Playing at GG ma's and GG pa's

Drew and Mikayla had a ball at GG ma's and GG pa's house! Whether they were playing on the John Deer tractor, walking through the chicken yard, or just rocking in the rocking chairs they were having fun. All Drew kept saying while we were in Florida was..."Are we going to GG ma's and GG pa's?" Mikayla loved all of their dogs. She didn't want to get too close, but she sure enjoyed seeing them!!

Aunt Susie demonstrates how to use the John Deer tractor!!

Drew and Mikayla stay on the sidewalk between their driveway and GG pa's building!!

They loved looking at GG ma's fish pond!!

Animal Kingdom...

The Safarii Ride...

FLORIDA!!!

Our family spent Thanksgiving in Florida!! Craig, Drew, Mikayla and I left Tuesday after work to head to Lakeland, Fla to see GG ma, GG pa, Aunt Juanita, and Aunt Susie. We arrived at 2 a.m. Wednesday and went straight to the hotel room to sleep! When we woke up, we went to enjoy breakfast with GG ma and GG pa at their house.

Drew and Mikayla enjoy their breakfast with GG pa!! After breakfast, we took Drew and Mikayla to Disney's Animal Kingdom! There we saw the Lion King Show, rode Kilomanjaros Safarii, met some Disney characters and much more!! One of our favorites was the safarii ride. We saw all sorts of animals including elephants, rhinos, hippos, lions, gazelles, even girraffes! I thought the animals would probably keep a safe distance from the safarii vehicles, but they got surprisingly close. One of the giraffes walked directly in front of our jeep. Drew and Mikayla love all kinds of animals so it was really neat seeing their faces light up at all the different ones there! Drew and Mikayla also enjoyed meeting Mickey and Minnie Mouse as you can tell!

They also got to meet Pluto, Goofy, and the Chipmunks!

Pigtails and a Pig Race

The last two days (Thursday and Friday) I have fixed Mikayla's hair in pigtails. I am so glad it's finally long enough, and she is older and will FINALLY leave hairbows alone. She used to pull out any bow I ever put in her hair. Her hair is really past her shoulders, but with her curls (I wonder where in the world she got those LoL) you can't tell unless it's wet. The first time Drew noticed this he said "Mom, Mikayla needs a hair cut!" I guess he thought that everyone's hair was supposed to be short since we keep his hair short and mine was short (I'm in the process of letting it grow out). We had to explain to them that some people have long hair and we wanted Mikayla's to be long!

Everyone has had a fit over the pigtails. All the teachers at daycare and of course our family has said how cute she looks with them. We think so too, even if we are a little biased! Here is a picture of our little pigtailed darling at school yesterday morning!! (One of her friends from school gave her that nice scratch under her left eye but we know accidents happen, especially at this age.)

Also yesterday was the pig race and ice cream party at our school for the students who sold $150 or more for our fall fundraiser. Drew was able to participate in this, and he had been looking forward to it all week. I had already explained the pig race to him. I told him that he would pick a pig and if his pig won, he would win $50!! He thought they would be watching real pigs. Even though I knew that they would be pulling for little stuffed mechanical pigs, I didn't tell him any different. I just wanted him to wait and see for himself. When we went out for the pig race he was so excited about seeing those pigs, he didn't even care that they weren't real.

Here Drew and one of his friends from his class vote for the blue pig to win. Drew tells everybody that his name is Blueberry (because that's what the man from QSP fundraising company called him). Well Blueberry did not win this race. The orange pig one and the students that picked orange went on to vote in the next race. Then there were four children left to pick their favorites in the last race, including our friend Morgan! Even though Drew didn't win the money, we were still pretty happy when our friend Morgan won the $50!

GOOOOO GAMECOCKS

Drew and Mikayla say...GO GAMECOCKS!!! Mommy's pretty glad they cheer for her Alma Mater!!

Well it's almost time for THE game. Most people who live in SC know which game I'm talking about, as well as many people who live out of this state. We are headed over to a party at my Aunt Laura and Uncle Ted's house, but I wanted to make sure to put this picture on first. This is for all of our family memebers who love Clemson...GO COCKS!!!!!

Field trips and more field trips...

Well I know it's been awhile since I updated this thing, but it's not that there hasn't been anything to post about. It's just that, as a family, we have been very busy. We had a field trip at school last Friday the 11th with all the 5K classes at school, then Drew went to the Children's Barnyard with his 4K class this past Tuesday. Craig and I decided not to go as chaperones with his class because they had several already going, and he will go to Franky's Fun Park on December 9th for selling $250 worth of fundraising. (Thanks to all family and friends who ordered!!) Since that is 30-45 minutes from the school, Craig will be going with him to that! Even though neither of us were going, I still wanted pictures of course. I wasn't about to send my digital camera with a four year old to a farm, so we got him one of those disposable cameras to take with him. My plan was that he would take most of the pictures and I might get a few with him in it. I didn't want it to be a bother for the teachers or chaperones, and I was kinda curious about what kind of pictures we might get from a four year olds perspective LoL. We would have cherished them no matter how they turned out. Well, when I got my camera back Tuesday after they got back I learned that I was probably not getting what I had in mind. Drew decides at that Children's Barnyard that he doesn't want to take pictures. This was a shock to me because he loves taking pictures at home, but I guess with all the excitement who could blame him. So...the chaperone with his group (of 2 children!!) was kind enough to take some pictures for me. I was very thankful because I wanted pictures to post on here, and for his school scrapbook that I have been working on! So when we have those pictures developed (sometime this weekend), I will be sure to post several of them for all to see!!

