Hollywild

The week of Christmas, Bruce and I took Parker to Hollywild.  For those of you who haven't heard of Hollywild--it's a zoo near Greenville, SC that has a ton of animals (mainly barnyard animals), and some of the animals are used in movies.  During Christmas time, they open the park at night and have a drive thru lighted path (which is amazing!!) and then the really cool part is you drive into a huge open field where live deer, cows and other LARGE animals run around and you can feed them from your car!! And when I say LARGE, I mean LARGE!!!  The picture of the black/white cow is from Bruce's SUV and it is as tall as our SUV and it's head barely fit into the window!!  ( I was really freaked out--mainly because it was MY window the cows were trying to come into, Bruce on the other hand thought it was hilarious, and Parker didn't really have a clue!! HA!)  After driving around the open field, you park and then walk into a petting zoo area with lots of other animals, there are bonfires, hot chocolate,etc.  All in all, it was a fun experience and next time,  I will drive and Bruce can enjoy the massive cow!!  :)



Christmas in Florence

The weekend before Christmas we loaded up the car and headed to Florence to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family--my mom, sister, brother-in-law, step-brother and future sis-in-law.  We had a wonderful time of relaxing, opening presents, helping Mom do some baking and of course, eating!!  :)  Enjoy the pictures!

 Aunt Tracie decided Parker needed a new look! :)

 Future Mozart in the works!

 Looking for his gifts  :)

 Parker LOVES books!  YaYa reading to him one of his new ones

 "Oh boy!!  A new Elmo DVD!!"

 A little explanation needed here:  My Mom has had her Britta pitcher since it first came out--like 10 years ago or something crazy like that!!  So I decided she needed a new one! :)

 My brother in law, Jamie is really excited!

 ...and so is Maggie! :)

 Tracie got Jamie a framed picture of Rosenblatt Stadium when the Gamecocks were playing Clemson this past summer.  (and yes, unfortunately, my brother in law is a Carolina fan!! boo)

 Lovin on his new Elmo--how sweet

 He is just too darn cute!! 

Derrick and my future sister in law, Lindsey

Anna's Birthday Party

This year for Anna's 3rd birthday party, we were invited to PlayNation, an indoor play set place!  It was really neat and this year, Parker got to participate in all of the festivities!  He went down the slides and of course, did not want to get out of the swing!!  He LOVES to swing!! :)  Unfortunately, I didn't get a single picture of the birthday girl!!  (just awful....) But I did get a couple of Parker, Luke and Madison playing together!! Thanks so much Anna for inviting us to your fabulous birthday party!!

The night before Anna's party, Huey and Nanny came over for dinner and got to spend some precious time reading The Night Before Christmas to Parker!! I just melted! :) 

 Funny picture of Bruce and Parker, Natalie and Madison--both of the kids were "talking" to each other and could care less about the camera! Oh well....

 Sweet girls!!

 Parker in the swing, loving life!

 Madison and Parker trying out the tire swing

 Luke and Madison on the see-saw

 Best Buddies!

 Some cool kids!!  In the goodie bag, they got these really cute sunglasses!  This is our attempt to get a picture with all 3 of them wearing them!! Too funny!! I love how Madison is sitting there all pretty and proper and the boys are goofing around!! :)

Happy Birthday Anna!!  So happy that we are such good friends with you! We love you very much! 

Thanksgiving Weekend

This year for Thanksgiving we were in Florence and had a really good time.  It was emotional at times, but overall a sweet time spent with family.  We went down on Wednesday night, over to Me-Mama's for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and then came home later on Friday evening, after helping Mom put her Christmas tree up and decorate it.  My mom came back up with us to spend the weekend and watch Parker while Bruce, Lucian, Jeanie and I went to the Clemson/Carolina game.  It was a good weekend, not a good game! :) Oh well...  Sunday evening, Lucian and Jeanie came over to help put up our Christmas tree and Jeanie and I decorated while the boys watched TV.  Of course, Parker was thrilled by the lights and 'balls' or ornaments! He really has been great with the tree and really hasn't messed with it too much, other than touching 'gently' his favorite ornaments!! ;)  Enjoy the pics!



Bailee and Parker

Yep--that's most of the adults watching Parker play with his Noah's ark, while Bailee helps! :)

Tracie taking a nap--Aunt Linda watching Parker play

My beautiful Mom

Parker deciding it was time for Aunt Tracie to wake up!! HA!! :)

Bruce and I at the Clemson game

My sweet boy

Both of the 'kids' checking out the tree

Love this boy!!!!

And just for fun....while folding CLEAN laundry, Parker decided to take a particular item of clothing and put it on his head!!  TOO funny not to take a picture!! ;)