I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We spent a very busy and fun weekend. Traci and her family came down from NC and Travis came from around the corner.

When the kids got here Wednesday night we made apple pie. Makenna, Lexi and Ben had fun peeling the apples and eating the peelings.

Makeena was a very big help in preparing the Thanksgiving meal. With minimal help she made homemade rolls. She did all of the kneading all by herself. Below is the finished product. They tasted as good as they looked.

Right as the meal was ready Ben deceided to take a nap so here is a picture of everyone else enjoying the meal. Melissa (Travis' wife) spent Thanksgiving in Florida with her family.

After the meal we decorated the house for Christmas. Later that night we played a card game called "spoons". We really missed you, Alison! I do not have a picture of the game but I do have a scratch on my table now.

On Friday, after we got up really early and did some shopping. Lexi insisted on making Papa's famous fudge. I think everyone had more fun licking the bowl than making it.

On Saturday night we went to the Columbia Zoo. The zoo had a light festival and Santa was there. Here is Traci's family with Santa.
This is us and the grandchildren in front of the dancing lights.

This is Ed and me. For all of you wondering (my children up north) it was only about 40 degrees so yes we needed coats on.

Roasting marshmellows at the zoo. Traci and her family went home Sunday. Again I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving.

Todd's Wedding

Well, Todd and Alison got married on October 17. We had a wonderful weekend with family and friends.

This is a picture at the rehersal dinner. It is Todd, Alison, me and Alison's mom Nancy.

Here is Luke and Lexi getting ready to walk down the aisle.
They did a very good job. Luke looked at the petals as Lexi threw them on the ground. Tammi said right before they walked she had to tell Luke it was okay for Lexi to drop them and he was not suppose to pick them up. He had been helping her while everyone was getting ready make sure she didn't drop any.

This is all of the grandchildren waiting very nicely while pictures are being taken. Sadly Austyn was not able to come.

This is the bridal party. Tammi is next to the maid of honor and Phil was best man and Travis is next to Phil. Luke is setting becasue he was just done with pictures and standing around.

Todd and Alison's first dance. She was a very beautiful bride and Todd looked very handsom if I do say so!

This is Todd and me during the son and mother dance. He choose "I Have I told You Lately That I Love You" by Rod Steward for us to dance to. Yes I cried the whole time.

Ed dancing with Lexi and Tammi with Luke.

This is the bridal party dance. They had the parents dance it with the party. You can see Luke and Lexi dancing together also.

Well, a lot has happened in September and early October. First, on September 13 Ed and I took a trip to the beach. It was a beautiful day. it was warm but not hot. The water was still warm. We went swimming for a while and then just sat and relaxed . Not long after this I quit my job. Things were just not right where I was working. I got a job the next week at the Child Development Center at Shaw AFB. I am now an assistant in a one year old room. I have been a supervisor for the last seven years so I am enjoying just doing my job and not worrying about everything else. Ed is still going to school. He is not so sure he likes his major so he might be changing that. Right now he is learning about trees. Whenever we go anywhere he is always looking at trees and their leaves and trying to identify them. He did get a 97 on his first test which he was sure he would fail!

Austyn was here the first weekend in October so we celebrated his birthday. It is hard to believe he will be 10 years old. I remember when he was born. We had cake and played games and had fun.

Steve and Ben game to visit. Traci and the girls stayed home because the girls have school and soccer. Steve came to help Ed get some work done around the house. In the picture they are working on putting in a brick border to our flower bed at the side of the house. Believe it or not, I have planted some flowers in the front and back of the house. One of the plants I planted is called Confederate Jasmine!

Well, I will post another blog when I get back from Todd's wedding. I cannot believe he gets married next Saturday. Ed and I are both very happy to have Alison as part of our family.

August

We had to get a "new" to us car. We looked around and decided to get another van. We decided we needed the room for when the family comes to visit and Ed and I are used to the room we had in our other van. We now have one car with no rust!

Ed and I went to the local theater. We actually got out of our shorts and t-shirts! The theater was putting on Fiddler on the Roof. It was actually very well done for a small theater group.

I didn't get a picture of Ed and his first day of school but he started back to school last week. He is a little nervous about it. He has to take a math class and he says it has been many years since he has taken math. He is going for a degree in natural resource management. I am still working at Bright Beginnings for now. I am looking for work somewhere else. I have interviewed at Head Start and at the base Child Development Center. Both interviews went well but I am learning I am in the South and they work at there own pace. I really would like the Head Start job because they are going to be starting Early Start in January and at the interview they talked about me going into that program. It would also mean summers off and with Ed getting closer to real retirement that would be nice. If that happens then I could come see all of my Northern friends in the summer. Well, not much else has been happening here. Please send us emails to let us know how you are all doing.

August Happenings

This year I celebrated my birthday with Travis, his family and Traci and her family. It is always a treat to be with Travis since he was born on my birthday.

For my birthday Ed bought me a watermelon. South Carolina grows huge watermelons and boy do they taste great. Believe or not the watermelon only cost $6.00.

We did get the kitchen painted with the help of Traci. The paint color I chose is called Butter. A great color for a kitchen. Lexi said since it was butter she was going to get a pancake and put it on it! You can see that before it was a terrible blue and red print.

This is Ed hard at work while I am at work!

Saturday, Travis, Melissa and the grandchildren and us all went to Wateree Lake and went swimming and had a picnic. It was 96 degrees outside so it felt really good in the water. The water was very warm.

Well, We moved this past weekend. We could not have done it without the help of Phil and Todd. There is nothing like being in your 20's and feeling stong! Luke loved the big hugh truck. By Sunday we were all pretty tired. We went to Church to have Ryan dedicated. Ed and I were excited to leave but also very sad.

Ed and Luke in the "big hugh truck" Luke likes things that are big hugh as he says.

Tammi and Alison "helping out.

Surprise, Surprise it all fit. We were very worried but Phil is excellent at pushing and shoving and got it all in. The bonus nothing was broke when we got to SC.

The only mishap we had was when I was driving the van up the ramps to the trailer and the ramps slipped and the van fell. It was hooked on the trailer by its bumper. We had to jack up the van to get it free. The bumper was only a little bent.

The whole gang ready to go to church.

Here we all are at Allegany State Park. We camped over the 4th of July weekend. It rained a couple of days. We still had fun. We got to watch fireworks, eat ice cream and roast marshmellows.

Ryan enjoyed his first camping trip. Here he is relaxing in the tent with Grammy and Papa.

We watched fireworks over the lake. It was freezing. This is Todd and Alison trying to stay warm.

Luke loved thowing "big hugh rocks" into the creek.