catching up

Hey all,

A lot has happened since Molly's surgery. We went on a little trip to Muscle Shoals. We had a fun over night stay there. We stayed in a really nice hotel there, where I even got a massage! We had Molly and Colin's Christmas pictures taken, pink "cactus" and all. They turned out really good. I have them hanging in our family room if anyone wants to come see them, :) but I will take them to Ohio to pass out to everyone. (I will give you a sneak peek by loading a picture of them I took before we left.) We also had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I cooked the Thanksgiving meal for the first time. Not to brag, but everything turned out well. The turkey wasn't burnt or too dry, and I didn't kill anyone either. It was more fun than I thought it would be, but also a LOT more tiring than I ever imagined. (Look for Thanksgiving pictures too.) We decorated for Christmas. It was fun to decorate a new house. Our tree looks so pretty in our big front window. The kids LOVE the decorations. (Of course I have pictures...) We went to a special members night at the McWane Center. There were different activities for the kids. They had fun. We could have seen Santa, but our kids track record isn't good enough for us to endure the long line. Finally, we went to a resort in Georgia called Reynold's Plantation. Michael has wanted to go there for a long time. I told him I would take him there if he got the promotion to Director. It was awesome! The place is so beautiful. There was so much to do. We all had a really great time. The pictures don't come close to doing it justice, but at least you will get an idea. It is pretty expensive to stay there, but we are already talking about saving our pennies to try to go back sometime. It was so much fun! Enjoy the pictures! There are a TON of them! (So bear with me!)

By the way, I am still struggling with uploading all the pictures so they are in the order I want. I am giving up this time. There are too many pictures this time. So, just read the caption and know that they aren't in any particular order.

Colin fishing for the first time.
Molly fishing for the first time. Bless her heart, it was pretty hard with a cast on, but she tried her hardest. She had fun.

While Molly and Dad finished Story Time with Mrs. Claus, Colin and I went to the "game room" and he played trains.

More train playing.

This is story time with Mrs. Claus. It was really cute. They got milk and cookies and listened to a couple of Christmas books.

The kids loved playing at this fountain. Molly was running (and getting yelled at for it!) and Colin was picking flowers (please don't tell on him!). :)

This is one view of the lake. It was beautiful. You can see a bit of the "beach" in this picture too. They had little lounge chair for the kids!

Colin played on the playground while Molly worked on the scavenger hunt the hotel had set up.

This was a special tuck-in with Mrs. Claus and an elf. They came to our room, read a bedtime story and had small gifts for the kids.

Here they all are.

The kids had so much fun. There was so much to do. They were pretty tired. Here they are resting, watching a show.

This is the view from our balcony.

There was a movie room set up. They played Christmas movies and children's movies all day long. Here Colin and Michael are watching "White Christmas."

In the movie room, they had bean bag chairs for the kids to sit on, popcorn and lemonade too. Molly really enjoyed this room. I was tickled that she liked "White Christmas." It's one of my favorites.

I just threw this picture in because I think he is such a cutie. I really love this age!

This is the pool. It's one of those infinity pools. I had never seen one in person. It was pretty neat.

It is so rare that I am not taking the pictures and therefore in the pictures. I made a point to get in a few. This one is pretty good.

Molly and I took a few serious pictures but then decided that we needed a silly one. I think we did good! :)

This is down at the dock where we fished. It really was gorgeous!

Here's part of the lodge.

Michael and the kids. I took quite a few of these type of pictures too.

This Gingerbread House was amazing! It was all hand done and all food! There was a list of ingredients that baffled me! Even the walls inside were "painted" with chocolate! It was neat!

Another one of those "here Michael, take a picture of us" pictures.

Every night they have a fire and things out to make s'mores. Molly was a good marshmallow roaster!

Colin was talking to Santa. Molly was glued to my leg! :)

Molly posing with the Nutcracker. I think she looks like a mannequin!

They had (I think) 1.5 million lights up. It was amazing. We took walks each evening and really enjoyed all the lights. Colin kept saying "wow!"

This is at the McWane Center. They have a big train exhibit right now for the Christmas season. Here is the crazed conductor, Molly.

Here is my beautiful family enjoying the trains. (Just be sure to check out our beautiful Molly's nose!)

That night there were several stations for the kids. Here they were decorating Christmas cookies.

They each made a snowflake ornament. Molly liked the glitter.

Colin did a little coloring and a little glitter too.

Colin really enjoyed his decorated cookie when we got home. It was ALL over his face.

Here's Colin admiring our tree.

He reaction was priceless when he saw the tree the first time.

Molly posing under the tree.

This one is just cute and added to show you we haven't forgotten our roots!

The kids made turkey cookies with Bonnie and Mike when they were here. They had fun and they turned out really cute.

Here is Grandma and Molly watching Cinderella. Molly is very into Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty right now.

Now, how funny is this... Here is Colin and Uncle Jack watching Cinderella. Just as into it! :)

While I was cooking for Thanksgiving dinner, Grandma McCann, Aunt Kelly, Molly and Colin had a picnic on the deck. It was such a nice day.

Molly, with her cast wrapped up, helped with the cleaning so we could reuse dishes to keep cooking.

Here is our Thanksgiving dinner.

Here is pilgrim Molly.

And, here is pilgrim Colin.

Here is Colin eating a turkey leg. When Molly was this age, she did this too. I never got copies of the pictures though. ;) (If I ask pretty please can I get some?) :)

Colin was so excited that Grandpa was there when he woke up from his nap. Mike "surprised" everyone by coming down Thanksgiving day.

Colin was a little helper too, on Thanksgiving.

Molly before leaving to have Christmas pictures done.

Colin before leaving for pictures.

Until next time...