Christmas Day

Christmas morning was wonderful! It is so fun to experience it with our kids. They were SO excited to see what Santa had left them overnight!!


Bryce proudly showing off his superhero costumes
CeCe giving her new baby doll stroller and test drive

Bryce showing off a gift from Cappy and Papaw Ruff

CeCe modeling a dress up outfit from Ho Ho and playing with a new toy

All the kids in their matching PJs helping CeCe to open a gift

It snowed on Christmas Day!!! Bryce wanted to jump on the trampoline in his Captain America costume. Don't worry, he has lots of layers on underneath. He refused to wear a jacket over the costume.

CeCe wanted to jump too

After a late breakfast on Christmas Day at my parents house it has been our tradition to drive on down to West Point to Anthony's parents house. We got there around 3 and dove right back into presents and eating!

CeCe being sweet

Bryce and Daniel playing with one of Daniel's new toys

Unfortunately I didn't take too many pictures.....my battery was really low! Everyone was together on Sunday (which only happens about twice a year) so that was wonderful. Bryce and Daniel had fun playing together and arguing over sharing their new toys!

-Christmas Eve post is after this one

Peabody and Christmas Eve

Tuesday (21st) we decided to go downtown to ride the trolley and go to the Peabody. The weather was very nice and warm that day which was wonderful! We went back downtown on Friday and it was miserable cold and windy!!


Here is CeCe on the trolley
Bryce and CeCe with Cappy and Papaw Ruff in front of the huge tree at the Peabody

Tried to get a cute pic of the kids.....I picture Bryce saying "Come on CeCe, Mama said stand still and smile. And CeCe replying "Geez Bryce, we don't always have to do everything Mama wants us to do you know"!

That week in Memphis we also went to the zoo, the Enchanted Forest at the Pink Palace Museum, the Children's Museum, Bryce's favorite park, and the mall. My camera battery charger was left in Pensacola so I was scared to take too many pictures. We had a blast everywhere we went though, even if it was pretty chilly most days!

Now for Christmas Eve......

Bryce and Jude in their matching sweaters before church

No cute picture of CeCe in her Christmas dress....Miss Thing was in no mood to pose for the camera. I didn't get a single decent picture of her that afternoon. I'm so glad I let her wear her Christmas dress downtown that day, I did get a couple of cute pics that day.

We've started going to a Children's service at Idewild Presbyterian Church for Christmas Eve and it is wonderful! They have little head pieces for the kids to get them involved in the service. And it doesn't matter if they won't stay quiet or still! CeCe and Jasper as angels, Bryce as a wiseman and Jude as a shepherd.

Cappy and Papaw Ruff reading Christmas stories with the kids

Bryce, CeCe and Cappy made the cookies for Santa

Ho Ho Ho!

I wanted to post our Christmas card but can't figure out how to get it from Shutterfly to the blog. I could take a pic of it and post the pic of the pic. Maybe another day! Here is the picture that was on the front of the card.....

We hope each and every one of you have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!!!

Fun in Ollie Branch

We have been in Olive Branch since Saturday and have been having tons of fun as always! Sunday we went to Evergreen Presbyterian Church in Memphis to see our old Pastor Ken and his wife Melinda. Melinda was sick but it was great to get to see Ken again.

Here is Bryce posing outside after church.

And CeCe checking out the presents under the tree before we left

The kids outside posing together

My dad cleaned out the garage for the dogs this week and we've been taking advantage of it for the kids too! Bryce and CeCe have had a BALL out here riding on their toys! Bryce has learned to cut donuts with this big wheel and it is hilarious!

CeCe laughs everytime he does it!

Today we bundled up and went to the zoo. We love the Memphis zoo!!

I'm scared that I may have left my camera charger in Pensacola so I might have to stop taking pics until Christmas Eve and Day. CeCe might have just carried it off somewhere though because in its place in the case were 3 strands of CeCe's beads....!

Bryce's letter/email to Santa

Bryce just typed this letter to Santa:

Santa,
Hey. How Are you? Please can I have a wolverine iron man costume. Aquarium.

Love Bryce Duke

Singing and Cookies

Today the 3 and 4 year old classes at Bryce's school put on a little program for the parents. They sang about 7 songs and it was super cute of course! Bryce sang every word and did all the hand motions! Much improved from last year!!

After the singing the parents were invited to stay and help the kids decorate big gingerbread cookies. We weren't supposed to have siblings there though so Anthony and I were going to take turns hanging out with CeCe and helping Bryce. He wanted me to help first so A headed outside with CeCe. I guess he thought we were decorating multiple cookies because he didn't come back for over 15 minutes! Bryce had to leave to go back to his classroom without even saying goodbye to Anthony.

Finished product

CeCe and I went down to the bay to kill time this afternoon and ended up getting to see a huge ship leaving the dock and two smaller tugboats coming in to dock. It was pretty neat and she kept saying boat boat boat and getting excited.

Notice her shoes here.....her cute brown boots would have gone perfectly with this outfit today, but she was with me when I went to her closet to get them. She HAD to put these shoes on so I let her thinking I could change them to her boots right before we left....yeah, no such luck. She loves these black patent hard soled shoes so much. I wish I had a video of her from Hobby Lobby this morning. She danced and stomped and tapped her way around the whole store. She knows she is hot stuff in her loud tappy shoes!

On this cold afternoon

The weather has finally beaten us. 41 is too cold for us to go outside after CeCe's afternoon nap :( 51 on Monday was pretty bad, so I knew we wouldn't be able to handle it today! Bryce found a recipe in one of his super hero books for Black Cat cookies and has been asking me if we can make them for about a week. We had everything we needed so today was the day. It was fun having my two helpers help me in the kitchen!

