Night Out with the Miller Family!

We had been trying to get together with the Miller family but nothing ever seemed to work out with us being sick and then both Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and everyone traveling. But we finally made it happen this weekend. We first went out to the Oconee Lanes and went bowling, then went to Moes to eat, and then to their house to play Wii and hang out. It was a great night and the boys had a really fun night together! It's always great to hang out with people that Hunter is comfortable with and can be himself around. It makes for a much better night for everyone when we aren't trying to get Hunter off of our legs to talk and play with other kids!

This was our bowling scores. The adults had one lane and the kiddies had another one. The kids did great with their bumper lane but Michael didn't get a picture of their scores. I'm pretty sure it had something to do about his record high score on his game! haha He did have a great game and so did the rest of us I thought. It was really fun and I know we would love to do it again sometime!

I didn't get a picture of us eating at Moes, but I should have the way that Peyton made such a mess dipping all of his food in the green salsa. I did however have Michael get a picture of the three boys playing Wii at the Miller house. Sam, Troy, and Hunter were all very impressive while playing Mario Kart on the Wii. Peyton enjoyed exploring their toys and playing with their dog through the sliding glass door while the older boys played games. Thanks Rebecca, Josh, Sam and Troy for a fun night with great friends! :)

Visiting a Sweet Girl!

While Hunter was in Fort Mill with Mimi and Pop, we took a visit to see little Miss Ellison! She was SOOO cute and had grown so much since we had seen her last. It is always so much fun to get together with April and Scott and even more fun now that they have a little one to play with our boys now! We debated on either going out to eat or hanging out at their house and eating there. Then after arriving at their house, we found out that they had surprised us with both!! They had gotten the pizza that we normally go and eat with them and had it at their house! The best of both worlds! :) Peyton had so much fun playing with Ellison or should I say her toys! I guess I had more fun playing with Ellison! We tried to get a picture of both of them together but Peyton was not really cooperating and Ellison was just adorable in them all! Peyton did however try to give her a kiss and I don't think her Daddy liked that too much! haha :)

After Christmas Visit to Fort Mill

Hunter decided his Christmas break was not quite over and he took a mini-vacation to Fort Mill before heading home. As Mimi was heading home to Fort Mill, he decided that he needed to go with her to her and Pop's house for a few days while she was off of work. Of course, he definitely had to take his bike. Just like our house, the kids hang out in the cul-de-sac in front of their house.


After Hunter had been in Fort Mill for a couple of days, Michael, Peyton, and I headed there to stay a night and to pick up our fourth family member! He had a lot of fun staying with Mimi and Pop but he did express several times that this time he missed us, or at least Peyton! I think he and Peyton are definitely becoming closer and loving playing with each other much more.

Since Pop had not met "Peyton" (aka the new doggy), we took him to meet Pop in Fort Mill. Here are a couple of cute pictures of Peyton with "Peyton" on the steps.

Merry Christmas from Our Family!!

This was our Christmas card this year, for those you that may not have already seen it. Although I thought it was definitely one of my favorites, I think we will avoid the square card next year. I had no clue that it would take a 64 cent stamp to mail them! Oh well I guess it was worth it to allow everyone that may not see us throughout the year a glimpse of our family one time a year.

This has been a great year and we have had several changes that I think are pretty big! Those of you that are close to us know that Michael is now working from home and we are loving it!! We thank God for the opportunity to be able to see him more and the opportunities to do some things we may not normally get to do, like for him to travel with us and work from pretty much any location as long as there is internet and quietness! Although we do not know what the job has in store for the future, we appreciate the time we have been given to have him work from home. To hear Hunter talk about it, you know it is making an impact in a 3 year old's mind!

Also we have made a huge leap of faith and are following what we think God has in store for us as a family with our church. We have been a member of a church since we were married here in Seneca and have loved so much about it but have recently felt like God has our family heading in another direction. We have been attending another local church and so far we are really enjoying it and looking forward to seeing if this is what God wants for us in the new year! It has been a difficult decision because we have loved so much about our church we have been members at for the last five years, but feel like this is what is best for our family at this time. Please pray for our family as we make this big decision. I hope that all of you as well as my family will put Jesus first in their lives this next year and the years to come! I look forward to seeing what He has in store for us in 2012! Thanks to all of our family and friends and the support during the 2011 year! We love you all!!!

Christmas at Nana and Papaws

After lunch at Granny Ruby's, we headed to Nana and Papaws for the afternoon and evening! Both Hunter and Peyton always have so much fun when going to Nana and Papaws because not only are they there, but also Granny Moretz and their cousins Britt and Caleb. Even though Britt and Caleb are several years older, they are so sweet to Hunter and Peyton and play with them like they were just another one of their brothers or close friends! Hopefully my boys will grow up to be as sweet as they are one day! I wish I had taken more formal pics here but here are a few that was taken.

