Merry Christmas Y'all!

Well, we've trimmed the tree, decked the halls, and made our Christmas wish lists.

And apparently, not only have the 3 wisemen and the shepherds come to worship Baby Jesus, but so have a few others. I couldn't help but smile and take a picture when I found this.:)

Last night was our ward's Christmas party. It was a potluck style dinner...but nobody brought any food! We were assigned rolls for 25 people, which we brought, but there were 2 or 3 potato casseroles, a few green salads, and then the RS provided 1 piece of ham per person. And that was it. Good thing there's a Chick fil A across the street. It was the strangest thing! But not any stranger than Zach walking around with his makeshift glasses.

Anyway, at least Santa Claus made an arrival, because it may be the only time this season my kids to get to meet him. Lucy of course bounded right up to him and told him she wanted a "music box," which is item #4,135 on her list of what she's told us. It changes every time you ask.

Zachary, in stark contrast to last year where he hid behind the Christmas tree, also bounded right up and sat upon his knee. I have no idea what he told Santa, and probably neither does he. I'm guessing something that starts and ends with "choo."

He's not afraid anymore!!

And yes, as the title suggests, last night was the first time I've heard Lucy drop a "y'all." All of her little southern primary friends use it, so why not Luce? When in Rome...

Happy Birthday Lucy!!

Our darling little Luce has hit the 5 year mark. Wow. FIVE YEARS OLD. I can still remember when I was five years old.... One whole hand. Kindergarten. Halfway to 10. She is the absolute best and sweetest little girl-- we couldn't have been more blessed that morning five years ago when we welcomed Lucy to our family.

Thursday for preschool Lucy brought cupcakes for her schoolmates-- which apparently is THRILLING. As one who had a summer birthday, I never got my birthday celebrated at school, but it's a BIG deal. She got to be calendar helper, pass out papers, be sung to, and share her cupcakes with everyone. I'm glad she loves her winter birthday!

We decided that since her birthday falls on a Sunday we'd do most of our celebrating on Saturday. So she woke up to her choice of ANYTHING her little heart desired for a special birthday breakfast, and picked strawberry mini-wheats and bacon. Mmmmm!

Jon was at an overnight campout with the scouts, so Lucy had to wait ALL morning for him to get home so she could unwrap her presents. But to help take her mind off it for a bit I signed her up at Disney.com for a birthday phone call from Ariel, yes!, The ARIEL. She was pretty thrilled about it.:)

Dad finally got home so Lucy commenced setting the world record for fastest present-opening ever. She tore through 'em in true Lucy style!

She got some much needed new clothes, a new church dress, "Gnomeo and Juliet" DVD, and a couple of sets of Calico Critters animals and a playhouse for them. Pretty good haul for 5 years old!

Then the real fun began. We let her choose a few weeks ago that she could either have a birthday party with friends, or invite one friend to go to the movies and get popcorn and the whole works. She chose of course to go to the new Muppet movie with her friend Brooke Lynn and had a BLAST!

Then we did her next favorite thing which was to get Olive Garden for dinner. She was all filled up from popcorn and candy at the movies to fully enjoy her dinner, but it was still fun just the same. Yum!

Lucy chose a "Hello Kitty" cake for her birthday (which I was very grateful for-- it being oodles easier than a pig or a choo-choo), and she was pretty happy with it.

Singing Happy Birthday to Lucy!!

Blowing out ALL five candles...

Saturday night we went to Wal-Mart and let Lucy pick out a toy with the money her Grandma and Grandpa Cardon sent her, and she picked her new baby doll "Isabelle." She looks so beautiful and grown up to me on the morning of her real birthday (today) in her new church dress. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY!!

Here are FIVE things we love about Lucy:
1. She is ALWAYS happy! I don't know what I'll do without her happy little voice and cheerful personality to keep me company while she's at kindergarten next year. She brings a lot of joy to our household.
2. She is smart. She errs a bit on the side of being a chatterbox, but that's only because she has so many smart things to say. She is always thinking and observing and asking me tough questions (like recently when she wanted to know how babies get inside a mommy's tummy and wasn't satisfied by my vague answers). We think she'll be a doctor because she is SO fascinated by bodies and not at all grossed out by things.
3. She LOVES Jesus. The Baptists have certainly helped her express this more freely :), but she really has such a sweet, strong testimony. Everything good or bad in life she attributes somehow to how Jesus loves us, or how He made this for us, or how He can do miracles. She constantly reminds me to be more spiritual like her.
4. She is artistic! What would I do without all of her little art projects to decorate my house with?? She is always crafting something with all kinds of wacky supplies and getting into things, but we sure get a kick out of the end result.
5. She's a GREAT friend. She's my little best friend! She's Zachy's best friend. And she's her daddy's one and only camping buddy. She has such a special spirit, and is incredibly thoughtful and loving. She's always been a great big sister, and continues to love and be kind to Zach and helpful to her mom and dad.

