Give thaaaanks with a grateful heart

Zeke usually shies away from saying the blessing at dinner, but tonight he jumped right in. Here is how it went:
"Handa, hold my hand."
"No, I don't want to hold Zeke's hand."

He lets the rejection from her roll right off...shocking really, then proceeds with this...

"God.. bless our food.......... bless our family.......bless our house, God bless America [you'll want to sing this part] to the oceans, to the city, to the mountains..... to Clemson,...... thank you for those things...what's those things called over there...our cash registers, our beds...Amen."

So funny to me.

Snow much fun...twice!

Two great snows so close together. The White Christmas was the first one in like 47 years and it was glorious... So dreamy. Here's our first snow in pictures:

He's a hugger, what can I say? Poor Hannah.

Ow ow!! That's sayx-eey!

End of snow one...beginning of snow number two. Lots and lots of snow. It was beautiful. Until the next day when the thick sheet of ice settled over the top of the powder. Zeke loved throwing the sheets of glass, I mean ice, and hearing them shatter.

It was so fun that Chris got to stay home with us. Thanks Wells Fargo. We spent the day with good friends, our snow tradition. Hannah missed out on much of the snow due to naptime, deep snow that was hard for short legs to plow through thus lots of faceplants, and meltdowns due to the aforementioned. Chris and Zeke went to Holly Tree golfcourse and sledded for hours with the big kids.

Zeke and JoAnna, she 's the one with the neon orange man hand mittens.

Karen, me, Lindsey, and JoAnna

The mamas got some sled time in the backyard after the dads got home from the golf course. It wasn't quite the golf course, but we had fun while the dads were stuck with hungry cranky kids. Nothing says snow day like hot chocolate, sledding in freezing rain, kids crying because of "frostbitten" hands, Wii Just Dance, chili, and staying in your pj's all day.

A costume kind of Christmas

Yes, it was indeed a costume Christmas. The picture below isn't even of Christmas Day, it was just a taste from Aunt Gigi and Uncle Lucian of what Santa would bring a couple days later. Now THAT is a snazzy Woody costume.

"What the heck has she got on?" says Parker, the cutie in the middle of my two cowkids.

Hannah Belle's great-grandparents got her just what one well-balanced two year old needs:
a two year old sized balance board. Now isn't that neat.

Mimi and Papa George helped out in the costume Christmas theme, too, with dynamite Fireman costume...and Zeke DOES have the hat on backwards. We've all tried to reform him, but he persists that he likes it that way, he doesn't want to protect his neck from the fire. Cousin Cayden looking good in his police costume. They were a tight emergency squad in those gettups.

It was SO fun this Christmas! Zeke was SO excited going to bed and was super excited when he woke up. Hannah isn't in the picture because she slept til almost 10am! That might be the last year that happens on Christmas morning.

Oh yeah, show us those muscles Superman. A sweet friend handed us down multiple awesome costumes that Zeke got on Christmas morning. He was in hog heaven. And still is. He is crazy about those costumes. Thanks Rachel, I mean Santa.

Even Hannah got some dress upstuff. Mimi got her some cute kitchen stuff and Santa brought her a cute little kitchen. I love getting more pink stuff in the house. This Christmas was the best one yet. It was so fun watching them and enjoying the day with these two kiddos. Not to mention the magical snow. What a great holiday!

A few weeks before Christmas Zeke got on the big Iron Man kick. Its amazing what a kid will pick up in Walmart. So, he pulled what the modern world knows to be a Power Ranger costume, but he made up his mind it was an Iron Man costume. Like he knows what a Power Ranger is...Iron Man it is!

Minnie Mouse is ready for Disney World...we're heading there in February. That's hilarious...the picture, not the DW trip. Grandmothers, especially ones whose names begin with a Di and end in a Anne get a little crasee with the gifts. Hannah doesn't seem to mind.