Busy Busy Weekend!

We had an incredibly long busy weekend. It kicked off with the Cordele Christmas parade on Friday night. Justin was a fire clown so Wyatt and I rode with Mama and Daddy and met up with Suzi, David, and Liam. Of course, Uncle David bought the boys “lightsabers” to spin around all night and they loved them!
 
Saturday morning Wyatt and I headed to the Cordele Home Depot’s Kids’ Workshop to meet Suzi and Liam. I saw an estate sale sign and couldn’t resist pulling in for just a minute. I got a nice bathroom rug and this whole entire box of Tupperware for $7! I love finding vintage Tupperware and I USE it. Some of the ones in this box were marked 1956 and were from the Millionaire line. It’s amazing to me that they are still useful 57 years later—that’s older than my Mama!

We went on to Home Depot and had fun with Liam and Suzi making tic tac toe kits.
 
Justin and the other fire clowns were there and Liam even let him hold him. I am so proud of him overcoming his fear of clowns.
 
Wyatt got to sit with Santa #1 of the day and told him he wanted, “candy, suckers, tractors, and a Go Dogs hat (Georgia Bulldogs).”
 
Afterward, we stopped at Calhoun Produce for lunch and to do a little Christmas shopping. We also went to the new sporting goods/hardware store in town, Congo’s. Wyatt loves seeing all of the taxidermied animals and vignettes. I am 100% more comfortable doing all of my shopping online, but there are some great small businesses out there that make shopping local all the better. Wyatt doesn’t get a hug from Mrs. Sheila or a hat from Congo when I do my shopping at Amazon.
After shopping, we headed to Heritage Park in Ashburn to see SNOW! Yes, snow in south Georgia when it was 65 degrees. Yes, I did have my flip flops on. Our local Chamber of Commerce has a company bring a snow machine in every year. Wyatt had a blast until he walked into the crossfire of someone’s snowball. We thought he’d end up with a black eye, but it turns out we’re in the clear. I’m sad more families don’t take advantage of so much fun, but at the same time, I think too many kids might have made it a bit dangerous for the little ones.

    
After the snow, Wyatt and I went out to Mama and Daddy’s house for supper. We ate wings and poppers and then loaded up to see Mrs. Carole Ray’s 75+ decorated Christmas trees. Admission was canned goods for charity. Mrs. Carole has a definite skill that I can only wish I had. Wyatt had a little flare up where he pitched a fit and kicked the head off an animatronic dog. I am SOSOSO thankful he didn’t do any damage, but he got a swift swat on the butt and we waited out by the car until he decided he was ready to apologize to Mrs. Carole. I think it was because Santa had seen the whole thing happen and he was having a guilt trip about not getting any presents.
 
 
On Sunday, we had lunch with Mrs. Desiree and Mr. Sheldon, Amanda, Michael, Jake, Ben, and Rivers. We came home with a furry passenger, too! I have been DYING to have this kitten since it was born. It’s so fluffy. Mrs. Desiree agreed to give it to me.

We don’t usually have too much good luck with cats around our house. When I got home Monday afternoon and couldn’t find it, I was so sad. Justin caught sight of something moving up on the roof and there it was! My firefighter had to drag the ladder out and rescue it off the roof.
 
This morning, I go to feed the kitten and it’s back up on the roof. I don’t do ladders, but when I called Justin, he assured me that it would probably just get down the way it got up there. We think it was up the pergola on the back porch.

Remember that new house post?

Remember that beautiful back yard I showed the other day? Justin said there were some problems with the septic tank and went out to investigate. His daddy, Michael, and Justin ended up borrowing a back hoe, a tractor, and spent nearly 2 1/2 days digging up our new back yard and replacing about 20 feet of pipes at the septic tank where roots had invaded. Thankfully, we have wonderful neighbors who let us borrow the equipment, family that knows how to get the job done, and it’s all fixed. Our back yard is worse for the wear but I am so grateful to be able to use the dishwasher, toilets, washer, and shower again!
  
The guys worked late after dark one night and Amanda even brought over the fire pit to roast marshmallows.

The best part of it all was Wyatt getting to see the heavy equipment in action and getting to ride the “pack hoe,” as he calls it, with Justin.
  
We were even able to get our Christmas tree Sunday night! It wasn’t decorated until Monday, but we still had a good time getting it. Jeb was excited to be along for the ride.
  

Liam turned 4!

 

My nephew Liam joined our family officially when Suzi and David got married back in July but he has been around since he was Wyatt’s age. It’s hard to believe he is four.

We celebrated his birthday a few weeks ago and we even brought out Wyatt’s red tractor for them to play on. Of course they wanted to swap and drive each other’s rides. They had a blast and only had a few minor collisions.

      

It must be crazy for my parents to have two little boys around after having raised three girls. I know they both love it though. I am really grateful that Wyatt and Liam get along as well as they do. They are really good friends just like Wyatt is with Jake, Ben, and Rivers. As a matter of fact, Liam has taken a shine to my middle nephew Ben and they are good buddies too now. I have stair step nephews and a niece. Jake is 11, Ben is 9, Rivers is 7, Liam is 4, and Wyatt brings up the rear at 2. With Suzi’s new baby this summer, they will be spread out nicely.

Remember me mentioning Mama and Daddy had three sweet little girls? They get a little crazy some times too!

Sami got some great cousins photos of Wyatt and Liam. I am so proud of how they turned out. Our photo adventure was quite fun and included a little waterfall, train tracks, and playing in the leaves.

 

Thanksgiving 2013

Justin had to work on Thanksgiving day, but it was a wonderful day spent with family.

 

These horse riders come by Justin’s Grandma and Papa’s house every year on Thanksgiving. They ride together, camp out through the weekend, and make their way back on Sunday. They even stopped to let the kids ride a bit!

    

Wyatt didn’t want to wait to dig into my home made cranberry sauce!

After dinner at Mama and Daddy’s, I left Wyatt with them to brave the crowds at Wally World. I was the next to last person in line to get a TV. My experience was smooth, but I did hear about some crazies that were fighting over Beats headphones. NUTS!