for granted...I focus on the things that I don't have...not the amazing gifts God has given me.  Would you pray with me that I will look forward with anticipation of what God is planning to do in my life just the way it is?  Pray that I would be thankful for the blessings he has bestowed upon me?

What a humbling experience this has been...happy Thursday friends!

Trying to remember...

Life is tough when you are 4

Hanging out, enjoying an apple on this rainy, cold Tuesday afternoon.

Go GAMECOCKS!!!!

 Well folks, somehow we managed to pull off another win.  My husband was OVER THE MOON excited!!!  I must admit I was just a tiny bit excited myself.  Crazy how a game can stir up so much emotion inside...this is one of the annual events that make me miss my daddy so  much!  I was raised a Clemson girl and my daddy use to give Andy and I the devil about our Gamecocks.  Every year when these two teams played, my dad was sure to call several times throughout the game especially if Clemson was ahead.  I had to listen to him for days brag...oh what I would do to hear it again.  Daddy's been gone now for 6 games and 4 of those games we have won! 

Well Papa George since you aren't here to hear us boast, he's an image from the cutest Gamecock girl ever! 

(And yes I do believe if my daddy was living, he would surely try to convert her!)

PS-Interesting fact...Clemson hasn't won a game since the year my girl was born...hhhhmmmmm

Uncle Joe's

No fall/winter holiday is complete without collards!  Our household looks forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years because you can always find a fresh batch of collards on the stove!  Usually Mema picks us up a few bundles from Uncle Joe's but this year it worked out for us to go with her.  When we got there, Caroline said "Where's the corn, I want to pick corn!"  It was a good chance to explain that different vegetables grow during different seasons.  (I am super sad we didn't get our fall/winter garden planted...we will definitely have to make this a priority next year.)  But as usual, Uncle Joe didn't disappoint.

 

Mema and Uncle Joe picking the perfect collards

 Caroline was a SUPER helper!  Uncle Joe cut them and Caroline carried to the front of the field.

 Now onto turnip greens.  We let Mema have ALL of those. 

 

 Caroline wanted to see how many turnips she could carry at once, 8 was the limit.

Backyard Campfire

Last Christmas my brother Daniel and his wife Claire had our names.  They gave us an awesome fire pit...sadly we just put it together today...pitiful I know.  Anyway, it looked like a cool evening and Andy thought it would be a fun way to spend some family time together. So while Caroline was napping, we assembled it and set it up in the backyard.  Around dusk, we headed out to start our backyard fun!

 

helping daddy gather sticks

 building the fire

 we had a campfire dinner-roasted hot dogs

 enjoying dinner by the campfire

 roasting marshmallows and telling campfire stories

Thanks Daniel and Claire for a fun gift!  We look forward to lots more evenings by the fire this winter!

Thanksgiving

So thankful we get to celebrate my favorite holiday two different days.  For the last few years, my family has always gotten together the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving.  It's usually a low key evening and we don't feel rushed or too stuffed.  We also have two traditions-we hang the wreaths on Papa George's plot at the cemetery and put up Mom's Christmas tree.  This was actually the first year that ALL the kids enjoyed helping with the tree.  This was also the first Thanksgiving in a long time where I truly felt like we celebrated.  After losing one of the major members of our family 6 years ago, it just hasn't been the same.  There was a moment where I was looking at a picture of my dad in the den and I thought "OH George, I know you must be smiling..."

 

helping Granny

 Wilson and Caroline

Wilson and Peyton trying to get the ornaments a little higher

 Emma, Alston and Jake

 Boy oh boy do I feel old...Jenna brought her BOYFRIEND to Thanksgiving!!!!!! Thankfully he seems like a nice kid!

 Look at this sweet angel!  Mary Claire looks just like her daddy...I could eat her up! 

 Today we had a low key day at home.  Took our time doing a few things around here, cooking, hanging Christmas decorations, watching the Macy's Day parade.  We left about mid day and spent some time with Andy's parents.  Then we picked up the fried turkey from a family friend and headed over to Tomi Jean's to celebrate Thanksgiving with Andy's family.  Of course, Caroline and Mema loved hanging out by the warm fire.  As usual we had plenty of yummies for our tummies!

 Resting after a yummy meal...

Our family has SO MUCH to be thankful for!

