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.

Halloween 2008!

We had a great time, we went to a local (to my mom's house) area and trick-or-treated at local stores. I didn't get a chance to take many pictures b/c keeping up with 3 boys is a task of in and of its self!

We were "green" for Halloween and used our Chico Bags for our candy!




And here are our finished pumpkins: (please note, Rory made one with 2 noses)

Ghosts and Legends

Tonight we went to "Ghosts and Legends" after we went to Braden's recital.


We were kind of "duped" into going into a "ghost show" where these 4 "local" ghosts come and talk to you about their stories. We asked if it was too scary, and were told that it was only a little spooky, but not scary (they even charge for 4 year-olds). Since one of the ghosts was Black Beard the Pirate, we decided it would really be kind of cool for Rory (our little pirate freak).

The first "ghost" was Alice. Not really scary, although at the end, there was a LOT of noise which freaked Arden and Braden. (Mind you Braden and Arden were freaked as soon as we walked in). Rory on the other hand really liked the story, but the loudness was bothering him...

Then came Black Beard... as he came down the steps singing "Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum" he dropped a bucket with a chain... Braden and Arden FREAKED out screaming and crying. Rory on the other hand was still sitting watching as the other kids all left (as Carl pulled the door apart to get them out). It was amusing to see him still sitting there and not realizing why everyone was leaving.

Needless to say, we got a refund and headed home. Rory wants to go back next year.

Here we are outside before the "scare":