Happy New Year!!!!!

One of my very best friends, Angie and her husband David (and precious children, Hannah and Johnathan) called me a couple of weeks ago with the news that they are likely moving to Ponte Vedra Beach. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this news and we are crossing our fingers and saying our prayers that everything works out just as it should! They came to town to househunt the past few days which meant that they would be here for New Year's Eve! They stayed with us for a few days and the kids all had a great time together (Hannah and Johnathan were SO patient with R and R!! and took such good care of them! I loved seeing them all together!). We took them to a lot of our favorite spots and on New Year's Eve we went to the beach. It wasn't exactly warm....but we made the most of it and realized that David is a Master at shark tooth hunting...he found a TON! So fun. That night we cooked in and everyone participated in a marching band. I'm pretty sure you can hear me just dying laughing in this video, and if not, just know that I was. How times have changed! We didn't make it up until midnight, but it was such a great end to an amazing year and we are so excited for 2014 and all of the wonderful things that we know are in store for us! Happy New Year, everyone! We hope that 2014 is full of happy memories, good health and tons and tons of love and FUN! xoxoxo

A Very Happy Anniversary

Matt and I were able to spend our anniversary where we got married...Kiawah! Such a perfect and beautiful place to be and we had our girlies with us! Nana and BopBop were generous/kind/stupid enough to agree to watch the girls for us so that we could enjoy and afternoon and evening together out without them. It was so nice to have a nice, quiet dinner and to have nice, quiet conversations and be able to concentrate on cutting only my food and not anyone else's for a change! We had dinner at the Ocean Room at The Sanctuary...it's the gorgeous hotel where we spent our wedding night and our first few anniversaries (BK...before kids)! It was a great night and we were actually excited to get back to the house to see our precious girls! We are immeasurably blessed!!!!

 At dinner...we had the first reservation and were the only ones in the restaurant besides the wait staff. Ha!!!!

The girls at The Sanctuary the day before. Too cute for words!

Horses!

Nana told the girls that they could go and see a bunch of horses and she even bought a whole bag of carrots so that we could feed them if we saw some...so they were SUPER excited about it! Turns out, there is an Equestrian center in between Kiawah and Seabrook Islands.  I've probably driven by it a million and a half times before, but I've never paid it any attention until we took the girls. It was incredible. Not only was it a beautiful space, but the horses were gorgeous and came RIGHT to the girls. They each got to feed them, pet them and they were just so excited about it. It was too cute. There were people getting some riding/jumping lessons and the girls liked watching them and then we took them to the stables to see where the horses sleep. They even got to see the vans that the horses travel in when traveling around. They had such a fun time and are already asking to go back! Can't wait!!!!

Fishing with BopBop

BopBop gave both of the girls their very own fishing rods for Christmas! What a perfect gift from him as much as he loves to fish! It wasn't exactly tropical this Christmas in Kiawah, but it was nice enough for BopBop to take his girls out to his dock to teach them how to use their rods. Reagan was REALLY into it...Riley wasn't quite was excited but since we've been home has talked about it almost every day, so who knows?!?! I would love it if they would go fishing with their BopBop when they go to Kiawah. I used to love to go fishing with him when I was younger....what a perfect, special gift for them (and for me to watch). Love you, Dad!!!!

 

 

Christmas Morning 2013

"SANTA CAME, SANTA CAME, SANTA CAME!!!!!"  The kids were so excited/overwhelmed Christmas morning it was the best morning ever. Christmas has and always will be my favorite holiday ever and now it's even more special to see Reagan and Riley experience the joy and excitement of Christmas! The only two things that the girls really "asked" Santa for were a Sit and Spin and a Scooter ("a blue, princess scooter with sparkly wheels" according to Reagan) and you will NOT believe this...but Santa brought them BOTH of those things and so much more!!!! How does he do that!!!???!!! They were so excited by everything they opened...even the small things in their stockings like a pack of M and M's or a bouncy ball that it took about 5 hours to open all of the presents because they had to play with every single thing once it was opened! They loved their Doc McStuffins Doctor Kit and all of their dress up clothes from Aunt Laurlee. Reagan LOVED dressing up like the hairdresser and Riley loved being the waitress. (We're hoping they'll start dreaming a big bigger as they get older, but.....as long as they're happy?!??!). Here are some videos from Christmas morning! We missed all of our family and friends that weren't able to be with us but know that we had you in our hearts and I hope these videos make you smile like they made us smile too!

Getting ready for Santa!

Nana Mimi gave Cooper, Reagan and Riley all new Christmas PJs to wear and they loved them. They were all so excited for Santa to come I couldn't imagine that they'd ever get to sleep...but after we set out Santa's milk, cookies and carrots for the reindeer, and sprinkled the special reindeer food in the grass that the girls had made at school (a bag full of cheerios and glitter!) ...they were ready to say goodnight! They had a million questions before bed about what was going to happen and how we'd know if Santa came and what would happen if he was too full to eat their cookies, etc....but once they put their precious little heads on the pillows, they were OUT!

Christmas Eve Part One

Our Christmas Eve kicked off in Hilton Head with a trip to GiGi and Grandpa's house! We all met at Truffle's restaurant, where GiGi had planned a special lunch in a private room for everyone. It was absolutely perfect and she thought of everything! Everyone had a special little gift at their seat and the food was amazing. It was a great lunch and then we went back to their house and opened presents and had dessert! The girls were given such special and thoughtful gifts...music boxes with their names on them that play their favorite song (Twinkle,Twinkle), dollies with their names on them that look just like each girl! Ryan and Natasha even gave the girls the cutest Christmas doggies...they love to cuddle with them. And the best of all...Ohio State Cheerleader outfits from Ron and Conni! Matt was almost as excited as the girls were. They look adorable in them...will post a picture of them in them at another time as I haven't had a chance to capture it yet. They will DEFINITELY be sporting them on Friday night! Go Buckeyes!
It was such a special time, as the whole family was able to be together...GiGi and Grandpa, Ron, Conni, Ryan and Natasha, Laurie, Nathan and Cooper, Nana, BopBop, and our family too. It was so fun and the girls had a blast. We were all a little nervous about how the kids were going to behave because we knew how excited they were for Santa's big visit later that night...but they were awesome and did so well. It was such a special day and we have so many great memories that we made! Here are a few pictures from the day...the group pictures leave a bit to be desired but at least you can tell that we were all there!!!!