It Was the Night Before Christmas....

Since the first year we've had Austin, we've continued a Christmas tradition that Roger had growing up of the kids getting to open ONE present on Christmas Eve. It's not a present they get to choose...it's a particuliar present, and every year it's ALWAYS the same thing.....

New Pajamas!!!!

I must admit, when Roger "said" we were going to do this I remember thinking, "oh boy, how fun!?! (in a sarcastic sort of way)" But, I LOVE shopping for their matching PJ's every year, and of course, I LOVE that on Christmas morning they are wearing something new and cute! I usually go with a Christmas theme PJ, but this year, since we took a surprise trip (and since Austin is kind of out growing the "cutesy" PJ's) I went with.....
Clemson Pajamas!!!! I know, it was hard for me to buy them knowing that ALL their Christmas morning pictures would be taken in them, but it made both my boys (and their dad) very happy! I am sure all my Clemson friends are proud of me!

Now, the Santa key is out.... And,
The reindeer food has been sprinkled on the lawn!!!

Now, it's time for us to go finish our last traditions before bed...put out the milk and cookies, and then, put the boys to bed in OUR room! We ALL sleep together (boys on the floor in sleeping bags) this night so they can't sneak in the living room without us! So, Merry Christmas to ALL and to all a goodnight!

Christmas #3 (The Taylor Christmas)

That's OUR boys!!! I can't believe they are growing so fast! Time is flying by. Sometimes I wish I could keep them this age FOREVER! I'm soaking in every minute I can! I think they are so darn cute, and I love them to pieces!!!
Golf Cart fun!
Our boys with Grandmother
Our boys with Pa-Paw
The boys got their XBOX 360 Kinnect! Happy, Happy, Happy!!! I have to admit that I wasn't really into getting another game system, but since playing the XBOX Kinnect and watching them play....it is AWESOME. YOU really are the controller (just you and your body). There is lots of movement, and it is fun to play (and even to watch)!
Here's Pa-paw & Grandmother with ALL the grandkids!

The Taylor Christmas was fun for all! I think everyone had a great day! As you can see, they were ALL smiles!!!

Tis the Season to Celebrate!

Most of you know how large my family is. I'm the oldest of six, and my mom is one of thirteen (yes, you read that right!). To get in seeing everyone, exchanging gifts, and celebrating we have LOTS of different celebrations. It almost feels like we use the "eight crazy nights" part of Hannakua (sp?) but for Christmas! I love it though! This year has been a little different because we are trying to fit it all in before my trip...so, here's what we've been up to so far! Here's Christmas #1 & #2...

Our night wouldn't be complete without Cara doing "Cheesetouch" to us all!

I can buy at least TWENTY slushies now!!!

Logan was super happy to get the Boba Fett Star Wars ships!!!

Here are all the cousins from my side of the family (minus Jadain)! What a crazy bunch!

Our first Christmas celebration was actually at my grandmother's house. And, for some reason, I don't think I took any pictures so I will have to get those from Uncle Mike. It was a good night! I got to be in the kitchen and cook with my grandmother!!! And, her dinner was SOOOOO yummy! Nothing else is like it! The kids enjoyed being there, and we all had fun laughing with Zach...it "depends" why! LOL!

Lights at the Zoo!

Goodness, Gracious! We've been very busy! I can't believe Christmas is in less than a week! I have most everything bought, but haven't even started to wrap! I am SO glad Christmas Break has begun! The first week of it will be my favorite, though, because I will be HERE! I leave for San Diego on the 27th and don't return until the 31st for school. Roger and the boys will be staying here! I am not too happy to go, but it's a requirement for school. And, the boys will be occupied with all their new toys! Here's what we have been up to this month so far....

Austin and one of his teachers, Mrs. Stewart!
At our school PTO meeting each grade level participated in some way. Austin's grade level sang the Twelve Days of Christmas (Island Style). :) He was so nervous about being on the stage in front of everyone, but did great!


Last weekend we went to the Marionette Theater to see The Snow Queen for Taryn's birthday. It was actually really good. It's a neat place to go! Logan had a blast!


