Shhhhh... I Have a Secret

I got Rory a pass for the local nature center for his birthday!! Today was absolutely beautiful and we are expecting rain (YEY) over the next week or so, and that meant we had to go today if we were going to go this week.

We used his pass today (but he didn't know that, lol) to go and see the Christmas display, which really was just Camels. Their names were Blue and Glory. (I'm not sure which one this is).


The hit of the day ended up being Oscar the Otter and the not camels. Oscar and his girl friend (Olive?) came out to visit us and kept posing and flirting with the boys:


And here are a few otters that I brought home with me...




Here are 2 more shots, we had a blast!

Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

We went tree hunting today, Mama Ann helped us pick out the perfect tree...

Here are some previews; we aren't decorating until Carl gets home from Cali. (Canyon slept the whole time, so no pics of him with his first tree just yet.)

The Holidays are coming...

And that means presents for little boys and girls...

We got our first international custom Lil' Hucker order this past month.

I packed this guy up and shipped him overseas this morning:

Cold December Nights...

The temperatures have dropped, the snow is falling, and the frost is showing up in the mornings... that means it is December!

Cold weather means hot meals! I made chili (a staple at our house) with my first attempt at skillet corn bread! Not too shabby for a vegan meal!

Gobble Gobble

Turkey, Potatoes, Gravy. Stuffing... mmmmmmm the smell and taste of the holidays.



Thank you Val and Carl for the wonderful dinner and everything.




Dinner was great, the women rocked at Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble... although the guys held their own...

We enjoyed going to the park, and hanging with Tom and Dena too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a small Thanksgiving tonight but will be having our "real" Thanksgiving on Saturday when Carl's brother and his girl friend/partner, Dena, arrive.

But today we stuffed ourselves (pun intended) on ham, rolls, potato salad and beans. It was delicious. Val did an awesome job!

After dinner as we were sitting here, I mentioned that I was "full". Rory quickly responded with "full of what mom?" Where the heck does he get this?????

I forgot my camera.

Yup. Me. I forgot my dang camera today.

Grammy and DadDad took us to Pittsburgh to the Carnegie Museums. It was a blast!

Gruncle Dave met us, we had a great lunch, and saw Dinosaurs!

Grammy took some pics, I hope to upload them soon.

6 Months

Where has it gone? The last 6 months have flown by and I am sitting here looking at my "newborn" who is now over 6 months old... my baby Arden is now 2 and a half... and my first baby will soon turn 5 (yeah, 5 FREAKING YEARS OLD) how did this happen?

They are growing like weeds! If Rory doesn't stop growing soon, he is going to bankrupt me on shoes and clothes... and Canyon, geeze-o-peeze. he is already in 12 month clothes and quickly approaching the end of that size.

I took a few pics of Canyon to share... I will be posting some of Grammy and DadDad, and of our trip soon! Enjoy.

West Virginia, Mountain Mama... take me home...

We got to drive up to WV for the holiday... man do I miss it there. Not that I am not thankful to live in one of the most beautiful places in the country, because I am, but there is something about West Virginia that is home...

The snow was gently falling as we drove over to Granny's, and everything tends to have this "magical" Christmas/holiday feeling for me. I am really going to miss getting to go to my Granny's home on trips and getting to be there for Christmas and family celebrations.

My Granny has made the decision to sell her home, and while it will be staying in the family, it is still hard for me to understand and be ok with the change. My entire memories of my Granny and most of my holidays are in that house... But change is inevitable... someday I will be able to move home and make new memories in WV.

Here are my boys and Kristi's boys with Granny Eva:





Here is Kristi's youngest Colton: He is a cutie:


Here are two more of Kristi's boys (Tyler and Bryce), Austin was with his Granny for the day so we didn't get to include him:

Do I Laugh or Cry?

We were eating last night when Rory asked if cows nurse their babies.

We answered yes, which then spurred an entire conversation of what farm animals nurse and what don't.

Rory then said, "Some animals just rub on their mommies bellies to nurse".

It took a few minutes to understand what he was talking about, and then I got it, so I responded with, "Oh! Most animals have their breasts on their bellies".

To which I received a response that I am not sure how to take "So are yours!"

So what do you think? Do I laugh or do I cry?

What a Sense of Humor...

Over the past few weeks we have noticed that Rory is starting to have quite the sense of humor.

Carl is planning a trip to California for work. Rory has been learning about his states, and there is a funny Dairy commercial on TV that talks about cows in Cali. When Rory over head his dad say that he was going to go to California he said "You will get to see Happy Cows!" (Which believe me was quite clever!)

Then the other night Rory was saying "Mommy... Mommy..MOMMY.." to which I answered "What-y" (with a playful smack to the back of his head). Rory responded with a quick "STOP-Y".

He is starting to get it! I am amazed at the difference in him over the last few months, he really is blossoming into a little boy, not the toddler/preschooler that he was. I cannot believe he is turning 5 next month.

Huntington Beach State Park

For us, a trip to Myrtle Beach would not be complete without a visit to Huntington Beach State Park.

This is one of our favorite activities; we get to go out on the docks and see the marshes, crocodiles, birds, crabs, and all kinds of native wildlife!


The other thing that we get to do, which is what makes this park #1 for the Gittings Family, is go to the visitor center/nature center.

It makes the day a lot of fun for the boys, we get to see and touch "Happy" the sting ray, pretend to be pirates in an old boat, and see all kinds of animals that we don't necessarily get to see in the wild.

Braden is a who?!

While we were visiting, our cousin Braden was in a school performance, "Horton Hears a Who".

He did great, here is a shot. The boys all enjoyed the music!


Here are a few shots of the boys as they rode bikes around the neighborhood. Braden is quite the skilled rider! (Remember he is only 5, AND no training wheels!)






Monkey See, Monkey Do:

November at the Beach...

By November you never know what you are going to get when you go to the beach one day it might be warm, and the next near freezing (literally)...

Well, we got both while we were visiting. Here are the boys fishing off the pier with PaPa Larry, and no, they didn't last long. It was COLD (and windy).




A day later it was gorgeous... You have to love being able to go out in the ocean and to play on the sand at the beach in early November. It was a bit chilly, but we had a great time.



Of course we were not without the new stroller! Mom refuses to go anywhere without it!


The boys got to see a lot of neat things; everything from sea urchins, to star fish, to sand dollars and horse shoe crabs had washed up on shore.