Santa Claus is Watching You! (He's everywhere, he's everywhere)!

Don't you just love this picture!! I will let you insert your caption here... She is mid-tantrum in this picture, but more on that later. So Christmas in the Guest house is full swing and I have brought my "A Game" this year. Christmas cards were mailed the first week in December, and all the gifts have been bought and wrapped as of last week. I also co-chaired the Holiday committee for Athens Area Cancer Auxiliary. We as an organization donated money to provide a Thanksgiving meal for 2 families in need with cancer patients currently in treatment as well as donated gifts for 2 families for Christmas. This has always been one of my favorite things the Auxiliary does and last year I had the bright idea to co-chair the committee in charge of gathering donations and distributing them to the families. I absolutely enjoyed it and would not trade the experience for the world, but that on top of our Christmas and families has made for a hectic December.

So aside from running around what have we been up to? Well first is the Watkinsville Christmas parade. Dutch was in charge of the float for LAD this year and he also brought his "A Game." Their first meeting was in July! Dutch does not do anything unless he is in 110% and this was no exception. The float was massive, but looked like a Winter Wonderland. LAD received the prize for Adult Float, Best Use of Theme. We could not have been happier! Sarah Beth of course decided to party hard the night before and wake up early the day of the parade so she was in a "wonderful mood" but once we got going, she had a great time. She even got into reaching in the bucket and dropping candy out for the kids on the street. Sarah Beth and I then hiked 10 miles (not really but it felt like it - it was probaby 2 or 3 miles) back to LAD to wait on Dutch to come back from looping the float around town. She has gotten so big!!


Sarah Beth and I with Cayden and Ashley Gunter throwing out candy on the float.

Last weekend Aunt Teensy came to visit! She finshed the semester at FSU last week and decided to show up and visit for the weekend. I do not know who was more excited, Sarah Beth or me! Melissa and I had a girls night Friday night with dinner at Casa Mia and cheesecake at the Last Resort. This was absolutely amazing! Meanwhile Dutch and Sarah Beth had daddy / daughter time at the Varsity which I am sure they enjoyed. Saturday Melissa babysat so Dutch and I could go to the LAD Christmas party, which was fun as always and Sunday we all went to church and saw Santa at the Country Club. The above picture sums up Sarah Beth's opinion. She screamed the minute we put her on his lap. Santa suggested I sit on his lap with her so she wouldn't notice, but it was too late, the tantrum had already started. We did get a decent picture eventually. She lips make you think she is smiling, but her eyes tell you she definately is not!! Sarah Beth did watch the puppets with Daddy after Santa and that she LOVED!!


Best picture we got...

So here we are, the week of Christmas and everything is ready!! Hope you have a very blessed Christmas and I hope you enjoyed the pictures!!


Random picture of Sarah Beth after supper. Saying she loves rice is putting it mildly!

Much Love,
MB

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

It is my absolute favorite time of the year!!! The Holidays! I am actually sitting here blogging listending to my Pandora Christmas station and even though I shouldn't like the cold rainy weather today, it puts me in the spirit. We have decorated the whole house. I am an absolute Christmas nut and we have been slowly collecting decorations for the house but this year, Dutch surprised me with outside lights!! I could not be more excited and would put even more out if he would let me (but as much as I am a goober for Christmas we can't be tacky). I made wreaths for the windows this year and Dutch surprised me with white lights and spotlights. So as for Christmas, we have the house decorated, cards mailed and half of the gifts bought and wrapped (thanks to Mother's Morning Out)! I have also been DVRing classic Christmas movies to watch as a family with Sarah Beth, we currently have the original Grinch, It's a Wonderful Life and Charlie Brown Christmas. Yes, you can pray for Dutch, I know he needs it with me during Christmas! We are ready! But that is not really what this blog is about, this blog is about Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving in Atlanta visiting the Guest family at Dutch's Aunt June's house followed by a nice visit to Grandy's new apartment! Thanksgiving with the Guest was as always fun. Dutch has more female cousins than I can count and he is the oldest (with only 1 male cousin next in line). So it is never boring! Sarah Beth played ALL afternoon followed by only eating bread. Yes, I know but she is now a toddler and has VERY picky moments when I just glad to see her eat something. Thanksgiving was one of those days. She always evens it out though. For example, last night she wouldn't eat anything but green beans. It was perfect weather and a great visit. We traveled down the road after lunch to Grandy's new apartment and visited with her. She gave Sarah Beth her first "weeble." This was a jeep to stack shapes and people on. Honestly, Sarah Beth has not put it down since. Grandy also gave us a Mexico Beach ornament. This was very special. I grew up going to Mexico Beach since middle school and for whatever reason have NEVER gotten an ornament. That gift was a welcomed addition to the tree! We had fun playing at Grandy's and headed home. Sarah Beth only napped about 30 minutes that day, but she was pleasant all day so we could not have been happier! The above picture of us was taken at the Guest family Thanksgiving.

Friday after lunch, we packed up and headed to Lake Blackshear for Thanksgiving with my family. We ate at Daphne's Friday night which was great! I can always eat seafood! Sarah Beth devoured her fruit cup until Dutch decided to switch out a cherry with a tomato. She hated that and would not touch anything but crackers after that. I guess she was worried we would slip her something else! We spent Saturday watching football on the dock and grilling with Mema (Papa George's mom) and my Aunt Frieda, Uncle William and their families. It was great spending time with them! Dad's family living in Waycross makes it hard to see them! We headed back home Sunday with a win over Georgia Tech and put up decorations (time was ticking in my head). We also came home with my childhood rocking chair and Sarah Beth's other new favorite toy!

Last week Sarah Beth got her first haircut by Patsy. Patsy cuts Dutch's hair and Sarah Beth makes her the 4th generation of Guest family that Patsy has cut. She cut Dutch's grandfather, Dutch's father, Dutch and his sisters when they were little and now Sarah Beth. Patsy was so patient and we finally got rid of the mullet that was growing! Cutting her hair also made it look much thicker!

So here we are, counting down to Christmas and cannot wait!

Happy Holidays!
Much Love, MB


Christmas at the Lake with Mema and 4 generations of Lee's.


Sarah Beth's first hair cut!