Silly Picture of all four kids (Austin, Logan, Avery, and Aliza Grace) from tonight at Lights at the Zoo. It was quite chilly and kind of crowded (but manageable), but we had fun! I love seeing all the lights!!! Not too many animals were out and about, but the zoo does a great job with the lights! Helps get you in the holiday spirit!


Our Two Boys! Love them to pieces!!!


The visit with Santa...they think they have him fooled, but Fred (our elf) has been filling him in! Fred even Toilet Papered Austin's room today!


Me and Logan


Me and Austin

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!!

Catching Up

Goodness Gracious! I've been very busy and have been not so good at posting! However, I HAVE still been taking pictures so in this post I will try to update on what we've been up to!



As promised after the last post, here's Logan showing off his "bobblehead" soccer trophy! To celebrate their season the team went to McDonalds to let the kids play and eat ice cream! They had a blast! He told his coach that he would be playing baseball in the Spring....we shall see! :)


How many people throw out their Christmas Tree and forget about that teeny, tiny detail??? At least one...Roger went up in the attic to get everything down so me and the boys could decorate our tree Wednesday night while he was at work to find (drum roll.....) decorations and NO tree. THEN, I remembered that I got rid of our other one because it was really too small for our tall ceilings! So, the boys and I went and bought another one. I must say, it looks MUCH better than our other one! We've never had our tree up before Thanksgiving, but since we were doing Thanksgiving Day at Gam-ma and Granddaddy's and the day after at Grandmother and Pa-paw's it was better for us to do it Wednesday. Might turn into "the" day we do it! :)



My Pecan Pie...I have never been one to like pecan pie, but I saw one cooked on the cooking channel and it looked so good! So good, that I had to find the recipe and try it out! It was very easy to make and VERY good! I should have taken a picture if it before we ate it...sliced with the vanilla ice cream on top and MY homemade caramel sauce drizzled over the top too! It was really good, and the first pie to be completely gone! :) I also made cummin roasted carrots, corn with fresh herbs, and cheddar and chive filled crescent twists...it was all very good!

Mom made all the rest of the food, and Dad carved the turkey! It was all good!

I finished off Thanksgiving with a night of shopping (beginning about 10:30 and ending about 7 Friday morning!)! Got almost EVERYTHING we needed! Now, got to wrap it all!!! The excitment of each morning for the boys is finding where "Fred" (our Elf on the Shelf) is hiding!!! Until the next post....I hope everyone is enjoys the month of December!!! Christmas will be here before we know it!

SO Proud Of OUR Wolverine!!!

Here's a picture of Austin with Coach Wooten today! They had their end of season team party at the gym this morning, and I must say that Coach Wooten (and his son) gave Austin such a nice compliment today! Their team had an awesome season and ended up coming in 2nd place! And, today at the party Coach Wooten shared a conversation that he had with his own son... He had asked Woods who he thought was the best player on the team, and he said AUSTIN. When Coach Wooten asked him why he said that, his response was because Austin always has a good attitude, he's always smiling, and he always plays his best (then Coach added that when HE makes Austin mad he plays even harder...LOL!)!!! He didn't give a big speech about each child on the team, but the fact that he shared that with everyone about OUR Wolverine made us VERY PROUD parents! I had no idea that he'd bring me to tears at a football party! It is awesome to hear such kind words about your own child come from someone else, and that it isn't just pure talent that gets you recognized!!! Way to go Austin, and THANKS Coach Wooten (and Woods!)!!! We love you, Austin!!!


Here's a picture of Austin with a couple of his friends, Aidan and Austin B.! They played each other Thursday night in the Championship game. They got 1st place, and we got 2nd place! Not too shabby.....glad they can all joke around with each other and still be friends afterwards!


Here's a picture of Austin, Parker, and Christian! Parker was on the team last year, and Christian joined us this year! What great boys!


Austin's showing off his cupcake (with his number on it....go #56!)! Then, he was a nice big brother and gave it to Logan to eat! What a sweetie (when he wants to be!!!)

