Photo Friday: Waiting on the Reindeer

Daddy & Jesse sprinkling out the reindeer food on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve Tyre Style

It has become tradition for us to gather at my in-laws on Christmas Eve and this year was no exception. We gathered together on Thursday afternoon for a low country boil, presents, and fun! We ate first, which about killed the kiddies who couldn't wait to get to the presents. Ripping off the paper took no time at all, and then it was on to the fun part...playing with the new toys!

The Tyre Grandkids
Vera Kate, Trey, Cora Jane, Jesse, and Whitman

Ripping off the paper to see what's inside...

Grandma and Da bestowed the gift of Wii upon both families this year and the kids couldn't be happier! Trey was so excited when Daddy ripped off the paper and he saw what was inside. Phil is now suffering from Wii arm from too much boxing, baseball, bowling, and racing!

Grandma also gave everyone a Nerf gun! The pint size children got big guns, and the adult size children got little guns. I don't know who had more fun...the pint size kiddies or the big ones!

Back inside to play new games...both Cora Jane and Trey got G-Force, Vera Kate got the Princess and the Frog, and Jesse got a Dora game!

The Gardens

A trip to Callaway would not be complete without visiting the gardens. We always visit the Horticulture Center and the Butterfly Center...the boys love hunting for the butterflies and I love seeing all the floral decorations. I would love to have some of these at my house.

Trey through the waterfall.

Trey was very cute walking around identifying all the butterflies...he wanted to find them all.

Trey insisted that we get a picture of the Blue Morpho Butterfly. He identified it from memory and said that he learned on Diego that it is the most beautiful butterfly in the rain forest.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: A Fond Farewell

This is the very last picture ever taken with Jesse and a passy. On Christmas Eve, Phil suggested that Jesse give his passies to the puppy dogs for Christmas. Jesse enthusiastically handed them over and has not mentioned them since...not once has he asked for a passy. He is growing up so fast and as the last reminders of his babyness fade away, I must admit, it makes me a little (okay, a LOT) sad.

Fantasy in Lights

Well, it's back to school for me today. The boys have one more day of freedom, but for me it is over! Wow, did Christmas vacation go by fast!!! It was a busy two weeks that started as soon as we got out of school...with a sick little boy! We were planning to leave for our annual trip to Callaway that Saturday and everything was all set to go. Trey was acting fine all day Friday and all night too! Saturday morning we got up and were packing up to leave and bless his heart he became very ill! He felt so bad, that he told us that he couldn't go! We knew then that he was really, really, really sick. So I called Callaway, and they changed our reservations to Sunday with no problem. It was so easy, like it was meant to be, like Somebody had a hand in it, that I feel like there was some reason we were not meant to make the trip on Saturday. Trey slept literally all day Saturday, all night Saturday night, and woke up Sunday morning good as new. So we packed up and headed out to Callaway for the 9th year in a row!

Starting with their second Christmases, the boys have chosen and painted an ornament while at Callaway. It is a tradition, and my tree now has ten painted clay ornaments decorating it. They are some of my most precious ornaments, and I love looking at them every year. This year Trey chose an eagle, his school mascot, and Jesse chose a gingerbread man.

We also ride the trolley every year and look at the Fantasy in Lights display. Some years it is warm, some years it is quite cold. This year it was cold! The lights were as beautiful as always and Jesse really loved them this year. He excitedly narrated each light set that came our way & enthusiastically sang all the songs!

We have visited Santa at Callaway each and every year...for seven of the last eight years we visited the exact same Santa...THE real Santa with real white hair and a real beard. One year, our Santa was apparently under the weather and they had to replace him. The replacement was not near as good, but he was still a "real" Santa. This year, for the first time, we had a fake Santa...fake hair, fake beard, and not nearly as jolly! I was disappointed in the Santa, and the photo quality of the pictures we bought. However, if the boys noticed they didn't say anything. They were giving Santa their lists and that's all that concerned them:-)

This year they had added a cooking decorating station. We bought the boys chocolate chip cookies and they went to town topping them with icing, jelly beans, mm's, and all kinds of other sugary substances. Then they ate them...every bite!

All bundled up and ready to get to the warm Callaway Inn.

I love our annual trip to Callaway! I don't care that we ride the same trolley through the same lights every year. Although the decorations are basically the same year after year, each year is unique because the boys are always interested in something new, find joy in something that they didn't see the year before, and continually light up our trip with their smiles, laughter, and commentary. Trey told me this year that he will always want to go to Callaway with us...for some reason, I don't think that this will last:-) but I will certainly enjoy it while it does!