Fun with Perrin, Emory and Danielle

 

I was so excited when Andy's cousin Danielle emailed that they would be in town this week and wanted to get together.  We have seen them a few times throughout the year but it's always been for a family event (funeral, baby shower, etc.) and there wasn't a whole lot of time to play.  So the girls took about 30 seconds to warm up to each other and they were ready to play.  They pretty much entertained themselves while Danielle and I had a chance to catch up.

 

 If you look carefully, the girls are playing in the leaves. 

 sweet Emory, love her eyes, oh my they are beautiful!

A different perspective

I was given an awesome opporutnity to work at a local farm here in town on my off days from Calvary.  It's seasonal work so it's two months in the fall and will be a month or two in the spring.  I love it...I've taught kids how to make bracelets from the wool we've sheared from the sheep, gourds we've grown on the farm(to make bird houses) as well as make butter from cream.  Caroline's even gone with me and had lots of fun.  So thankful for the small blessings that the Lord allows to "fall" in my lap.

The farm called Monday afternoon and asked if I could work a make up tour yesterday.  Of course I was thrilled.  We had a very small group coming (about 30 kids) and an elderly gentleman from one of the local retirement homes.  The home does something they call second wind, I believe.  Anyway it's a chance for their residents (who have usually been sick) to get to do something that have always wanted to do or something that they use to love but can no longer do.  Kind of like a pick me up for them. :0)  The gentleman was a big farmer back in his day and wanted a chance to hang out on a real farm.  The retirement home got there about 5 minutes early and we told them we were waiting on our school group, so it may be a few minutes.  Guess what, the school group didn't show up.  We called and asked if they had left the school and they had FORGOTTEN about a field trip...who does that????  But they wanted to still come but it would be about an hour before they could get there.  So we explained our situation to the gentleman and his family and they were fine with it.  They went inside our store, drank some yummy chocolate milk and just talked.  Reminded me of my grandfather...sitting, talking about farm stuff...We apologized several times for the delay and they were fine with it...content just to sit and talk.

It reminded me that I am always in a hurry, don't like to be delayed, time is money people!  But I have it all wrong.  Time is a precious gift.  This gentleman has been sick since the summer, lost about 40 pounds and just doesn't feel like himself.  Yet he is thankful to enjoy a day outside, WAIT for someone who made a mistake, etc.  He was the happiest, most content little man and I loved it!  It's really hard for me to describe the emotions but there were several times I had tears in my eyes as I watched him relive his lively hood. 

So thankful for a fun day at the farm where I learned more than I could have ever taught anyone there.

He growing in my heart...

Every day I am so thankful for my sweet girls' tender heart.  Yes we have lots of tantrums, lots of meltdowns, lots of disobedience but there isn't a girl who loves as big as mine.  Caroline prays almost every single day for her brother...She thinks about him when we go in stores or when she sees something for a baby.  She asks "Can I buy this for my baby brother when he comes home?"  Some days it breaks my heart for her...some days my heart isn't ready for her words...and some days I doubt myself if she will ever have a sibling...

As we were unpacking Christmas stuff on Saturday, she came across a tiny Christmas tree.  I told her it was her very first tree when she was a baby.  She responded with "Mommy I will let my baby brother have it his first Christmas."  I said "Caroline that's really sweet.  You keep praying for him!" (almost in a sarcastic tone...)  I totally wasn't ready for what she said next..."I'm praying for him Mommy.  He's growing in my heart, remember just I like I grew in YOUR heart."  I just smiled and thanked Jesus for my girl!

What is love?

A few days ago I was cleaning our room and came across a church bulletin from a few summers ago.  I kept the bulletin because the Confession of Sin was so powerful!  I have heard 1 Corinthians 13 read at many weddings and other joyous occasions but this confession took it a little further...

• Love it patient-Am I easily irritated?
• Love is kind-Have I been rude to anyone?
• Love is not boastful-Do I love to be the center of attention?
• Love is not proud-Do I like to be acknowledged?
• Love is courteous-Am I considerate of others and warm towards them?
• Love is not selfish-Do I insist that people pay attention to my needs and protect my rights?
• Love is not irritable or bitter-Am I keeping a record of wrongs?
• Love delights in truth and righteousness-What pleases me more: evil exposed or righteousness revealed?

Do I truly love as God clearly explained in 1 Corinthians 13?