I can't believe he's in 4th grade already, and I can't believe that two years into the football season has converted me over to a "real" football fan! I have been learning the game as he plays, and I look forward to watching him even at practices! He is a sweetie! He's funny, he's smart (just got straight A's AGAIN on his report card), and I love him more than I can put into words!!! He'll always be my "Snoodle!"

A Busy Halloween Weekend...

We started off our busy weekend at White Knoll's last home football game. We've enjoyed going to lots of them this season! We manage to sit near the Scholl's every game! The boys thought they were hot stuff tonight because we let them stand at the fence for part of the game! We're going to Lexington to watch them play each other this week!


Then, early Saturday morning Austin's team had their first playoff game, and of course, we had to play Avery's team right away! It was a great game for both teams, but Austin's team won. The score was 32-26! You can see how excited Austin was!


I know this picture doesn't show any action, but something about seeing his name on his jersey makes me like it! Our next game is Tuesday.


Austin and Avery at Aliza Grace's birthday party...still friends after the game! ;)


Logan dressed up as the Red Power Ranger for Aliza Grace's bowling costume party!


Then, Saturday night we had a Halloween party for all of us to go to! The Young's threw a great party! The highlight of the night was the haunted hay ride in the back yard and the toilet paper mummy game (aka toilet paper fight)! We all had fun!


We ended our weekend on Sunday by celebrating "real" Halloween with our neighbors! Here's a glimpse of our two little ninjas before we headed out...


Here's a view from I saw most of the night...


And, this is a group photo of most of our neighborhood kids gathered together for a quick picture. The funny part about this house is when they all knocked on the door, they opened and said, "TRICK!" and shut the door really quick! Of course they opened it right back up and gave out candy. The kids didn't know what to do at first! ;)


So, as you can see, we had a very fun-filled, BUSY weekend! But, I loved every minute of it because we were ALL together! Roger is still working days for a couple more weeks, and I can tell you it's long enough for us to all get used to it!!! I have a feeling the weeks ahead will continue to fly by, and before you know it I will be posting about Thanksgiving and Christmas! Wow....better start my shopping!

Fall Fun in the Corn Maze

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Avoiding the hussle and bussle of the fair we headed out to Sease Farm with the Merritt Family to GET LOST, literally! Roger missed out due to working (though Jesse now knows why he didn't mind missing out...LOL!) The weather was fabulous...a little breezy with clear, star-filled skies! We got there just after dinner time, and the kids had a blast playing in all the smaller mazes! They enjoyed the tire maze, the "marshmallow" maze, the tube swings, the TALL, bumpy tube slide, the corn table (this was neat and would be fun for a playground!), the sand pile, the tractors, and feeding the goats...all that before tackling the BIG corn maze.

The kids were excited when we started out in the corn maze (by this time it was completely dark). They took turns holding the flags and flashlights, and all of them walked on their own. We were smart enough to take a picture of the map at the entrance with the camera (just in case we needed it), and Mr. Jesse was our guide! He did quite well leading us through the maze. We only went the wrong way a couple of times. About halfway through the maze most of the kids were ready to be out and done...Logan kept saying, "Can't we just go out now?" We made it out of the entire, 7 acre maze in one hour and 10 minutes! With 5 kids, I don't think that's too bad! We had fun...all of us...even with an encounter with the "Corn Hobbit" and the many trips to the port-a-potties in the beginning. If you've never gone to the Corn Maze, it's worth a trip! Good family fun and memories...not something you need to do every year, but fun when you do!

Clemson Surprise!

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Anyone that knows me, KNOWS that I don't do spontaneous! This weekend is about as close as I have come...about Tuesday last week I decided to surprise the boys with a weekend to Clemson for the game! Little did I know that it was Homecoming weekend and a sold out game...ha! So, it caused a little scrambling and lots of help from some great friends (THANKS again, Allisons and Anneauxs!)It all worked out BEAUTIFULLY, and we had a great time!