Hunter and Caleb as they await all of the gifts being passed out!


Nana and Peyton

Peyton was really into his gifts and surprisingly really into opening the paper and everything! He got a lot of fun stuff from both the Cochrans, Granny Moretz, and Nana and Papaw. Here he is opening both a flashlight and sound puzzle. He got so much more...another puzzle, socks, pillow pet, shirts, Factory gift card, Walmart gift card, money, Mater remote control car, and so much more!

Hunter enjoyed opening all of his gifts as well! He got a lot too...Lightning remote car, I-Spy book, Buzz Lightyear art set, pillow pet, matchbox car ramp, socks, shirt, money, Fun Factory and Wal-mart gift card, Etch-a-Sketch and more!

Hunter and Papaw

We had a great Christmas day! Although it was a long day for our family of four, it was a wonderful day and one that will always be remembered! Thanks first of all for the reason we have to celebrate Christmas - the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and secondly to all of our families who made this day so special for me and my family!!

Christmas at Granny Ruby's

After opening all of our gifts, we headed to Franklin, NC for a fun Christmas day with family. Our first stop was at Granny Ruby's for lunch. It was great because everyone was there and we got to enjoy a few hours of yummy food and family time!

A great picture with the boys and Granny Ruby!

Since we had not gotten a family picture Christmas morning in front of our tree, we tried to get one in front of Granny Ruby's tree, but sadly this was the best we could do. Either one of the boys would not look or Peyton was upset...oh well.
Then Peyton was not participating in the great-grandchildren picture. Poor Bre tried her best to get Peyton's attention towards the camera and to be happy but nothing really seemed to work. Maybe next year he will be old enough to participate. Other than that, it was a good picture of Kenzee, Rylee, Hunter, and Bre!
Hunter attached himself to Rylee this Christmas! He was excited to have a buddy that would constantly play the Touchpad with him. They were so cute playing together!

Hunter and Peyton both got some more gifts here...pjs, shirts, coloring book, and Peyton racked up and got another puppy dog! This one will "sit" unlike his new dog from Santa! haha Then Granny Ruby gave us some money, which was way too generous of her!

Here are a few other cute family pics taken at Granny Ruby's...

What a great time we had celebrating together and enjoying each other!

Christmas Morning 2011

Merry Christmas Everyone!! Each year of my life I have always had Christmas at my house where I have lived and this year was no different. Although it makes for a long day for everyone, I wouldn't change it for anything! It is so nice to be able to be home and have Santa come to our house each year and not have to chase us down somewhere else!

Hunter slept with us this year because I was afraid he would wake up and see what Santa had brought him without us seeing his face! So he and Peyton slept until about 7:15 when Michael and I couldn't take it any longer and had to wake them up! Don't get me wrong, I love for them to sleep in, but not when we have a long day ahead of us and places to go! Once Hunter was awake and realized Santa had come, it didn't take long for him to want to run in the living room and see what he had gotten.


Both boys investigating their presents from Santa. None of his gifts he left were wrapped, so it was easy for them to find.

Hunter was VERY excited about his big boy bike with training wheels. Plus it was BLUE and had a bell on it, just like he had asked Santa for. Santa had even gotten the last minute bell request amazingly! :)


And Peyton was VERY excited about his doggy that he got! Although Santa knew that a real dog was out of the question for us right now, he sure was able to get a dog that looked so close to a real one! He couldn't stop hugging and kissing him! Hunter is insistent on calling the dog "Peyton". Both boys got some great but simple gifts Christmas morning. From Santa they got a sled, bike, dog, magnetic block set, and a Winnie the Pooh movie. Then from Mama and Dada, they got a piggy bank each, Hunter got a Touchpad cover, and Peyton got a little stuffed Elmo. Then Peyton got Hunter a Clemson tiger toboggan and Peyton got Hunter a small Clemson basketball. Then Santa brought them quite a few stocking stuffers!

Peyton decided to finish up the last few bites of cookies that Santa left on the plate!

Hunter was ready to begin putting all of the coins he could find into his new piggy bank. He did however just a few days later have a break down when it hit him that he thought he could no longer get to the money again! We had to explain that just because you can't see the change doesn't mean you can't really get to it again. He is still unsure about putting any more coins in there!
Then Dada finished our morning up at home with our traditional homemade doughnuts from refrigerated biscuits. They were wonderful as usual!!

Christmas Eve

When the cookies were finally made and cooled Peyton was asleep, so Hunter had to do the job for both of them....set out a cookie for the mice and milk and cookies for Santa. While in Dollywood, we went to see a show called the Night Before Christmas where Santa tells a family to leave the cookies on the front porch to get them easier, but actually he is going to give the mice some of those. So Hunter thought we better leave a cookie outside on the front porch this year for the mice. Then of course we left several cookies for Santa and some milk under the tree.

