48 Inches

Our Wild Adventures season passes are going to expire at the end of the year.  In an effort to squeeze every penny out of those things, we decided to take one last trip to the amusement park.  The park only operates sporadically during the fall, so we haven't been since the end of summer.  The big news is that Owen is finally 48 inches tall.  This may not sound like a big deal, but it really is.  All summer long we have either had to avoid the more thrilling rides because Owen couldn't ride them, or we've let Olivia ride while Owen sat out.  This is no longer an issue because we can all ride now.  Owen was so excited when we measured him and he met the mark.  We spent our day riding all of the rides that he's not been able to ride before- including two large roller coasters.  This also means that he'll be able to ride the large water slides next summer.  He is one happy kid.

Christmas Day

 After an eventful Christmas Eve, we were exhausted.  The kids fell asleep soon after returning home from Gigi's.  Santa visited at some point during the night and left some nice things (clothes, video games, a new Bible) for the kids.  Olivia and Owen woke us up at 4:33 a.m. so that we could come see what Santa had brought them.  Granny Mel came over later that morning and we opened our family gifts.  The big gift to Owen and Olivia from us was a Wii U. The kids spent the rest of the morning playing with their new toys (and getting an oil treatment on their hair- Merry Christmas kiddos)

 Brian got a new set of golf irons.  This is the first set of new clubs he's ever owned, so he was pretty excited.

 We headed to Granny Buie's house for lunch and hung out there for the rest of the day.  Granny said that she counted 37 people who were at her house at some point during the day.  We all had a wonderful holiday, and were really tired by the end of it.

Christmas Eve

We had a very, um,  interesting Christmas Eve this year.   Our church was having its annual candlelight service so we were planning to attend that and then go out to my mom's.  As I was fixing Olivia's hair for church, I noticed that she kept scratching her head.  Whenever I see a kid doing this, I always check them for lice.  I've never found anything in it before, but this time I did.  Olivia had lice!  I could not believe it.  We stopped getting ready for church and I made a trip to the pharmacy.  I talked to the lady ringing me up and she said that lice had been going around really bad in the schools and that they had sold a lot of the treatment kits in the last week.  I spent the rest of the afternoon washing and combing out hair, stripping all of the beds, bagging up stuffed animals, and spraying all of the furniture.  I even treated my own hair, and Brian gave himself a buzz cut.  We still went out to Gigi's that evening, but we all covered our heads with hats- just to be on the safe side.

 We had a great evening, and received lots of nice things.  My mom, sisters, and I all received door decorations from Aunt Connie, which we all loved.  Brian got some new clothes and shoes.  Olivia got lots of new clothes and a digital watch, and Owen got some cowboy boots and a new light saber (among other things).  We were so happy to spend this time with our family.
,,,And then we had to go home and continue decontaminating the house- sigh.

Christmas Musical

 The Children's Choir Christmas Musical took place last weekend.  In addition to singing the traditional Christmas songs, the kids also learned to play "Jingle Bells" on recorders this year.  Olivia sang a duet of  "I'm Getting Nothing for Christmas" with her friend Hannah (click here to view Youtube link of the duet) and had a speaking role.  Owen had a part holding up a sign during the performance.  Both kids did a great job.

 Santa made an appearance following the performance.  Both kids were happy to visit the big man.  Olivia told Santa that she wanted some new video games.  Owen told Santa that he wanted bed sheets.  That's right- bed sheets.  I don't even know where that came from, but okay.  I think Santa was also taken a little aback by Owen's request.  I bet that's one he hasn't heard before.

Olivia's First 5k

Olivia participated in her first 5k this morning.  She and her friend Hannah had both been wanting to try a 5k, so Hannah's mom and I registered the girls for a local race.

 I must confess that I was a little nervous about how Olivia would do.  She had never run this far before, and I didn't know what to expect.  I was worried that she would have a breakdown in the middle of the race.  I even thought about trying to run with her myself, even though I'm not suppose to run for another week (due to my stress fracture).  My friend Darby was already planning to run in the race, and she graciously offered to stay with Olivia.  This calmed my nerves a lot.