Helping Mommy



The last few years we have been putting our tree up the weekend before Thanksgiving.  So we pulled all our items down from the attic yesterday and got to work.  This is our 9th year using our tree and it's beginning to look it's age...a few strands aren't working and it's leaning just a little to the left...magazines aren't helping! :-)  Anyway, this year I especially enjoying unwrapping our ornaments and thinking about each one.  Some were given to us as wedding gifts, some have been gifts throughout the year, a few were actually from the first Christmas tree Andy and I put up his first Christmas in our first home.  (Good stuff-a bluish/green $9.99 6 ft tree from Wal-Mart with garnet and silver balls from the $ store)  My favorites by far were the ones that Caroline made.  Each year we make an ornament with either her hand print or a finger print.  I enjoyed showing her each one and told her how old she was when she made it.  It was also fun to see the different ones she made at school without me.  Several of my ornaments with her name on it went to her tree cause "these are mine mommy."

 

helping

 one part of our tree has lots of ornaments and most don't go higher than about 3 1/2 ft...

 mommy suggesting we try a different side of the tree

 thank heavens for super glue...this is the gingerbread Caroline made her first Christmas.  Her precious little footprint is on the back...sadly it fell from the tree and broke into about 5 or 6 pieces.  Thankfully they were big pieces and Andy is currently working to get them all back together...

Cranberries and Popcorn

When I was a little girl, I remember hanging strands of popcorn on my Granny Esther's tree.  I thought it was the neatest decoration even though it was fake...When I taught 5K we use to make popcorn and cranberry garland for our classroom Christmas tree.  So I thought this year Caroline would be old enough to make some for her Christmas tree in her room.  I think she enjoyed it and was very proud of her patterned (pattern).  I was super excited that she noticed she was making a patterned. :0)

 

Mommy made the string of garland a little too long...

concentrating

 oooohhhh that needle hurt just a little

 a little finger prick didn't stop her

(next time we will pop our popcorn a few days in advance so that it is stale, this was a little too fresh and was pretty "fragile" as Caroline called it)

 "oohhh that one really hurt"

it was about this time when she decided that daddy could finish her garland

 I told her she had to clean her room before she could put her tree up.  I think that today was the fastest clean ever...if only I had something that worked that well the rest of the year!

 so excited about her garland

one proud little girl and a beautiful Christmas tree

(I walked out the room to do something and she closed her door.  Told me not to come back until she was finished.)

Thanksgiving Celebration

Caroline had her 4k Thanksgiving Celebration in her classroom today.  I wasn't able to watch but Daddy was there so I don't think she really missed me very much... :0)  I was thankful to sneak away for a few minutes to get a few pictures.  Andy said she did great!  It was the first party that she continued to stay where she was instead of wanting to be with him.  She's growing up...

Precious moments...

Make memories with your children,
Spend some time to show you care;
Toys and trinkets can't replace those
Precious moments that you share!
~Elaine Hardt

Christmas in Plum Creek

We were excited to have a low key day yesterday to get ourselves ready for the week.  As usual, we watched another episode of "Little House on the Prairie."  Just so happened that it was their first Christmas in their new town/home.  It was a simply Christmas, a Christmas that was a true holiday of thanksgiving as well as self sacrifice.  Each member of the family had money set aside to buy gifts.  However, they realized that they didn't really have that much money.  So they thought of ways to earn extra money or make homemade gifts.  Mary wanted to make a shirt for her dad so she worked with a local seamstress to make some extra money as well as get help to make the shirt.  Pa rebuilt some wagon wheels to earn enough money to buy Ma (Carolyn) a new stove.  Poor Laura couldn't think of anything she could do...then it came to her...she could sell her favorite pony and have enough money to buy her Ma the new stove she wanted. (Pa nor Laura knew the other one wanted to buy the same gift for Ma) Laura had no idea that her Pa had spent weeks making a saddle for her pony that she wouldn't be able to use.  Ma wanted to make  Pa a shirt and sold more and more eggs to earn the extra money.  Turns out it was the same shirt Mary made for Pa and so Ma tucked her gift away so it wouldn't overshadow Mary gifts.  