A Beach-y Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving found us at the beach. Yes, the beach. I think this is the first year since we've been married that we didn't go to, or have one or the other's family's at our house for the holiday, and since I don't know the first thing about cooking a turkey we decided to team up with my brother Devin and his family and rent a condo at Myrtle Beach. We threw all familiar traditions aside and decided to wing it at the grand strand.

Wednesday after work we loaded up the car and headed south. We got there around 7 p.m., settled into the condo that Sarah's sister Teresa had found (and who's family was also sharing the condo), and had an exciting cousin reunion between Eva, Sophie, Lucy, and Zach that lasted into the wee hours of the night....not really, but it felt like it.:)

Early that morning we all did some exercising on the beach to tone up before the influx of Thanksgiving calories later that afternoon. The kids LOVED the waves, the sand, and nice sea breeze! We were blessed with BEAUTIFUL 70 degree weather!

That afternoon we headed to Cracker Barrel for our feast, but when faced with the prospect of a 2 hour wait for a table, we ended up doing it take-out style and eating at the condo. It was definitely a yummy meal, but I got to admit, I missed our traditional fare.:)

We were all so hungry by the time we got back even our little picky eater Zach enjoyed his whole meal!

Our condo literally faced right onto the beach and we were sure grateful for a beautiful sunset that night!

I passed on heading out late that night for some of the Black Friday sales, but Jon, Devin, and Sarah were out until 2 a.m. nabbing some deals. I did convince Jon to go back to the outlet mall with me Friday morning though where we made the kids shop till they dropped! Luckily we had to be back by noon though for the guys to go golfing.

Saturday morning we took the kids mini-golfing at Captain Hook's, and the kiddos loved the Peter Pan theme throughout the course!

Lucy posed in front of poor Tiger Lily. Myrtle Beach is the capital of mini-golf after all!!

While Jon and Devin duked it out on the second course for 1st place, I watched the kids out front where Zach chased a few butterflies, found a lizard, and dug up the flower bed.

Then we headed to the Little Pig's BBQ for lunch, where (because of more long waits) we got more take-out and had an impromptu picnic in an abandoned lot nearby full of kudzu.

It was worth it though! That was one good pork sandwich topped with Carolina coleslaw!

That evening we headed back to the beach to enjoy the wind and waves and AMAZING sunset one last time. Such a pretty way to end our Thanksgiving trip! When I see something as awesome as this sunset was, it really confirms how loved we are by our Heavenly Father, to give us such a beautiful place to live. And for that I am grateful!

After our beach photo shoot the dads braved the hot tub with the little darlings. My kids love, love, LOVE to swim, and love staying in hotels for this very reason.

Sunday morning we enjoyed one more beautiful sunrise and packed up, swung by the local church to take the Sacrament (since I forgot our church clothes!), and headed home. We loved our unconventional beach-y Thanksgiving but are glad to be home safe and sound.

Turkey Time!

This Thanksgiving I am especially thankful for my two little turkeys!

Turkey #1. Our Luce.

Tukey #2. The Zach-Meister. Saturday we headed out on a fall walk, but with Zach in that crazy nap-phasing-out stage, he crashed at around 4 p.m. and missed the whole thing!

At least Lucy was more than happy to step up and entertain us with her modelling antics. Perfect strangers have commented on my kids' abilities to smile for the camera-- and I just tell them we started training at an early age.:)

Daddy is also very thankful for his little turkeys-- being home more this year than ever before has given him a deeper appreciation for the good, the bad, the ugly, and the truly amazing things these kiddos do!

Oh man! There is nothing like that great crunching sound wading through a sea of leaves can make. Too bad we didn't make it a few weeks earlier when all these leaves were still on the trees...

There's Lucy again!

Mom and Dad...

And Oh! There's Zach! Wait... What's that you say?? He looks different?!? Ummmm, yeah. Our second attempt at a haircut (without Grandma Cardon to help) didn't go much better than last year's sheep shearing debacle. We only wanted to trim a little off the top for the holidays, but the more mistakes you make the shorter is gets as you try to even it up, and yeah... Too many of those and you have to buzz the poor kid's head. I literally had one lady at the gym chew me out already for cutting his beautiful golden curls off!

Oh well. It will grow back...

After our walk we headed to Cracker Barrel for dinner which is Jon's new Southern fav, and Lucy tried on this silly hat.

Tuesday morning Lucy's class invited their families to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast with them. They made bean soup, corn bread, and one dad brought in some fresh elk meat for the kids to try-- so it was quite authentic.

Zachary love, love, loves being with the kids. Every morning we drop Lucy off at school he begs to stay too. Next year buddy!

Lucy and Brooke Lynn showing off their turkeys. And might I just add, Lucy was the only kid's who's said she was thankful for, "Me. Because I'm special." :)

Katie, Brooke Lynn, and Lucy in their painted Indian shirts.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING from our turkeys!!