December so far

Last weekend CeCe invited 5 friends to come over and decorate Christmas cookies.  My mom bought me my first stand mixer for Christmas and was sweet enough to let me open it early and to come help me make the cookies!  They were delicious and the girls had so much fun decorating them.  

 The weather has been great here so after they decorated the cookies they played outside and then we had pizza before everyone went home.  

 Today was Grinch day for the 1st graders at Dogwood.  CeCe was so excited to wear PJs to school!  

 Today was also the much anticipated Newcomb Ball tournament for the 4th graders.  Bryce has been so excited about this for months.  Unfortunately his team lost their first game so they were eliminated early.  

Dolphin Tale Ball

The kids school had a Daddy/Daughter dance Friday night called Dolphin Tale Ball.  Anthony and CeCe went with John and Mary and all had a great time!  We took CeCe and Mary to get their hair done right after school.  Mary went with curls while CeCe chose an up-do.  

Don't they look beautiful?

Anthony sent me pictures and videos throughout the dance.  He said the DJ (music teacher) was great and played all the songs the girls wanted to hear.  CeCe came home so excited to tell me and Bryce all about it.  

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was wonderful like always!  We started out the trip with a fun afternoon at the lake.  The kids love exploring in the mud when the water goes down for the winter.  

 Reagan was the only brave soul to swim! 

Thursday morning we drove to my Aunt and Uncle's farm.  The weather was absolutely perfect and we spent all day outside playing. CeCe and Greta had so much fun with their big cousins Borden and Anna.  

 No Thanksgiving is complete without a sled ride (or 10!)

 And of course there were hay rides.  We are so lucky to have all of this every year!  

My Uncle has built a mound of sod that the kids slide down on cardboard.  This entertained them for the longest time!  

This is most of the people that were there.  We are so blessed that we still get together each year!  

Friday morning we got up early and drove to West Point to have Thanksgiving lunch with the Dukes. It was a delicious meal and fun afternoon spent with everyone!  

 We set up Kiki's tree and the grandkids have fun decorating it for her!  

CeCe had her final event this season as a cheerleader yesterday.  It is the annual Cheer-off between the different squads.  They had been practicing their routine for a few months and it was really good!  

The bows.....crazy but this is how 'all the cheerleaders' wear their bows now.  CeCe and I both think it looks very silly.   At least her squad didn't do lots of make-up.  One of the other 1st grade squads did and it looked awful to me.  They are only 6 and 7! 

Can you spot her?  2nd one from the left, the peanut! 

Being short gets you on top for all of the stunts! 

 And in the front row...much easier to take pictures of her!  

The Falcons placed second in their division.  She was SO excited to finally get a trophy!!  Today she woke up sad because cheer is over until next year.  We are hoping to find a tumbling class for her to join soon.  

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween this year!  This is the only picture I took of the kids though, crazy!  Bryce pulled out a MSU basketball jersey from years ago and became a basketball player.  CeCe wore one of Aunt Blake's old ballet costumes and was a beautiful princess.  We went to a fun party at our friends house (Bryce left early to go trick or treating with his buddy Upi).  The weather all day was rainy but the rain stopped just in time to trick or treat!  

The day before Halloween two service dogs came to the school and some of the 1st graders got to read to them.  CeCe loved it!!!  

MSU Homecoming

Saturday we woke up and headed over to Starkville bright and early for the 11am Homecoming game.  The weather was perfect for football and we had a great day!  The kids were so excited to have their cousins at the tailgate!!  I made CeCe's skirt and Winnie's jumper, they love to match!  Winnie asked me to french braid her hair like CeCe's.  She's so fun!!  

The three younger kids.  The two older boys were way too busy playing football!  

 Finally corralled them all together for some pics.  Cutest Bulldog fans I've ever seen!  

More Fall Break

Monday we moved over to my parents condo for the rest of the week.  

 Going crabbing one night!

Tuesday we celebrated Cappy's birthday!

 Wednesday Cappy and the kids and I drove to Pensacola to spend the day.  We went to the Naval Aviation Museum and spent over 3 hours there!  Bryce LOVED everything about it.  CeCe enjoyed most of it but was ready to leave at the end! 

After the museum we went to eat lunch at the Fish House, one of our favorite restaurants of all time! After lunch the kids wanted to see our old house so we drove by there before driving back to the beach.  It was fun being back in Pcola for the day! 

Thursday we went to a nature center in Gulf State Park.  CeCe loved this turtle named Homer!

After that we met our neighbors at The Track in Gulf Shores and the kids had a BLAST!

After The Track we went and had lunch at Lulu's.  Another one of my favorite places to eat!!

Friday morning we rented bikes and rode for about 8 miles on some great trails in the Gulf State Park.  I was very proud of the kids, especially CeCe!  No pictures of us riding but here are two from some fun boulders they stopped to climb.  

Friday afternoon the kids and I packed up and drove back to West Point for another MSU football game!