After Christmas and New Years Beach Trip

The few days between Christmas and leaving for the beach we managed to sneak in a few activities. On Monday the 26th, Emma and I met my friend Caroline Stelling for lunch at Tupelo Honey. It was delicious but the service was SLOW so Emma was melting by the time we left. Great to get to catch up with just Caroline. She and I lived together in AOPi and now she's married to one of Tommy's oldest friends (who he lived with for 2 years after college before we bought our house). We see them often but it's always good to get the girls-only time too.

(wearing her adorable outfit Nana gave her for Christmas)

On the night of the 27th we met the Mitchlers, Ansley Reynolds, Christy Reimann, and Andrew Maxey for dinner at Tupelo Honey (yes it's a popular choice these days). Andrew and Christy were leaving the next day to go back to West Palm and the Mitchlers had just flown back in from Europe that day. We enjoyed getting to catch up with everyone. Emma did great at dinner (thanks friends for going early so we could bring Emma along :))

(before we left to for dinner. Such a stinker!) 

On the 28th I sent Emma to daycare so I could run some errands to prep for our trip and pack without having to coordinate around her nap times. I was paying for the whole week anyway so figured it was worth it! I was able to go to the dentist, Target, Kroger, Costco and packed. It was productive! Then that night the Hartmans came over and we grilled out and sat by Tommy's new fire pit. They were in Greenville for most of the week of before for Christmas so we wanted to hang out before we left town the next day. Always enjoy spending time with them (and Coop enjoys his play time with Champ).

The morning of the 29th we headed to Cape San Blas, Florida. We rented the same house we did last year with the same group. We had 13 of us in the house and 3 dogs. The house sits at the very end of the spit and so we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. The house has a great screened porch which I much enjoyed sitting out on. We trade off nights for cooking dinner and do our own things for lunch and breakfast. We go out one day for lunch to the Indian Pass Raw Bar which is always delicious! The boys played golf one morning as well. The weather was pretty good this year. It wasn't super sunny every day but it only rained a little bit one of the days. We enjoyed some fires on the beach (we had quite an ordeal getting firewood this year!), down time with movies, homemade dinners, time for games, and just enjoying each others company sitting on the beach. It's always a very relaxing trip (even with a baby this year) and we had a great time. I am not so sure we will make it next year with an 18 month old who will be on the go. Emma was the perfect age this year as she isn't mobile yet and is pretty resilient with sleeping in her pack n play in random places but I don't foresee that being the case a year from now. We shall see how it all plays out. 

(we had to wait longer than anticipated which went into her nap time. cue passing out on daddy's shoulder. He wasn't complaining) 

 (who needs toys when you have an empty water bottle?)

(hanging out with Auntsly wearing her adorable vest from Katherine who lives in Jackson Hole)

I can't believe it's January of 2017 already. I can't believe we aren't in year that Emma was born anymore and that she turns 8 months next week. Fastest 8 months of my LIFE! I am looking forward to all that 2017 brings. We are both settled into our jobs (Tommy started a new one back in September), Emma is growing like a weed and exploring new things every day, and we are just enjoying all that being a family of three brings. We started looking at our calendar the other day and boy 2017 is already shaping up to be a BUSY Spring atleast. Our weekends are filling up fast with weddings, showers, trips, and so much more. All fun things to look forward to in the coming months! Wishing you all a wonderful year!

Christmas Part Two

Too many pictures and activities to include all in one post so heres is the rest of our Christmas festivities!

After Church we headed home to grab our dessert and then headed up to Roswell for Christmas Eve dinner with my "family". My parents have been celebrating Christmas Eve with our South African family friends for 30 years now. This year we had the most we've had for years. There were 34 (35 if you count Emma) at dinner this year. The only ones missing were my sister and her family and my cousin Alastair. Over the years we have added many spouses to the mix. It's my family, my cousins, the Stribos', Lawries, and Van Beuningens. We are one large, loud party so we did dinner at the Lawries' clubhouse. I set up the pack n play in the basement so I could put Emma to sleep and still enjoy the party. We had a delicious feast  but more importantly surrounded by so many loved ones that I really only ever get to see this day each year. Many of the kids now live away (Australia, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Conneticut and Statesboro to name a few). We had a great time getting to see everyone!

We got home just after midnight and Emma transferred great into her crib. She slept the whole party so we were able to enjoy ourselves at dinner which was nice. 

Christmas morning came! I was so excited to see how Emma would react to her new toys. I know she doesn't get it but it was still fun for us to see. I have a feeling Christmas is just going to get better and better every year having my own children to see the joy of Christmas through their little eyes.

