Battalion Christmas Party

Dec 6th our battalion had a Christmas party... Santa and one of his elves stayed for the whole party. Gavin was a fan from afar, not so much a fan once placed on his lap! Magic Marc also came and did a magic show and brought lots of animals. Pizza was served for lunch, somehow I managed to stay away from it! We each received a goody bag from Santa - Gavin's had a $10 Toys R Us gift card and I got a great Savannah Ornament for the tree. Thanks, Santa! Gavin showed how much he loves to play with the big kids, and he also found a little girlfriend (pictured above) that he wouldn't stop chasing. He loved giving her hugs, but she wasn't having any of that!
Running around with the bigger kids again...

Gavin enjoyed a few bites before he was back to playing!

Max and Gavin enjoyed the beginning of the magic show!

Here is Magic Marc with 2 of his animals, Gavin liked the bird, but wasn't a huge fan of the snake. He also liked the rabbit and kept petting it.

He was keeping an eye on that snake, making sure it didn't get near us.

Another parade!

After the bridge run we came home to relax and then headed back downtown for the Christmas Parade. I hate to say that it was a big disappointment compared to last year. It was super short, but maybe that is ok considering it was freezing and Gavin only has so much patience! He did love the marching band and the cars that played loud music though!

Savannah Bridge Run

Meet the Talmadge Bridge...

I was crazy enough to push Gavin over it Saturday while running the Savannah Bridge Run 5k!!! It was a great experience complete with awesome views! Running down was just as interesting as running up, I was afraid of letting him go and him rolling down. That would be the fastest ride of his life :)
Ready to run... it was rainy and in the 40's so Gavin was super bundled up. He had his buddy Elmo as copilot of the jogger.

A friend from high school, Megan Briggs, also ran with me! She's become my running buddy lately, as we ran the army 10 miler together in DC this October as well!

With my Savannah running buds, Melissa and Mary... I'm not sure how much longer they are going to be my friends if I keep talking them into these crazy runs!

Megan leading the way - she's great at clearing a path so I can easily follow with the jogger!

This is Gavin's normal "after run appearance" - sound asleep :)

Here we are watching the rest of the 10k and double pumpers! We survived the Talmadge Bridge!

Play/Expo/Park

Mackenzie was a "cow" in a play at her school yesterday, so I took Gavin. He had a lot of "moo's" of his own!

Loving his Elmo blanket

Also went to the Bridge Run Expo to pick up our packets... the 10miler expo def put this one to shame, but it was still good!

The firefighters were there so Gavin tried on a hat!

We had lunch downtown at Panera Bread and then stopped in one of the parks before heading back home for naps! Gavin loves the leaves.

Tree makeover

Tonight I made a favorite recipe: Apple Pecan Pork Chops (which sounds funny because I went the first 21 years of my life swearing that I didn't like pork)!!! I had Melissa over for dinner as well and then we had a huge arts and crafts session with the kiddos! Tonight was supposed to be terrible storms/tornado's (they even closed schools/childcare here) so we thought crafts by candlelight sounded fun! We lit a few candles as the storm began, but then it just tapered off and never seemed to even get bad! No power outages either!

Gavin painted a few popsicle sticks red and green so we could make a Christmas Star for the tree!

One of them stuck to his face and he didn't even notice, it was hilarious!

After a quick bath and dinner, Gavin worked on his next project - coloring a train! We're still deciding who the lucky person is that will get this in their Christmas card this year!

Mackenzie hard at work on her star. You can see my orange ball on the plate drying. Mary gave me the idea of making Gavin "ball" ornaments that can't break, so I'm in the process of working on a basketball!

Two new ornaments.. I worked hard on that reindeer while Gavin painted his star!

The bottom of our tree after the makeover! After 3 broken glass ornaments already this week, I knew an overhaul was needed! Gavin loves his tree with all his new special ornaments.

To any visitors at my house, please remember our tree was made with love! ;) Gavin worked so hard and kept standing at the tree clapping as he pointed to each thing we made tonight and said "yay!"

Ladies Night Out!

Some of us ladies from the company had a fantastic ladies night out last night! We had to welcome December with a bang!!! We enjoyed a Chick fil a nugget tray, fruit, brownies, and drinks while we all got our pedicures. Who's idea was the brownies?!?! BAD, BAD! (But they were delicious!)

While Melissa and Mary talk, Kristi looks as though she's really enjoying things!

The 6 of us after our pedicures. We then walked down the shopping center and continued the laughs, eating, and drinks at the mexican restaurant. Such a great time!

Mary walked to the restaurant in style ;)

And Melissa was pretty excited about that daiquiri!

Love you girls! Can't believe we actually made it to December!

Pizza and Posters

Gavin enjoying pizza at daddy's work
and doing some artwork! (Like his art smock??)

Work in progress... (and to clarify, NO Jason isn't home, nor will he be in the upcoming weeks, but its never too early to prepare!)

Hanging out with his "twin" buddy, Colton! You sure can't tell they are over 3 months apart by the looks of things!! Colton didn't like being the tiniest for so long, so he caught up quickly and isn't going to be beat anytime soon!

Snow, Boat Parade, and Fireworks!!!

On November 28th, there was a Lighted Boat Parade, fake snow, and fireworks downtown! We loaded up with the McGee's and had a great evening! The kids loved the chance to play in snow in Savannah - though Gavin had a hard time standing up for long periods of time!

Ready to watch the boat parade!

Great ending to the night!

Loving the fireworks

We walked River Street and the kids loved all the decorations.

Walking in My Daddy's Shoes

Walking In My Daddy's Shoes
by Annette Smith

I pulled out my daddy's shoes
I tried them on one day
A little game I often chose
A favorite game I loved to play
I walked around the house
They flip flopped on my feet
I put on one shoe after another
Some of them I hid to keep
I wondered where those shoes had been
Will I go there too
Will I walk in my daddy's footsteps
Will I walk in my daddy's shoes
My daddy is a really good man
His life I might not choose
I'm sure I'll make my own life
While still walking in my daddy's shoes

pictured above wearing daddys hat, shirt, and shoes :)

Candy Cane

My attempt at some cute outdoor Christmas pictures...
turned into a red, sticky mess! Lesson learned about buying cheap candy canes!

But he still had fun trying to eat it :)

He loves his red truck sweater because it looks like daddy's truck!

Gotta love the grass all over his candy coated face! He tripped and it all stuck to him! ;)