Christmas time is here.

One thing I've really enjoyed about Christmas this year is the kid's knowledge and simple understanding of the reason for Christmas- Jesus. It's so exciting seeing them grow in so many ways.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Good times in Columbia

The second half of Thanksgiving was going to be a trip Myrtle Beach but since Jason's brother came into town we spent more time in Rock Hill and then decided to visit Columbia too. We first enjoyed an evening at one of my favorite pub's, Hunter Gatherer.

Cheers!

Good Eats!

Goat cheese salad, Duck Confit over grits, and kalmata olive pizza.

The next day we enjoyed Riverbanks Zoo with our cousins. They had special wristbands for the kids that allowed them to do all the extras at the park for FREE. Thanks Melanie and John!

Feeding the giraffes lettuce.

Riding ponies.

The carousel.

Feeding the birds nectar.

An early Christmas Gift

For Christmas, Josh and Rachel got a play set from the grandparents. Since we got a used one, the guys got to have fun with big tinker toys (ha,ha). First they disassembled the playset at someone's house, transported it, and then reassembled it at our house. After two days of work, it is standing strong and being enjoyed on warm days. Thank you all and Merry Christmas!

More Thanksgiving...

I just realized I hadn't uploaded all of our photos from November. Here are some from Thanksgiving in SC. Rachel and Noelle had a little photo shoot outside. Cheese!

Our Thanksgiving surprise- RUSSELL came home from Sicily!

He picked Hibachi Grill for the day after Thanksgiving. This was our first time going with the kids. The kids loved the entertainment!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family in Rock Hill, SC and believe it or not, it's almost Christmas. I'm doing better on Christmas presents than I am on blog posts so I'm not too worried. But, I do hope to catch up before the New Year's with some picture posts.

Hope you are enjoying the holidays with your family!

Dinosaur cupcakes

In mid-November, we celebrated a friend's birthday with yummy Martha Stewart dinosaur cupcakes. They had green meringue frosting and gingerbread cookies on top. Catherine did a great job on them and was sweet to bring them over to share with us while enjoying the great weather outside!

New Orleans

Derek and Ashley tied the knot the first weekend in November and we got to witness this special event in New Orleans! This was our first time to the party city and we had a great time. I've posted the photos on picasaweb for viewing but had to include a few favorites here. There were so many great sites. What a truly unique and fun wedding!

The day before the wedding we attended the Dashley's Amazing Race of the French Quarter. This was a fun and exciting was to truly get to see and know the area. Above is our team. We didn't come in first but had a blast along the way and that's all that matters. This was the last task, put on some wigs and take a photo a Fifi Mahony's Wig shop. Oh what fun!

Enjoying beignets at Cafe du Monde.

A kiss before following the brass band on a parade called the "Second Line." This is a New Orleans tradition where you follow the band and twirl a parasol or handkerchief in the air along the way (they provided these). This was lots of fun as we celebrated from the church to the reception at The Blue Room in the Roosevelt.

Before leaving we had another fun get away gift, masquerades for all.