SNOW...

While we were in New York we woke up one morning to SNOW covering the ground. It was so beautiful. Lauren had been so disappointed when we got to N.Y. and there wasn't any. So I had to snap the picture of her gazing out the window. She was so excited. While we were in N.Y. we actually stayed in a motel, courtesy of my wonderful sister and brother-in-law. They helped us stay there due to the lack of room at my parents small house. The bad thing is that we had to get to my parents house, 20 minutes away, in that snow. Paul has not driven in snow since we moved to Alabama and then to S.C. It has been about 9 years. He did an amazing job. I was so proud of him. He still has it in him. Some of the pics below are actually while we were driving down the road. The girls actually got to enjoy the snow the next day. We bundled them all up in warm clothes and let them go out with their cousins to sled ride down the back hill. I'm not sure if the cousins or the aunt and uncles had more fun riding down the hill. After they had had their fill of snow and were freezing to death they came in and warmed up with some hot chocolate.

The view from the motel window...

Lauren looking out the window at the snow...

Highway 17 under snow...

Old 17 completely covered. Paul you're doing great...

The tree on my parents deck, isn't it beautiful???

Weeeeee... we are having fun...

Here we come...

Ashley your cheeks are so rosy...

Brrrrr it's cold out here...

The whole sled riding gang.

Our Extended Christmas...

We started our Christmas off at my in-laws house on Christmas Eve. Paul's side of the family was there and we had a nice dinner and opened our gifts. A high light there was the reading of the Christmas story. My in-laws have 4 grandchildren and they all took a turn reading a portion of it. My mother-in-law also read "Twas the Night Before Christmas." We had a great time..

Lauren reading her portion of the Christmas story..

Ashley reading part of the Christmas story...

The girls opening some of their gifts from Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop.

When we got home that night the girls put cookies out for Santa...

Then Christmas morning, we actually had our own family Christmas at home, on Christmas Day, for the first time since we have been married. We have always traveled to one of our families, but this year since my in-laws have moved 11 miles from us,we were able to be at our house. It was nice to try to start some of our own family traditions. We started out with a nice breakfast of biscuits and gravy, monkey bread, and scrambled eggs. Then we opened our stockings to see what Santa left us. We then opened our gifts to each other. The girls biggest highlight here was that they got a Nintendo DS. They had wanted that more than anything else.

Paul getting the stockings down...

Ooh! She got me my cologne...

Lauren got me some pajamas with my favorite, snowmen...

Ashley showing off some of her stocking stuffers...

Lauren showing what she got...

We got our Nintendo DS...

Sandy even got a stocking with some treats in it, including this toy.

We then left for N.Y. on the 29th of December to celebrate Christmas with my family. Unfortunately my cameras batteries went dead and I did not get any pictures of opening gifts there. We had a wonderful time while we were there.

Pictures with Santa...

We took the girls to get their picture taken with Santa yesterday, at the local Mall. They did really good. He is the same Santa they had last year and he does an excellent job with the kids. I just had to share this cute picture of my baby dolls.

Catching Up...

This weekend we went, along with my in-laws, to Hobe Sound, Florida, to see their annual singing Christmas Tree. We left Thursday morning bright and early and headed to Florida. We had a great trip and made it in good time. We stopped at Golden Corral before we got to Aunt Lois' house and ate supper (she was not expecting us for supper). We were having a good evening visiting when Lauren all of a sudden started complaining of a stomach ache. I gave her some tums and put her in bed. All of a sudden at 11:15 I heard her throwing up. We thought it would never quit from then on. The poor girl threw up and had diarrhea for almost 3 hours straight. She even threw up ice chips. By the end she was so weak she couldn't even hold her head up. We felt so sorry for her. We were scared she was getting dehydrated. By the time we got all the mess cleaned up (from the first throw up on Aunt Lois's floor) it was going on 2:00 a.m. We all finally got some sleep. Friday morning she tried to drink too much to quick and she threw up one more time. After that she was just weak and tired. All we can figure is that she got a slight case of food poisoning. I'm just glad that she was better by that evening for the Singing Tree. We really enjoyed the program. They did an awesome job. All the little kids in their costumes stold the show. They were so cute. After the concert was over all of Aunt Lois' family came over and we had a big birthday party. My father-in-law turned 70 and one of cousins has a birthday Sunday. We had a wonderful time fellowshipping with family. Then this morning we got up bright and early once again and headed home for S.C. Once again we had a great trip. Below are a few pictures I could get of the Singing Christmas Tree. It was hard to get good pics.

The beautiful singing tree...

This was an ensemble that did a great job...

The brass quartet that played for the offering...

Another view of the tree...

The childrens choir joined them for a couple songs.

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving...

For Thanksgiving we went to Charlotte to be with Dave (Paul's brother) and Pris. There was 12 of us all together. We had a great time. Below are some pictures of us preparing the meal. The girls even got a chance to get their hands in something. They love to help in the kitchen. Everything was so tasty!!! Of course we ate too much. We tried to relax some as well by scrapbooking and playing the old fashioned "Yahtzee." Ashley's beginners luck blew us all out of the water. We also got in a little Christmas shopping. I actually finished my shopping that day except for a few odds and ends. It feels so good to be just about done.

Lauren cutting grapes in half for the fruit cups...

Ashley cutting up the strawberries...

Pris getting the potatoes ready to cook...

Ooh! Look at that yummy turkey....

The table is all set and we are preparing to eat.

New Coats...

My sister-in-law found these coats for the girls last fall in a Thrift Store. They still had the tags on them from the original store. What a STEAL!!! They are beautiful soft white coats with furry collars. The girls look so nice in them. I had them wear them for the community Thanksgiving service we went to. The coats just added a nice touch.

Pounding...

Back in the beginning of November our church had a pounding for a needy family in our church. We were quite pleased with the turnout, when we are just a small little church. I had a lot of fun arranging all the goodies in the front of the church. I thought it came out cute. The family was very thankful and appreciative of the goodies they received.