The gifts that they gave/received weren't elaborate but each person had to sacrifice something they had in order to give the gift they did.  Each person was THRILLED with the gift they received.  And notice I said GIFT not GIFTS.  Oh how I wish that we could all get back to the real meaning of Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.  I wish that I lived each day thankful for the day and not wanting more.  Andy and I  try really hard to make Christmas special and being on one income really makes getting gifts a little more special.  Caroline is almost always thrilled with what she gets and acts as though it is the best thing ever.  (Thankfully she doesn't have huge expectations and gets upset whey it's not exactly what she wants, unlike her mommy!) 

I tend to always set my expectations pretty high-what I expect from myself, my husband, my daughter, my friends, my family, etc.  My expectations are often unrealistic.  I know that I live in abundance although it doesn't always feel that way.  However, I don't really know that I truly appreciate what I have.  Andy and I spend about $100 on each other and that includes stocking stuffer's. While I am always excited about what I get, it's easy for me to get discouraged when I read what my friends received or what other kids received on Christmas morning.  And just like that, I have once again lost the focus of the holiday!!!! I have lost the idea that we will have a simple Christmas and enjoy the true gift, the best gift of all...Jesus!  Why do I allow myself to take these thoughts captive???  It makes me crazy but I have yet to overcome it...who knows maybe this year will be my year!

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I am so excited!!  It is truly one of my favorite holidays.  It's a time of excitement and I love thinking about all the different things that I am truly thankful for.  I don't have any huge expectations of the holiday, I just enjoy it for what it is.  I am excited to prepare for this special day and pray that it carries over as we enter into the Christmas season.

So what does Christmas look like for your family?  Do you celebrate like the Ingalls', remembering the true meaning of Christmas?  Is it a simple Christmas?  If so, I would love to hear about it. 

Thoughts on Disney

A few friends are heading to Disney in the near future and asked me to give them my thoughts on our trip.  So I thought I better do it while it's fresh on my mind.  We LOVED our time at Disney. 

• For us, we felt like Caroline was the perfect age for her first trip.  I couldn't really imagine taking her any earlier.  (although we saw a lot of kids much younger than her) She was pushed to the max and I am not sure she could have handled it before now.  Most of the "bigger" rides and such required her to be 40" tall or taller. 
• Staying on site-We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge which is located on Magic Kingdom's property.  It was easy to take the ferry over to Magic Kingdom.  I think some of the other properties have the monorail service which would have taken us to the other proprieties as well. 
• Meal plan-We had the basic meal plan which provided 1 counter service meal (fast food), 1 table service meal (sit down), a snack each day and a Disney refillable mug.  The mug could be refilled at any counter service area in our resort.  Therefore we didn't have to buy drinks.  The snack was nice to have through out the day while in the park to use for drinks, chips, popcorn, ice cream etc.  Snacks were considered anything $5 or under.  The table service meals are great for character lunches/dinners.  Our lodge had a 7th floor "Old Faithful Club". with snacks and drinks provided throughout the day. We ate a continental breakfast each morning and got snacks and desserts at night.  Therefore we didn't use all our counter service meals and were able to cash them in on snacks and drinks for the trip home.
• Reservations-Trips to Disney require months of planning. (didn't know this given this was our first trip!)  By the time we made our reservations at the Lodge, most of the character lunches/dinners were filled and a lot of the restaurants didn't have any available seating.  Character lunches begin booking 180 days prior to your arrival date.  So if you are thinking of planning a trip, find out when you are 180 days away from your trip and book away!  Many of the character meals require two table service tickets.
• Rent a stroller-While it does add about $50 to your trip, it's well worth it.  We found out after the 3rd day that we could rent the stroller for the entire week.  (sadly we didn't know this earlier, thinking the front desk misunderstood my question)  It's $15 per day for a single stroller and the price goes down the more days you rent.  The strollers are pretty big and Caroline LOVED having it.  We did a lot of walking so this made it much easier.  The reason I liked renting the stroller is that we didn't have to pack it in the car AND we didn't have to try to fit it on the ferry boat.  You get a cute license plate with your name on it and we tried to put some tape or a coat on top to help us easily identify it.
• Clothes-wear comfy clothes and tennis shoes.  We were on our feet at least 8 hours a day walking throughout the park.  I saw ladies looking much nicer than me with cute dresses or wedges or heals but ladies, my dogs were barking at the end of the day, I can only imagine how theirs felt!
• Backpack-We carried a backpack with us each day.  It started out light and slowly got heavier.  It was cool in the mornings, warm during the day and cool again at night.  The backpack was great for storing our coats during the day.  I was also able to put my camera bags as well as my wallet in it. 
• Arrive at the park as early as possible-The earlier you arrive the better your chances of getting to ride your favorite rides without too much of a wait time.  We tried to arrive at the park each morning within 30 minutes of its opening time.  We were able to ride our favorite rides AND get a fast pass to come back.  I didn't really understand the FAST pass concept until we got there.  You are allowed one fast pass at a time.  Only so many are issued through the day.  So as soon as we walked into the park, we handed our tickets to Uncle Greg who rushed over to grab our first fast pass while we got the stroller and such.  We would meet him there to ride the ride and then come back at our designated time to use our fast pass.  We never waited in line more than 20 minutes thanks to our fast pass.
• Group trips are good-With Caroline being an only child, it helped to have Jack and Grace.  She wanted to be a big girl like them and ride lot of fun stuff.  It also helped us because we didn't have to go on everything with her! :-)  There were times we all would split up to do what we wanted to do and just agreed to meet back at a certain time.
• Schedule a rest day-The package that we purchased through Andy's work was a great deal on the number of tickets we got.  We paid for 4 days of Disney, 1 day at SeaWorld, 1 day at Universal and a FREE day at Disney.  So we had 7 days of tickets at 7 days if you counted arrival and departure day.  We saw a lot of fun things and enjoyed our days at the park, however, if we go again I would definitely take an extra night just to have a day of rest in the middle of the week.

