We had a birthday girl!

And boy! Susanna shares a birthday with her Grandpappy, but first, we celebrated with Sus. She wanted to take a couple of friends and her sisters to Build A Bear for her birthday, so that is what we did! She had been talking about doing this for months and already had the animal picked out that she wanted to make. We got to the mall early (I was nervous with it being the Saturday before Christmas) and got started on everyone's animals. The place where Santa sits is very near the bear place and the girls were pleasantly surprised when Santa popped in to the store to say hello to all the kids!

We celebrated again on Monday with Grandpappy. We had some cousins over to Mama Leslie's for cake and cupcakes. So fun for them to have the same birthday!

Susanna is a super sweet girl, very bright, kind, and super considerate! We love her so much and are so proud of the girl she is becoming. She is now 8 and is planning to be baptized this weekend.

Yesterday....

.....we were in Maui. It was 82 degrees, sunny and beautiful. We enjoyed a warm, gentle breeze, and watched whales right in front of our hotel.



This was the view from our lovely villa at The Westin:


Today, we are home. It is 27 degrees with a freezing rain. We are scrambling to find our gloves, hats and scarves. I have every season of clothing out in the laundry room--swimsuits, shorts, tees, long sleeved shirts, jeans, and fleece jackets. I am sorely wishing we were back in Maui! I will post more soon....we have a crazy week ahead!

Our Thanksgiving

We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving! We were very ready for a break and for the opportunity to spend precious time with family. Mama Leslie and Grandpappy were so gracious and accomodating as usual! We truly enjoyed our time together. The girls spent most of their time outside and got the opportunity to play with cousins that we don't get to see very often. We took shifts to go shopping on Black Friday, which is always quite the experience! Here are a few highlights of our holiday:


Enjoying time with grandparents. And eating great food, of course.


Taking time to hug my "babe". (I'll have to tell the story of how we came up with that term of endearment on another post sometime.) I am feeling especially grateful for Greg today, as he has helped me so much with things this week!


We rode 4 wheelers...Greg was prepared this time and took his phone just in case he had to call Pappy Joe for a rescue!


At Thanksgiving dinner Natalie said she was thankful for nature. She truly is! She loves all things nature. Especially animals. Look at that smile. No, we are still not getting a dog.


Samantha loves animals as well. Greg took these photos on his iphone. I just thought her smile was so cute!


We rode bikes....


We visited Dale's "petting zoo". I have to say, Dale is such a good sport! We took our cousin Katie with us, so you can imagine 4 little girls all wanting a turn to ride the horse, and he let them all do it! He gave them each a ride by themselves, then let them all get on the horse and led them around the corral.


I think they were pointing at one of the dogs in this picture....


Dale has lots of goats. There were several baby goats that were born on Thanksgiving, so just 1 day old when we were there. The girls loved seeing them! Nan is holding Frosty.
Fortunately for me, Humphrey the boa constrictor was not feeling too friendly that day, so he did not get to come out his cage. (I hate snakes!!!!!)


On our last day, the girls played again with Katie and enjoyed a picnic outside.