Funny Feet Day

Drew had funny feet day at his school to review the letter "Ff" last Friday. They could wear different socks, different shoes, etc. to make their feet look funny. Drew decided that he would wear these two different kinds of shoes. I had to get a picture for his school scrapbook! I thought I would share with everyone here. He really enjoys school! He reminds us every time his teacher tells his class to remember something (icee money, wear a certain color, wear their school shirts, turn in homework, etc.) Whatever Ms. Brown and Ms. Hayes says is final. Mommy doesn't know everything anymore like I used to (at least in Drew's eyes)! Isn't it funny that they are like that with their teachers, I mean, even at four he has already started. I've had parents tell me the same thing about their children with me. As a parent though, that's the way I want it. We teach Drew and Mikayla to show respect for others, especially their elders & teachers. At least Mikayla still thinks whatever Mommy says goes - for now at least!!

Babies no more...

My little ones are growing up...too fast! There is no longer a crib up in our house. We have moved Mikayla from the crib into her "big girl bed". Until recently we didn't see the need to move her.

We moved Drew into his "big boy bed" when he was 20 months old. I was 5 months pregnant with Mikayla and we needed to finish her nursery. So...his crib was moved into Mikayla's nursery and he got a new "big boy bed" (we used one part of the bunk bed that my sister and I had shared when we were younger). He was so excited about his new bed because he could get in and out of it all by himself. His Mimi and Poppi had gotten him a rail to go on his "big boy bed" right after we found out we were expecting Mikayla, so he was all set.

Since we are not planning another baby anytime soon (we have not gotten rid of the crib, it has just been moved to the attic...), we didn't see the need to take Mikayla out of it. However, she has gotten to be quite the daredevil! She has started climbing on everything, and we were afraid that she would start trying to climb out of the crib. So...last weekend we decided it was time for her to make the transition from the crib to her "big girl bed". Craig was a little hesitant at first. He kept saying "she's so little". I had to remind him that Drew moved into his bed at 20 months, and that she did turn 26 months old at the end of October. After I reminded him of that, he agreed that it was time.

We already knew that Mikayla would use the other part of the bunk bed. Since they can also be taken apart and used separately, we could put one in Drew's room and the other in Mikayla's room. We weren't real sure what to do about rails. We didn't know whether to buy another one for Mikayla, or to take the one off of Drew's bed to put on hers. So...we talked to Drew about this. We told him that since he was getting older, he might not need his rail anymore. And since Mikayla was still little, she needed a rail. He said "she can use my rail, I'm a big boy". Well that settled it! We took the rail off of his bed and put it on Mikayla's. He has told several people about this, saying "I don't have a rail on my bed anymore, I'm a big boy".

We have been very pleased with how well they have both done with these changes. Drew has not fallen out of his bed (thank goodness!!), and Mikayla seems to sleep better in this bed (she doesn't snore as much)! She also seems to like the fact that she can get in and out of her bed now on her own.

It is a little sad, though, not to have a crib (set up) in our house anymore. That was the last "baby item" to be put away. You never know, in a few more years, we just may be planning for a little brother/little sister for Drew and Mikayla!

Drew sleeping without a rail! Mikayla sleeping in her "big girl bed"!

Wheee...

Drew and Mikayla take a turn on the "twisty" slide at the park.

Drew was ready to go, he even went down a few times head-first. He is used to the "twisty" slides at Macdonald's and Chuck E. Cheese's.

Mikayla, as you can see, was not so sure about this thing at first. She has just gotten to be big enough to go down the "big" slide at Macdonald's. Until a several weeks ago, she was only going down the "baby" slide. She has not taken a trip down the "big" slide at Chuck E. Cheese's. She sticks to the smaller slide there (which mommy is pretty happy about).

They take another trip down the slide! Mikayla seems to be enjoying it a little more this time! I guess she liked the first trip down because she sure was ready to go down again!!

A day at the park.

Mikayla takes a turn on the slide!

A few weeks ago we took Drew and Mikayla to the park! There is a park at the landing of the lake we went to with Uncle Jon Jon. So ever since we went for a boat ride with Jonathan, Drew and Mikayla have wanted to go back to the park and play.

A few Sundays ago, we decided to take them. We went to church that morning and then to Mimi's and Poppi's for dinner. After our afternoon nap, we were off to the park. The weather was beautiful; not too hot, not too cold! Drew and Mikayla had a wonderful time, and of course they didn't want to leave!

Drew shows us how to climb the rock wall!

Happy Halloween!!

Rick, Angie, and Morgan invited us to go trick-or-treating with them in their neighborhood last night. Since we live on a busy street, we've never taken Drew and Mikayla trick-or-treating except to grandparents houses. We usually go to our church's fall festival (and the last 2 years we've gone to Uncle Chris and Aunt Julie's church for their fall festival as well). Our church did not have a fall festival this year because our focus has been on 40 Days of Purpose! We did, however, have games and candy this past Wednesday night at AWANAs. We thought Drew and Mikayla would have a wonderful time trick-or-treating with Morgan, so we decided that we would do that first, then we would all go to Aunt Julie and Uncle Chris's church. A fun time was had by all!! (Even the "big" kids.)

Here is Mikayla as a unicorn (I know, I know she was supposed to be a purple ballerina, but Poppi had gotten her this costume last year at an after-Halloween sale and this is the one she chose to wear. I was glad though because it was going to be a little cold for her ballerina dress!), Morgan as a bunny, and Drew as the red Power Ranger! Aren't they cute??