CeCe was thrilled that the cookies had raisins in them. She LOVES raisins and ate handfuls while we were baking.
Bryce did a great job mixing!

While the cookies were baking they played one of their favorite games.....couch wrestling! I know this absolutely horrifies my sister!

Now Bryce is being a superhero

And CeCe is rolling around on the big blue ball!

Luckily the temp is supposed to climb over the next couple of days. I have turned into a big old wuss about cold weather!!

Breakfast with Santa

The Aldridges invited us to come to their church this morning for a breakfast with Santa. It was so fun!

Here are CeCe and Kate being sweet after we ate. This makes my heart so happy! Not only have I found a great friend in Kelly, CeCe and Kate love playing together (and sharing food) too! By the way, this was not staged at all. Kate just walked up to CeCe and hugged her!

The picture with Santa went exactly like I expected it to! CeCe screamed her head off (and of course we had to take a picture of it) while Bryce chatted his ear off!

The four of us after CeCe calmed down

After visiting with Santa we went to The Aldridges beach condo for the afternoon. We played outside in the freezing cold for a little while (Brett even got in the kayak, brrr!). The girls took great naps while Bryce and the grown ups ate a delicious lunch. We tried to go back outside after the naps, but it was just so cold and windy today. Once we got home tonight we decorated our little Christmas tree. We aren't getting a big one again this year.....I know bad us. Here is CeCe showing me her 2010 ornament, a flamingo! Bryce chose Hulk. Big surprise there!!!

I had a cute picture of Bryce helping me decorate the tree but for some reason blogspot won't let me upload it! Oh well, picture my sweet boy putting an ornmament on the tree here........

Christmas Cards

Every year I get excited about Christmas for many reasons. One of them being Christmas cards. Every card I receive in the mail brings a smile to my face. Choosing the perfect card to send out each year can be a daunting process, but Shutterfly makes that process much easier. They have hundreds of designs to choose from. Check out the 2010 Christmas and Holiday collections here. Uploading your pictures to the website is super quick and easy, and then you can play around until you find the perfect card for your family. They also have great calendars. I've ordered calendars from Shutterfly every year since Bryce was a baby (5 years now!). The calendars are great keepsakes too. It is so fun to look back through all of the past years. I read on a couple of blogs that Shutterly is giving away 50 free cards to bloggers, so I had to check it out. Turns out it is true! I can't wait to take the kids' Christmas card pictures this weekend and start designing our 2010 card!

A wonderful Thanksgiving

We had a great almost week long Thanksgiving adventure! Tuesday after school we drove to my family's lake house. The Williams were there and the kids all had a blast playing together. Wednesday my dad, Anthony, the kids and I went into Montgomery to visit with my Grandparents and to have lunch with my cousin Jennifer and her family. Thursday was the big day! We took our dishes of hashbrown casserole, salad and caramel cake to my Aunt Lynda and Uncle Dave Gray's farm. They host a group of at least 70 people every year! I am very blessed to be a part of such a wonderful family. This is my Dad's Mother's side of the family (The Robinsons). There were quite a few from my generation that weren't able to come this year, but we still had a pretty good crowd, don't you think?

CeCe loved playing outside (in the 80 degree weather!)

Bryce and I riding on the sled pulled by Uncle Dave on the tractor. My Pop built this sled many years ago and I remember riding on it as a little girl!

Anthony and Bryce on the sled

Friday morning we got up early and drove to West Point in the cold rain. We got there and had to go to WalMart to buy CeCe a coat and hat! She wanted to play outside with the boys so bad but I didn't have anything warm enough for her to wear. I hit the jackpot...this jacket and hat were only $14!

Bryce, I mean Spiderman, was nice and warm in his suit and mask.

Saturday we had to wear our Maroon and White for the big game!

We had lunch in Starkville at Oby's and decided to drive by our old sorority and fraternity houses (they are right next door to each other, awww!) I had to get a pic with CeCe in her cheerleading outfit in front of the house. One day maybe she will be moving in here and can put this picture up in her room!! (no pressure though, seriously, I'm not that mom!)Anthony might be that dad though! Here are my boys in front of the Phi Delt house. The sun was in the wrong place for me to get the sign at the top of the house. We will have to try this one again.

Our Weekend

Has been so much better than the last 12 days have been!!! Thank goodness Bryce's stomach virus only lasted about 2.5 days, rather than the 7 that CeCe's did. He started perking up Friday afternoon but we still took it easy yesterday and stayed home all day just to make sure he was really 'back'. He is!! Anthony and the kids played outside while I once again scrubbed the house down. After lunch we decided to go ahead and hang up our Christmas lights. We won't be turning them on until after our Thanksgiving trip, but it is so nice to have that done!



Don't you wish Spiderman would come help you hang your lights?

Today we decided to go on an adventure. There was an article published in a local magazine a while back about the 22 best outdoor adventures in Pensacola. I bookmarked it for future reference and today turned out to be a great day to check one out. We ended up at Tarkiln Bayou in the SW part of town. It is a small state park with 2 walking trails. The one we took was paved/boardwalk the whole way and was 1.2 miles round trip. Perfect for the kids.

Bryce decided he needed this for the hike

CeCe loved it and walked more than I thought she wouldThe boardwalk ended at a body of water that I assume is the Tarkiln Bayou. It was so beautiful out there. We stayed for a long time watching for fish.

We look forward to checking out more things on that list.

Bryce has 2 days of school this week and then we head out on our Thanksgiving trip. We will go to the lakehouse on Tuesday afternoon, see my family on Wed. and Thurs. and then head to West Point on Friday-Sunday. I'm sure I'll have plenty of cute pictures when we get back!