Allison helped us find tickets (and they were AWESOME seats!!!), and the Anneauxs' let us use one of their hotel rooms...which had a hidden BONUS! The team stays at the hotel we stayed at, and a little birdie told us how to meet them and get signatures/pictures! Boy, did that tip pay off HUGE! We got to meet Dabo (and his boys) and LOTS of players! We had them all to ourselves! The boys were LOVING it!!! You all know that I am the only non-Clemson fan in our house, but after this weekend I could see how I may be converted! Dabo was SO nice!!! He didn't rush off, and he spent a few minutes talking to the boys! He even told them he hoped they had a good day tomorrow! Of course, we offered the same type day for him! ;) AND, the players were all great too! Almost all of them were stopping to sign the boys' hats, and a couple of them went up to drop off their stuff and CAME BACK DOWN!!! They were all SO nice!!!

Tailgating with the Anneauxs' (and friends...including the Allisons) before the game was fun! The boys had an absolute blast, and we did too! The game was fun too, even though the Tiger's lost, and yes, I really did want them to win! I even wore orange! ;) Our seats were really good, and we got to see lots! I think this is one of the memories we helped create that our boys will remember for a long time!

What did I learn from this experience??? Spontaneous isn't too bad, and I guess being a Tiger fan isn't too bad either! (Dabo and the team's generosity rubbed off on me!!!)

Odds and Ends...

Our Little Athletes...

We actually had a day last week when both boys had to be iniform at the same time. Austin had football pictures last Sunday, and Logan had his first game of the season. So, of course, I took this opportunity for a photo opp in the back yard before we left (in separate cars to different fields...which we are not big fans of, by the way!)! I think they are both quite handsome in their jerseys!!! Wish they could stay this age forever!

Logan is SO very proud of his "Tiger shirts" so I just had to show him off! Turns out that I am the only Gamecock fan in my house (for now)! He loves telling everyone that the Tigers are the best, and he even teases Pastor Tommy at his school!

Last week at school we had our Grandparents Breakfast at school, and "Grandmother and Pa-Paw" came to eat with Austin! Here's the picture I took, and our wonderful principal, Dr. B, brought me a framed copy of the one he took! I love being at CSE!


We've been extremely busy, but the weather is finally turning cooler so all the practices/games we're going to are about to get even better! We're planning a trip to Atlanta the beginning of October (shhh...it's a surprise to the boys), and I can't wait! I still want to find a day to go to the mountains with them this Fall too! We want to go apple picking and hiking before it gets too cold! I love being in the mountains when the leaves are all changing colors! So...LOTS more planned for family fun!!! We LOVE our boys and being with them!

Logan's First Day of Pre-School

Our Cutie, All Ready to GO!

I know I should have posted this a little earlier in the week, but I couldn't make myself do it Tuesday (his first day) because I was one of THOSE moms that seemed to have a little "eye drainage" after dropping him off! He was SO cute, and I just can't believe that our "baby" is already at this point!!! He's loving it so far, though actually getting up in the mornings has been a little tough on him! His school doesn't actually start until 8:30, but I still have to get him up and ready and take him to Mom's house so I can get to school on time....so, he's actually getting up at 5:45, getting dressed, and then goes back to sleep in the car and at Mom's until it's time!

He's earned green tickets (YEAH!) all the days so far!!! The first day he was very excited to tell us he learned ALL about the number zero and it is NOTHING!!! (Ha! Like it was a huge discovery!) He's already learned 2 songs that he sings to us, the country we live in (maybe I should get him to teach my 2nd graders!), the flags colors, and they are counting to 15 this week (though he counts beyond that already)! He's really proud to tell people it's a school night for him too now, and he's made some friends already!
We're SO glad he's enjoying it!!!

Soccer also started for him this week, and his first game is Sunday (QUICK, huh???)! He is also excited about that and the fact that he suggested they be called the Woverines (like his big brother's team) and ALL the boys voted for that team name! He's also very lucky to have blue jerseys AGAIN! ;) We're hoping he scores in a game this season!

Here are a few pictures from Tuesday...what a cutie!!!
Logan and me...then Logan needed to use the camera too...

Austin and me (not bad...taken by a 4 yr old!)

NO first day of school would be complete without a favorite breakfast (from Waffle House, of course!)!