Who needs a belt when Grandpa has bungie cords?

Le is at that age...Where Le's underwear is ALWAYS showing.  Part of it is the style.  I struggle with this but I accept it...But truly, part of it is his age.  He is no longer a child size.  He is larger than a size 18.  But he is not an adult size.  Most men's pants start around 26-28 waist.  Therefore, if he is not at school, where they require a belt, he is constantly pulling his pants up.  Pa had the answer to the problem.  He went out to the truck and bungied Le's waist.  Simple solutions to complex problems. 

Betty Lou DIDN'T come out but we still had fun.

One of Mama's Christmas gifts from us was a ticket to see Bob Seger.  I SO wanted him to play "Betty Lou's Getting Out Tonight".  I made a sign and everything.  He didn't.  But he played a great show.  The only bummer was that our three seats were not together so Sandy sat in another section.  Sandy may not have seen this as a bummer.....

 Pre concert

 Self portrait before the show.

He may be 67 yrs old but he can rock it!

Christmas on MLK Weekend

Many years ago I couldn't imagine being away from home at Christmas.  I always felt sorta sad for those families that would travel over Christmas Holiday.  Before I was married I was ALWAYS home for Christmas. After Sandy and I married we would alternate years at each others parents homes.  After Le was born we decided we would stay home and start our own traditions. 

That said, Mama and Daddy would be at Vivians at the crack of dawn to have Santa with Alex on Christmas Day.  Then Mama and Daddy would drive six hours to my house and have Santa with Le and Dan.  Time went by and one year it snowed on Christmas so Mama and Daddy didn't get to come until the day AFTER Christmas.  It was a lot less stressful for them.  They didn't feel rushed at Vivi's and they weren't exhausted after being up so early then driving six hours.  That became the new tradition.  And it was fun because Christmas was stretched out one more day. 

I have learned over the years that if Mama and Daddy are here and there are presents it can be Christmas on any day.  The few years we have been gone over Christmas I have spent a lot of wasted time fretting over whether or not we would hurt Mama and Daddy's feelings or if the kids would regret not seeing Grandma and Grandpa the day after Xmas.  This year it really hit home.  We had such a great time in Ocean Reef.  Two weeks after getting home Mama and Daddy came to celebrate Christmas.  I left one tree up, made a pound cake, cooked a good dinner, had a cheese ball and voila! Christmas.  We had a great Christmas/MLK holiday.

 Aunt Vivian really stumped Le this year.  She has this wild hanging "ornament" in her back yard.  We love watching it in the breeze.  She gave Le the pvc pipe and fittings to make one.  Le REALLY had no idea why he was getting pvc pipes.

 We forgot to wrap one gift.  A Phiten bracelet for Grandpa.  Le took the liberty of wrapping it.  He basically wadded up all the left over wrapping paper around it and taped it.

 Pa FINALLY gets the wad un-wadded to find his Phiten prize.

 Daniel and Le's big gift from the Grandparents was Beats by Dr. Dre.  Can you see the excitement?

 Bailey and Sandy

A Suprise Visit

We got an email from Greg and Jennifer saying they were going to be driving through Greenville and wanted to know if we could meet them for lunch.  OF COURSE!  It ended up being a big disappointment for Sandy though.  His main frame at work crashed and he was unable to join us.  We had a great lunch none the less.  We hope to meet up with them this summer and get EVERYBODY together.

A GREAT New Years Eve.

I have put a LOT of photos in this one post.  We had such a good time.  It was hard trying to pick which ones to include and which ones to leave out.  So I just put as many in as I wanted.  This is my and Sandy's third New Years Eve in Ocean Reef.  Each one has been awesome.

 Me and Sandy

 Me and Blair

 This is a series of photos in which I couldn't decide because they were all good. So I put them all in.

 The last family photo of 2011

 Blair wanted a hat and by golly she was going to get one.  And she did.

 Two years ago Sandy wore a cone hat on New Years Eve and looked just like Herbie on Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer.  Blair and I spent the whole evening going, "I want to be a dentist!"  This year Sandy looked like a park ranger in his hat. 

 Many photos of Blair and Le shagging.

 It looks like Le is drunk in this photo.  I promise I'm a good mother.  It was mid blink.

 OMG!  Look how tall he is!  I can see a glimpse of the man he is going to be.

 I see the kid he still is.......

 Grandpa and Grammie came over to celebrate with us for a while.  Where is Waldo?

 Where is Waldo?

 Grammie and Gandpa cutting a rug....uh  sand.

 This is the most horrible photo.  I put it in by accident and can't figure out how to delete.  Please....just scroll past.

 Blair and Daniel cutting a rug.

 Happy New Years!

 I adore this photo.

Just another day at the beach.

A VERY expensive night

When we come to Ocean Reef we know that things are going to be expensive.  Very rarely do I feel ripped off.  This was one night I felt ripped off.  They had a "Festival On The Green"  We thought it would be a lot of fun to go.  They had carnival rides, BBQ, etc.  It ended up being over 300.00 for five of us to go.  When we get there they have the NERVE to charge us 3.00 for a soda and 9.00 for a 4oz. glass of wine.  Yep.  I'm a little bitter.

 Dan trying to ring the bell.  I wish I had pictures of Daniel's friend Jamie.  He is half Dan's size and he was HILARIOUS ringing the bell.  He would take that sledge hammer and swing it in an arc two or three times then we'd hear "DING!"

 Blair trying to ring the bell.

 Blair and Daniel having a great time.

Dan making the jump.