January Photo Dump

 

- Somebody is enjoying his new Christmas toys…

AND his sisters.’

- We had like four really cold days this whole winter. We made the most of it and wore hats every chance we got.

- I always have random pictures on my phone that the girls have taken. Like this one of “Buttons” (who was my bunny growing up, but AB laid claim to years ago) having a “spa” day. Yes, her ears are wrapped up in a twistee towel and her paws are in the foot bath.

- Carrie and I saw this suspenders and bow tie set at Cracker Barrel one morning when we’d met for breakfast and couldn’t leave until TDW had one. It was a good call because how stinking cute was he that Sunday morning all ready for church?

- I love the way these three love thier Daddy…and even more the way their Daddy loves them. He is the very best. This was one evening I’d ran to the grocery store and on my way back, they were waiting to race me up the driveway. They always pick Daddy’s team – but for the record, I beat them. ;)

- One of our favorite “cooler weather” things to do is grill out by the lake. The kids run crazy, we grill, and end it with S’mores. This was the perfect Saturday night with Adam, Lauren, Parker, & Kels.

- I love our drive-way. It’s long, curves around a massive old-oak tree, and it has a little bit of an incline at the top where our house sits. To me, it’s always a really pretty spot. But this particular evening, it was breath taking.

On to February!

~amw~

Dreaming of Summer

The weather was so nice over the weekend and since we had no Saturday plans, we took a drive down to Blue Run for a picnic. Having been born and raised in Florida, we all have sunsine in our veins. When the sun is out, we want to be in it – and if we’re in it, the best place to be is beside the water somewhere.

We grabbed Sonic for lunch and had a picnic on the porch. A picnic on the dock would have been our first pick, but when you’re only one year old, you’re mom doesn’t really trust you enough to sit and eat on the dock and not jump in. ;)

Momma was nice though, and let baby brother have his first Sonic slush. He was a fan, but it took quite the concentration drinking out of a straw.

We enjoyed the river for about an hour and when we packed up to head home, we got a little surprise.

DW walked by one of the outside garbage cans and jumped back when he saw something moving inside. Turns out, a possum had fallen in and gotten stuck.

The river and sonic limeade was the highlight of my day – but of course the possum took first place for the kids.

We’re counting down the days until we’re back at Blue Run, but with bathing suits popsicles in hand!

~amw~

Loads of Cuteness

My little guy, like most boys, has a huge love for all things tractor and equipment related.
He can seriously identify heavy equipment better than some grown men. It’s hilarious and precious and I love that like his brother, he was born with a motor.
Just before the end of the year, the company bought some new equipment. The most exciting thing (at least to Tucker) they purchased was a new Caterpillar loader. The loader was parked up at the shop for about a week while they waited on the bucket to arrive and it was the higlight of Tucker’s day if we drove by the shop to see it.
DW knew he’d be upset when they moved it to the asphalt plant, so we took him to sit on it and got these pictures before they moved it.
Lucky for my little man, he has the loader he got for Christmas at home to keep him busy.

I’ll never get over the fact that my diaper bag is filled with dumptrucks and tractors again.
~amw~

New Years at the Zoo

We spent New Years Day morning at the Jacksonville Zoo.

Grandma with the kids

The giraffes are always a favorite… Especially getting to feed them!

Tucker was so happy to walk on his own and get to explore.

There was no walking past the carousel without riding it at least once!

The tigers were out and so active this trip!

Even with that thick glass, this still made me a little uneasy. The tiger kept rubbing it’s head against the glass. Parker loved it!

The train wrapped up our morning at the zoo, and anything that goes is always a hit with our two littlest boys!

It was a great way to spend the first morning of the New Year!

~amw~

Christmas on New Year’s at the Beach….

The crew all headed up to Jacksonville/Neptune Beach on New Year’s Eve to meet at the house my MIL had rented for our Christmas together.

We got pizza for dinner and spent the evening playing games. The hit was “Pie in the Face.” It was hilarious. The kids of course LOVED it and we all laughed our heads off at each other getting pied.

It didn’t matter who got pied, Mamie somehow ended up next to them and would get some of the whip cream on her finger to eat.

Everyone ended up getting pied, except for Warren (who wanted to so bad! ha) and Lauren. They moved on to the Championship Pie-Off.

By the end of the game, Tay was teaching Maybree how to eat whipped cream straight out of the can.

Grandma let the kids open one of their gifts,

AB performed a magic show,

we ate cake…

and all tried to make it to midnight to see the ball drop. We lost a few, but we still had a pretty good group who made it! Surprisingly, I was in it.

The next morning, we took the kids to the zoo. It was cool, not crowded, and everyone had a great time.

We got back to the house right around lunch time, which was the one condition of going to the zoo (we had to have the guys back in time to watch the Gators play in thier Bowl game).

We had a tailgate feast and some of us even snuck in an afternoon nap. The ones who watched the game were wishing they had just napped.

Saturday was the “Christmas” gathering. The boys all headed out to Academy to do some man-shopping and we stayed behind to get things ready at the house. More of the family was coming for lunch and we all enjoyed a big meal and opening gifts together that afternoon.

After one more walk on the beach, our little herd packed up and headed back home.

It was a fun way to wrap up all of our Christmas celebrations and start the New Year!

~amw~