The race began without a hitch. Owen and I waited for the girls at the finish line. With the way the finish line was arranged, you could see the runners approach from about a quarter mile away.  I was watching for people that I knew to cross when I saw a little girl in a pink jacket round the corner. I thought to myself "that looks like Olivia".  I looked at the clock and it was only at about thirty four minutes or so.  I wasn't expecting Olivia to finish until about the fifty minute mark, so I thought "no, it's too soon to be her". I looked again and lo and behold, it was Olivia!   She crossed the finish line at 36.00 on the dot.  I about fell over.  This is a great time for a first 5k.  I could not believe that she did as well as she did.  Darby said that she did great and kept a good pace the whole time.  And what's even better is that she liked it and has already asked to do another.  A few minutes later, Hannah came through the finish and the girls celebrated their victory with hugs and high-fives.

Owen also ran well today completing the fun run in 13.06.  He ran this race all by himself and did a great job.  He has not expressed any interest whatsoever in trying a 5k, so he'll be sticking with fun runs for the time being.

The Christmas Parade

 The theme of this year's Christmas Parade was "Christmas on the River".  There were lots of swamp and river-themed floats- lots of boats also.  We watched the parade from our usual spot with our family.  Claire, Julianna, and Uncle Kelly were all in the parade, so the kids kept an eye out for them and cheered/yelled when they passed by.  It was super cold this year, so we all had to bundle up in jackets, blankets, and anything else we could find.  The kids walked away with some candy and a couple of light up stickers.  We always look forward to this event.

A Cat in the Christmas Tree

The kids had fun adding their new travel ornaments to the tree this year.  The new additions include ornaments from Legoland, Clearwater, Washington D.C., Chattanooga, and Mammoth Cave National Park.  The tree is now so full of kid ornaments that I no longer put mine or Brian's on the tree.  

 While everyone is pleased with the tree, no one has taken to it quite like Jerry (the cat that I guess is now ours).  Where did the cat come from?  Well, you you may recall that we had a stray to drag five kittens up to our house back in March.  The number of kittens dwindled down to two- which we called Tom and Jerry.  Tom left, but I get the feeling that Jerry isn't going anywhere.  We're pretty much claiming her at this point.  She stays outside most of the time, but we bring her in when it gets cold.  She has taken to playing with the ornaments on the tree.  We have to watch her or she'll try to climb up in it.  Oh, the joys of having a pet.

Reindeer Run

 Just because my running is over for the year, that doesn't mean that the kids are done.  Olivia, Owen, and their buddies participated in the YMCA Reindeer Run 1-miler  For once, they did not start off at top speed.  They kept it slow and steady and both recorded their best times to date.  Olivia had a 10:40 mile, and Owen finished in 10:57.  We have another race coming up this weekend- and Olivia is going to try the 5K.  Yikes!  We'll see how that goes.

Olivia's Library Card

Olivia has been wanting her own library card ever since we participated in the Summer Reading Program.  Our deal was that if she treated her books well (not messing them up, not losing them, etc..) that she would be able to get her card. She kept up her end of the bargain, and so last week she received her own library card.  This was a big deal for her, and she was very excited.

Jacksonville Zoo

The Jacksonville Zoo had a "kids free in November" event this year. We haven't been to the zoo in awhile, so we decided that this would be the perfect time to go.  This really is a nice zoo, and the brand new tiger exhibit makes it even nicer.  Very impressive  Many of the animals were up and moving during our visit, and most of those who were sleeping were doing so right next to the glass, so we still got to see them.

 We didn't add on a lot of the "extras" during this trip, but we did do the lorikeet feeding.  That was a big hit with all of the kids.

 We had heard about how nice the new tiger exhibit was, so we were anxious to check it out for ourselves.  It was super nice.  The new exhibit features walkways for the tigers all over the place.  They were over our heads at times, which I thought was cool.

 Before leaving we hit the play area.  The kids enjoyed the hedge maze and play equipment.  It was just an all-around great day at the zoo.