The Rehearsal and Dinner

 My sister Cassie got married this past weekend!  The wedding weekend was packed full of food, fun, family, and most of all celebrating Nick and Cassie.  These two are just perfect for each other, and their wedding weekend could not have gone any better than it did.  It was just beautiful.



Our family started arriving during the week leading up to the wedding, and we got to spend some time with them prior to the wedding festivities.  We even got to celebrate my cousin David's 40th birthday with him.  Most of the out-of-town family members had arrived in time for the rehearsal dinner on Friday night.  This was our time to meet Nick's family.  They were such a nice group of people.

By tradition, the bride does not participate in the rehearsal.  Aunt Libba was the stand-in for both mine and Hannah's weddings, and she brought us good luck, so she was called upon to stand in for Cassie as well.

Owen and Claire were in the wedding, so they had a chance to practice their part.

 Olivia enjoyed watching the rehearsal while catching up with her cousin Rachel.

 Before leaving the church, we had to get a picture of the kids with their Texas cousins.  Such a good looking group of kids.














The rehearsal dinner was held at Mossy Pond Lodge.  This was such a nice place.  The meal was delicious (roast beef and pork loin), and the company was good as well.

The kids table

The bachelors

The sons-in-law

 Nick gave Owen a wallet and five dollars as a gift for being in the wedding.  Owen thinks he is big stuff now that he has a wallet.

Hannah and I with Aunt Connie

The sisters and Bailey

This was such a nice evening, and a great way to kick off the big event.

Blue and Silver 5k

Olivia and I participated in the Blue and Silver 5k in early January.  The proceeds of this race go to help a local family with medical costs.  Olivia did pretty well in her previous 5k, and wanted to try another. This was my first race back after my foot issue, so Liv and I decided to run the race together.  We finished in 47.47.  There were only two girls in Olivia's age group, so she got the second place medal.  She was really proud of this.

First Day Hike at Skidaway

The Georgia State Park System hosted "First Day Hikes" at almost all of its parks this year.  The kids and I decided to start the year off right by hitting the trails at one of these events.  We chose to hike at Skidaway Island State Park because we wanted to try a new place (and because these coastal trails would probably be miserable in the summer).

The kids did great with all of their hikes last year, so we picked the longest trail in the park- the 3 mile Big Ferry Trail.  Olivia and Owen took turns being the "leader".  The leader's job is to make sure that we stay on the correct trail.  

 Our hike took us through coastal forest and marsh lands.  There were a lot of people out hiking, so we never felt alone on the trail.

 Toward the end of the trail we came upon an observation platform out on the marsh.  We absolutely had to check that out.

Before leaving the park we stopped by the Interpretive Center.  There were several live animals (mostly snakes and turtles) inside the center as well as a skeleton of the "Skidaway Sloth" which roamed these parts long ago.  There was also a bird watching room inside the Interpretive Center.  This room had a huge window that you could look out and watch birds come to the feeders that were outside.  The room also came equipped with binoculars, bird ID guides, and loads of stuffed birds-  pretty much everything you needed to identify the birds outside at the feeders.  I about had to physically drag the kids out of the bird room.  They really got into trying to ID those birds at the feeders.

We had a really nice experience with our First Day Hike, and will probably do it again in the future.

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.