Christmas Eve-Eve at Dollywood

This year we had a few things come up and I wasn't sure if we were going to make it Dollywood for the Christmas season this year. I was so disappointed because this is my favorite time of the year to use our passes!! It ended up that we were able to make it to Dollywood just two days before Christmas. We thought it may be really crowded but actually it ended up being great time and not too many people at all were there! Another great thing was that both Nana and Mimi were able to go with us. We wished everyone would have been able to come but it was great having both Nana and Mimi come too!

The boys of course had to ride their usuals...

Then we did two things have never done at Dollywood at Christmas...1- Visit Santa and 2-Watch a Christmas on Ice show. Santa has always been there each Christmas but this is the first time we actually waited in line and saw Santa and Mrs. Claus. Santa was wonderful and took about ten minutes with each family. Peyton was still unsure of Santa but as long as I was with him and held him, he was okay. The ice show was a new show for the Christmas season this year and was well worth the wait. The skaters and singers were from NYC and you could tell they had done this before. They were great and I hope that show returns again next year!

These pics turned out not so good, but they are Mimi and Hunter riding the cars and below is Nana and Peyton riding the cars. Mama and Dada got to sit back and watch, video, and take pictures (which as you can see in the dark, the pics did not turn out too good). Maybe I'll get the video uploaded of them having fun soon!

What a great day at Dollywood! I am so glad we got to go and have so much fun!! We can't wait for the new season to open and see what's new for 2012 in Dollywood!

A Yummy "Gingerbread" House...

This year, we had originally thought we may substitute our annual Christmas sugar cookies for a gingerbread house, but then we decided we couldn't give up the sugar cookies after Mimi found the cute aprons for the boys. Plus I knew Hunter and Peyton would both enjoy making the cookies this year. So we passed on the gingerbread house but then Mimi found a rice krispie treat house and thought that may be fun to do as well. After cookies, fudge, snacks, ham, homemade yeast rolls, and so much more food, we decided to hold off of on the krispie house. So then we put the house together just a few days before Christmas. Hunter had a great time decorating and eating it! At least this way we were able to enjoy the house, since not many of us actually even like gingerbread.

Donald Christmas

While the morning had been spent making cookies and snacks for the day, the evening was our Donald family Christmas! We had waited until it was dark so it was like it felt like growing up...waking up in the wee hours of the morning while it was still dark! Plus Peyton felt much better after a nap and being pumped full of medicine!

We started off with some great family photos! I think they all turned out really good!

Of course what family doesn't take at least a couple of crazy pics?!?! :)

Thanks to Mama dancing around making a fool of herself, Mimi and Pop got a great photo of both boys smiling so big!!

Awww...look at the cute couple! Aunt Amy and Chad!

Another group shot

Aunt Amy cheated a little and let Hunter open his gift a little early, so he could use it before dark...a scooter! He was determined to wear his baseball helmet instead of his regular helmet to ride it!


Peyton got a book that we have read quite a few times. It is cute and teaches him different things to do such as rub your tummy, pat your head, tickle your toes, etc.

We surprised Mimi and Pop with a wall collage of photos of Hunter and Peyton. Mimi had been talking about one, so hopefully she likes it!


This year is a year of honesty when it comes to Hunter. Peyton got this VERY nice Little People nativity scene with all of the characters and some animals from Aunt Amy. I was excited about it and thought it would be a great way to explain the story of why we celebrate Christmas, but as soon as Peyton opened it up, Hunter said "OOO that's a girl's toy!" Regardless of what Hunter initially said, he did enjoy it when we talked about the story of Jesus' birth and Peyton still is enjoying playing/throwing them into the stable.

Aunt Amy and Chad opening their gifts. We were going to try out Chad's new game Sequence, but someone decided they would go to sleep early instead! :) Oh well maybe we'll get to play sometime with them!

Aunt Amy and the boys!

Saturday's Christmas celebration was great with my family and then Sunday was fun too! Amy and Chad went with us to church and Mimi and Pop stayed with Peyton and Hunter. Peyton was still running a fever and it just wasn't fair that Peyton would get to stay home with Mimi and Pop and not him! Then Sunday evening, Peyton seemed to be great and I think we concluded that his fever was coming from his three molars that he was/is getting in. So we had all of the extended Donald family over to celebrate Christmas. All but one of Pop's brothers and their family came. It was a great time! We ordered pizza and had lots of snack foods. Hunter and Peyton got these cute Clemson chairs from Grandma Donald and two toys from their cousins Jamie and Jacob.