 Trying to figure out what this big red stocking is all about. 

Playing with her toys from Santa!

My goodies from Tommy. I love my Nora Fleming items and really wanted a platter. I didn't have any of these charms either. Tommy's going to make and replace our shutters with the ones in the picture!!!! Love that handy husband of mine.

After we did Christmas morning with just the three of us we headed to my parents for our Christmas morning traditions of brunch, stockings and exchanging presents. We got spoiled yet again by my family! We missed having the Willis here for Christmas morning. We know they enjoyed time with Brett's family up in Ohio but we missed them.

 Nana and Emma

 Uncle James, Mimi and Emma

 Auntie Claire and Emma

Love my little family!

Once Emma woke up from her nap (she fell asleep sitting up on TOmmy's lap opening presents. Christmas wore her out!) we drove over to the Robinsons for the afternoon and fish tacos with Coco, Tpop and Aunt Marsha. We got our stockings and enjoyed the very calm beautiful afternoon. We even sat out on the porch for dinner. This Christmas was so warm! We enjoyed some play time with her new toys.

We had a very FULL Christmas and enjoyed every minute of it. We got to spend great quality time with both of our families as well as time just the three of us. We are lucky that both our families live within 15 minutes of each other so we can see both sets of grandparents over the holidays. It may be hectic driving back and forth but it's worth it. I can't believe Christmas is come and gone. There's so much buildup and then poof it's over in a flash. I can't wait til next year. My hope for Emma is that she understands the true meaning of Christmas. It's our job to make sure she knows it's not just about the presents. My hope is that she gets out of Christmas the love of time with family and understands that it's a celebration of the birth of Jesus. I pray she lives her life glorifying our Lord and Savior. 

(she loved playing with her Nativity set)

More to come about our week after Christmas and our New Years beach trip with friends!

Christmas Part One

Finally getting around to blogging about the holidays. We have been BUSY and I haven't had a chance to sit and write down about our holiday season. Christmas festivities really kicked off on December 22nd! I still had to work on the 22nd (SO late this year!) and my principal got a coffee company to come serve coffee and hot chocolate for the staff along with the candy bar myself and my coworker set up in the front office. 

If we have to work on December 22nd atleast we got coffee and candy right?!

That night a few of my college girlfriends and some of their spouses/boyfriends came over for the night. I didn't remember to take any pictures with the girls (major fail) but we had a great time. I got some pictures of Emma before they arrived because we had way too many Christmas outfits to get through! They didn't leave until after midnight! We had appetizers and wine. We enjoyed the nice night out on the deck with the outdoor heater on. 

(so excited it's Winter break with my parents and it's Christmas!)

December 23rd Tommy still had to work but I had a nice baby shower for my best friend, Ansley, at her Aunts house. Baby Gavin we can't wait to meet you! Emma can't wait to have a new buddy to play with.

From the shower I headed to Tommy's parents for the night. Beth and Danny had come in town for Pre-Christmas celebrations before leaving on Christmas Eve to head to Virginia to see Danny's mom. We enjoyed a delicious grilled chicken dinner at the Robinsons before they all headed out to Church. We didn't think Emma would do well at a 7pm service so we didn't join for church. We enjoyed getting time with Beth and Danny relaxing at the house. We always enjoy when they get into town. Cody and Cooper play pretty well together too. Emma had a meltdown after dinner so we scooted home to get her to bed to rest up for Christmas Eve festivities.

 Christmas Eve morning we got up and got ourselves ready for the full day ahead. After Emma's morning nap we headed back to the Robinsons for brunch with Tom, Courtney, Beth, Danny, Marsha, little Courtney, and Andrew. We had a FANTASTIC brunch (so many wonderful goodies) followed by presents. Emma LOVED her new toy from Coco and Tpop.

We all got spoiled but especially the littlest of the crew. Her grandparents and Aunt/Uncle knew how to make her first Christmas a memorable one. We had a great morning getting to see everyone and celebrate Christmas. We left just after noon to run the munchkin home for a nap before going to church. 

We went to the 3pm service at Peachtree Presbyterian with our friends Adrienne, Tray and Langley Chamberlin. The girls did great during the service and thankfully it was a very family friendly service. The Christmas hymns are my absolute favorite. We love our church and really are so thankful we found a place we can call home. 

(Emma you are such a ham. Nothing makes me melt more than that gummy smile)

More to come for the rest of the Christmas Eve and Christmas day celebrations!