We enjoyed all of the parks we visited.  However, if we were planning a shorter trip and could only visit a few parks, here are the parks we visited in the order we would visit again.  (1 being a must and 6 being a maybe)

1. Magic Kingdom (at least two days)
2. Animal Kingdom
3. SeaWorld
4. Epcot
5. Universal
6. Hollywood Studios

Well folks, that is about all that I have.  I can totally see how people get sucked in and go every single year. I think for us, we will be lucky to go again in two or three years. We had a wonderful week and are so thankful for the wonderful memories we made.   Now it's back to the real world, laundry, grocery shopping and preparing our own meals! 

**Again please excuse typos or grammatical errors, not proof reading all these posts...**

Day 7-Final day

All good things must come to an end...it's been a great vacation and I have LOVED every single minute of it.  I am so thankful that I got to enjoy my first trip to Disney with my precious little girl as well.  (more to come on my thoughts of Disney)  So today we had a few things left on our to do list that we wanted to check off.  I can honestly say that we haven't missed much.  Already trying to find another reason to go back!  We slept in a little this morning (7:30) and got a slow start to the day.  We packed our bags, cleaned our rooms, got breakfast and headed over to the Magic Kingdom around 9:30. 

loved seeing the decorations in the daylight



 As soon as we woke Caroline up this morning, she said "Is it time to go ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad?"  She LOVED it!  The first time we went on the ride, she cried because she couldn't go with us.  We realized she was tall enough and thought she would most likely be scared to death.  WRONG!

 Andy sat one ride out so that he could take pictures of us on the ride.

 Here we come...

 if you click on the picture, you will see a HUGE smile on my girls face

 It's hard to see but she's holding up 9 fingers, yep that's right, she rode this bad boy 9 times and wanted to go again but the wait time was too long for the amount of time we had.

 another ride on the tea cups

 playing in Casey Jr. water park

(most days were mid 60's to lower 70's-not today.  it warmed up pretty quickly, made us very thankful for the "cool front" that moved through Florida earlier in the week.)

 Caroline was SOAKED by the time she and Jack finished playing

 couldn't visit Disney without a trip on the monorail

We grabbed a late lunch at the restaurant (lunch and dinner) in our lodge-The Whispering Canyon.  Definitely liked the lunch menu better than the dinner menu.  The kids enjoyed a horse race around the restaurant just as we were leaving.

 Grace leading the pack

 Jack not too far behind

We got on the road around 3:30.  Thankfully Caroline got settled pretty easily, watched "The Lion King" and then fell asleep for about an hour.  We got back to Tomi Jean and Greg's around 10:30 and were home by 11.  We unloaded only the things we needed headed straight for bed.  Hopefully we will all sleep in just a little in the morning...